Three years since the global remote work revolution began, companies in the Asia-Pacific region have progressed from temporary work-from-home setups to embracing permanently distributed teams spread across multiple locations. This approach is aimed at expanding their talent pool, increasing cultural diversity and productivity, and expanding globally.

In the post-pandemic world, Indian companies are leading the charge in hiring remote international workers as they transition towards the future of work, reveals a new survey by Remote, a company specialising in building, managing, and supporting globally distributed workforces.

The IDC InfoBrief, “Bridging the Talent Gap: The Future of Hiring in the Asia/Pacific Region,” March 2023, features findings from the IDC AP SMB and Mid-Market Hiring Trends 2023.  It highlights the growing trend of remote hiring and distributed workforce strategies in India, New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore.

Key findings of the report include:

About 50 per cent of SMBs/mid-market companies in India are planning to hire 40-60 per cent full-time employees (FTEs) or contractors in the next 12 months. Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, on the other hand, are planning to hire only 20%-30% remote FTEs or contractors.

India has the highest EOR (Employer of Record) adoption (70.5 per cent), followed by Singapore (64.0 per cent), as Indian companies are looking to globalise their businesses while reducing workforce costs.

As more SMBs and mid-market businesses hire employees to work remotely from various locations, they are using EOR solutions to simplify the complexities of payroll, tax, and compliance.

India is the least mature when it comes to hiring maturity.  SMBs and mid-market companies in New Zealand are the most mature, integrating technology into their HR processes, enabling their internal teams to hire and retain workers from geographies where they do not have a presence.

One in three Indian companies (31 per cent), however, are using EOR platforms for onboarding and management of their global workforce. 

Surveyed companies state that cost-effective workforce options are the top business priority, and finding the right mix of skills is a key challenge in hiring internationally.

The InfoBrief also highlights that most companies rely on internal expertise to hire and retain international workers, which could become unmanageable as the ratio of international remote hires in their total workforce grows.

“The pandemic has fundamentally changed the way businesses operate, and we are seeing that companies in the Asia/Pacific region have been among the fastest in the world to adapt their hiring and workforce strategies for the current era,” said Job van der Voort, CEO and co-founder of Remote.

"As remote work continues to gain traction, companies that are able to tap into the international talent pool will have a significant advantage over those that do not.”