Most employers get this backwards.
They install activity monitoring software. Track mouse movements. Count keystrokes. Take random screenshots.
Then they wonder why their best VAs quit.
Here’s what they miss: all that surveillance tells you what someone’s doing, not whether they’re doing good work.
Big difference.
Why Activity Monitoring Fails
You hired a VA to get work done.
Not to perform for a camera.
When you measure hours logged or applications used, you’re measuring the wrong thing. You’re not capturing whether work gets done well, on time, or at the quality your business needs.
The Philippine Civil Service Commission figured this out years ago. Their research shows that linking performance to actual deliverables produces better results than monitoring activity levels.
Makes sense when you think about it.
Someone could be on their computer for 8 hours and accomplish nothing. Someone else could knock out a week’s worth of work in 4 focused hours.
Activity monitoring can’t tell the difference.
There’s also a legal problem here. For Filipino contractors working internationally, excessive monitoring creates complications around worker classification. The Bureau of Internal Revenue looks at this stuff.
If you’re controlling when and how someone works down to the minute, they might not legally be a contractor anymore.
The Six Metrics That Actually Work
Task Completion Rate
The most reliable indicator of VA performance is simple: what percentage of assigned tasks get completed by their deadlines.
That’s it.
Use project management software to assign tasks with clear due dates. Then calculate the percentage delivered on schedule each week or month.
Break this down by task category too. A VA might excel at routine admin work but struggle with client-facing communication. This tells you where to focus training.
A task submitted three days late disrupts workflows even if the quality is excellent.
Work Quality and Revisions
Output quality separates okay VAs from exceptional ones.
Measure this through objective indicators specific to the work:
For content VAs: error rates, formatting accuracy, style guide consistency
For customer service: resolution rates and satisfaction scores
For data entry: accuracy percentages
Track how many revision cycles each deliverable requires.
One revision is normal. Three or four means something’s wrong.
Response Time
Track average response times to messages and emails during agreed working hours.
A VA who consistently responds within two hours during their shift provides predictable availability. One who regularly takes eight hours creates workflow bottlenecks.
Communication quality matters alongside speed.
Does the VA ask clarifying questions when instructions are ambiguous? Do they proactively report problems or delays?
These behaviors indicate professional maturity that activity monitoring never captures.
Schedule Adherence
For VAs working specific hours, track clock-in and clock-out consistency.
Patterns matter more than individual instances. Everyone has occasional emergencies. Chronic lateness or frequent early departures signal real problems.
A word of caution: Philippine labor law distinguishes between employees and contractors partly based on control over work hours. If you’re measuring attendance strictly, your worker classification better match.
For project-based VAs without fixed hours, measure availability for scheduled meetings and response during agreed communication windows.
Compliance Documentation Timeliness
Track whether VAs submit required documents on time tax forms like W-8BEN for U.S. clients, compliance certifications, contracts.
The Philippine Bureau of Internal Revenue has issued multiple advisories on proper documentation for foreign-employer relationships. Missing documentation creates liability exposure.
Document submission accuracy matters too. Mistakes in tax documentation or payment details cause delays and extra administrative work.
Invoice Accuracy
Track invoice submission timeliness, accuracy, and completeness.
Measure how often invoices require corrections or clarification.
Consistent accuracy in hours logged, rates applied, and payment details demonstrates attention to detail.
When invoicing systems auto-calculate hours and amounts from time tracking data, accuracy improves dramatically. Less manual entry means fewer mistakes.
How to Implement These Metrics
Document Your Standards
Be specific about each metric.
Instead of “good communication,” define it as “responds to messages within 2 hours during work hours” or “submits weekly progress reports by Friday 5pm.”
Specificity eliminates ambiguity and makes evaluation objective.
Choose Tools That Track Results
Use project management software to automate tracking of completion rates, deadlines, and quality metrics.
Time tracking tools should focus on agreed hours and availability rather than activity monitoring.
Avoid tools that prioritize surveillance over results. Screenshot monitoring, keystroke logging, and mouse movement tracking damage trust without providing useful performance insights.
Review Data Regular
Set up monthly or quarterly review cycles.
Prepare data before each review. Calculate completion rates, quality scores, response times.
Present concrete numbers rather than subjective impressions.
Look at actual data during these reviews. Hours worked, tasks completed, patterns in what’s taking longer than expected.
Numbers cut through the noise of how busy everyone feels.
Make reviews two-way conversations. Ask VAs about obstacles they’re facing, resources they need, process improvements they’d suggest.
The Legal Reality
How you measure performance affects worker classification under Philippine and international law.
The BIR distinguishes employees from contractors partly based on employer control over work methods and hours.
Track results, not methods.
You can measure whether tasks get completed. But dictating exactly how and when a contractor works creates employee-like control.
If you need strict hour-by-hour control and detailed process oversight, your worker might legally be an employee rather than a contractor. That triggers different obligations under Philippine law including minimum wage requirements, benefits, and social security contributions.
The Philippine Data Privacy Act also regulates how you collect and store information about workers. Obtain clear consent for any data collection related to performance measurement.
What Actually Matters
The metrics that matter measure real productivity, quality, communication, and compliance.
They provide actionable insights without intrusive surveillance.
They align with Philippine regulatory frameworks.
Start with one or two core metrics that matter most for your specific situation. Don’t try to measure everything at once.
Adjust metrics as roles evolve. What you measure for a new VA learning your systems differs from metrics for an experienced team member handling complex projects independently.
Frame metric discussions around problem-solving. Instead of “your quality scores are low,” try “I noticed accuracy has dropped recently. What’s making this work challenging right now?”
This approach uncovers root causes and builds solutions together.
Not what some surveillance software vendor thinks matters.
What actually matters.