Singapore firms to ramp up overseas hiring as global teams expand

Nearly three-quarters of companies surveyed have grown their overseas teams in the past year.

Singapore-based companies are rapidly expanding their international hiring efforts, with 76% of HR leaders expecting that more than half of new hires in 2026 will be overseas, according to the Remote Global Workforce Report 2025.

In the past six months alone, 49% of new hires were international, and firms anticipate that 40% of upcoming roles in the next half-year will also be based outside Singapore.

The trend is part of a broader global pattern: nearly three-quarters of companies surveyed have grown their overseas teams in the past year.

Whilst international hiring is accelerating in markets like Singapore and South Korea, adoption remains slower in Australia. The fastest-growing destinations for talent include the UK, the US, and Germany.

Despite this momentum, Singapore HR teams face mounting challenges. With most teams comprising five or fewer members, many are managing talent across three or more countries, driving up complexity.

To cope, they are increasingly adopting automation and AI tools to streamline global payroll, compliance, and regulatory workflows.

However, compliance risks remain a top concern. 79% of HR leaders cited unclear or conflicting local regulations as a key barrier to confident international hiring.

Nearly one-third (29%) reported being unable to enter a new market due to difficulties onboarding or paying employees compliantly. Two-thirds encountered compliance issues, with an average cost of over US$36,200 per incident.

Operational pain points are also surfacing in daily HR management. Maintaining a consistent employee experience across countries (26%), managing misclassification risks (24%), and juggling multiple HR tools (24%) are among the most pressing issues.

In response, 51% of HR leaders are actively seeking to consolidate their tech stack into a single, integrated platform covering payroll, compliance, and reporting.

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