Companies may look to hire overseas as flexi-work becomes the norm in Singapore, employers say

Source: CNA

SINGAPORE: As flexi-work becomes the norm in Singapore, employers said they may rethink hiring local staff and look overseas for recruitment.

Under tripartite guidelines announced on Tuesday (Apr 16), companies in Singapore must fairly consider employees' requests for flexible work arrangements from December.

Ms Tan Wan Ting, who founded digital marketing agency Weave Asia in 2017, currently hires 11 full-time employees in Singapore and 13 in Malaysia.

Although the agency's work can be done remotely, she was "willing to bear a lot of operating costs" for an office and full-time employees in Singapore to ensure a fast response time for clients.

Weave Asia currently has "flexi-place" arrangements for employees to work from different locations.

But Ms Tan was worried that the requirement to consider requests for other arrangements, including "flexi-time" measures like staggered working hours, could mean "messy" hours for her Singapore team.

This in turn could affect how contactable her employees are and their response speed, she said.

If flexible work hours become the norm, Ms Tan said she may have to hire more workers from Malaysia where manpower costs could be four or five times lower than Singapore, and farther abroad.

The only reason not to do that would be if Singapore-based candidates have skills that candidates across the Causeway cannot match, and she was concerned that is increasingly not the case.

"Singaporeans, we really need to level up," said Ms Tan. "I'm just a small company. Bigger companies will be thinking the same thing.

"Why do I need to hire full-time staff now if there are flexi-work hours? Might as well I gather a pool of talent, I pay them by the hour," she said.

Mr Felix Sim, the founder of blockchain venture builder Salad Ventures, put this another way: "The 'local' premium will soon become irrelevant for most businesses."

His company hires eight full-time employees in Singapore and 10 full-time remote employees. A hybrid work policy with two days a week in the office has been in place since last November.

If flexible work arrangements become the norm, employers can grow their teams remotely, reducing their dependence on locally based employees, said Mr Sim.

"It will start to be more challenging for employees to look for a job ... because employers will now truly compare their abilities and pay package against possibilities of hiring remotely overseas."