As organisations in Singapore consider extending remote working as an option, they are increasingly keen to hire international talent.
Case in point: There has been a 227% increase in hiring remote employees and contractors in Asia Pacific, according to the State of Global Hiring Report by compliance and payroll solution provider Deel.
Specific to Singapore, start-ups and the tech industry are the most keen to hire international talent, especially for virtual assistance (24%), software engineers (22%), software developers (9%), community managers (8%) and content writers (7%).
The report also found that Singapore businesses are mostly hiring international talent from the United States (11%), Philippines (11%), India (9%), Australia (6%) and Indonesia (6%).
“The US is popular as Silicon Valley is associated with tech talent. As for the other four countries, their time zones are nearly similar to Singapore, English is their common language, and they have a wide pool of talent,” says Karen Ng, Deel’s regional head of Expansion & Market Lead for Hong Kong, Singapore, ASEAN and India.
However, hiring international talent can be challenging. “[Businesses looking to hire internationally] may encounter compliance risk associated with setting up an entity. [The process can also be lengthy,] averaging six to eight months,” says Ng.
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She adds there is usually a lot of second-guessing involved too. For instance, companies would need to guess and research the local laws and employer costs like minimum wages, CPF contributions or severance pay.
Making hiring, managing, and retaining international talent easy
Deel eliminates the need for businesses to second guess through its free tools such as the global salary insights, global employment comparison, and employee cost calculator. Those tools, notes Ng, provide clarity that can aid companies in their strategy to hire international talent or expand their global workforce.
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Businesses can also easily hire, manage, and retain their international talent through Deel’s platform, which taps on more than 250 partners – consisting of legal, accounting, mobility, and tax experts – across 150 markets globally.
Its platform allows businesses to create, sign, and send compliant localised contracts. This, in turn, enables international talent to be onboarded compliantly, even if the company does not have a local entity.
Moreover, Deel offers payroll services that help streamline payments to employees and contractors globally. Organisations using those services can pay their international talent in their preferred currency (with up to 120 currencies supported) in one bulk payment, with a single click.
One company that has benefitted from Deel’s solutions is Singapore-based payments platform provider Nium.
“Working with Deel has transformed our talent management process, where we support modern businesses with global business payments,” says Nupur Mehta, Nium’s VP for Human Resources.
She adds: “With employees in over 19 countries and counting, working with Deel has resulted in us being able to open close to a dozen new markets in the last year. [We were also able to] introduce new teams, including our latest digital goods team, now that we can hire niche talents in remote locations, while ensuring that we remain compliant in a highly regulated financial services industry.”
Committed to helping Singapore businesses
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Deel currently supports over 8,000 customers globally, including NIUM, Shoplink, GoGoX, and BlackBird Ventures in Asia Pacific.
With Singapore being the second-fastest growing market for Deel in Asia Pacific, the company recently launched in the city-state to better serve local customers.
“Even before this launch, there has been a high demand for our services in Singapore, which enabled us to grow organically. With our launch in Singapore, we are committed to helping businesses of all sizes and across industries optimise their operations and talent acquisition process,” says Ng.
She adds: “Ultimately, we want to ensure they have access to the best talents, regardless of geographies, and can secure them for their workforce. We are confident that our technology can help streamline this process of managing teams and vendors around the world while keeping compliant with local tax and legislation requirements,” says Ng.
