Cross-Border

Remote Work
Benefits and implications for
the local workforce
EXECU T I VE
SU M M ARY
Cross-Border Remote Work (CBRW) is a talent strategy in
which employees work remotely from a different country
for an extended period of time. The use of CBRW has
increased in recent years (OECD, 2021). For employees, it
has brought about flexibility in the where and how of work
and has reduced the need to commute to worksites (Lai,
2021). For employers, it has opened avenues to tap into
the global talent pools previously beyond reach.
The growing adoption of CBRW creates many new
considerations in the areas of human capital development
and global talent hiring. As the function responsible for the
organisation’s talent infrastructure, HR leaders need to
align and calibrate their employee management strategies
for the CBRW context. Furthermore, as lockdowns are
slowly lifted and the concern of COVID-19 eases all around
the globe, companies are beginning to raise questions on
how the nature of work may shift post-pandemic.
Will CBRW continue? And what does CBRW imply for
workforce sustainability?
© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute
For the purpose of our study, we define cross-border
remote work (CBRW) as a category of work
arrangements that allows employees to work
remotely from a jurisdiction for an employer/
organisation based in another jurisdiction for an
extended period of time (adapted from OECD, 2021).
This report aims to address some of these
questions. Specific objectives of this study are as follows:
1. Examine the extent to which organisations have
adopted CBRW.
2. Describe the benefits and challenges of CBRW.
3. Describe the attributes that CBRW employees would
need to be successful in their roles.
4. Highlight implications of CBRW for organisations.
Cross-Border Remote Working | 2
KEY INSIGHTS
CURRENT STATUS ADOPTION TRENDS BENEFITS & SUCCESS FACTORS IMPLICATIONS THE FUTURE
CHALLENGES

CBRW is here Adoption of Benefits are Thriving in Implications for The future of
to stay CBRW uneven not universal, CBRW requires Singapore are CBRW:
across but challenges more than profound borderless and
industries are digital skills inclusive

3 in 4 Singapore- Unsurprisingly, the There is no uniform Thriving in CBRW The effects of CBRW Investing in the
based companies IT industry is the “best benefit” work environments are most strongly building of
already have or are most developed in according to require specific felt in the networks within the
intending to adopt the implementation respondents. attributes that knowledge-based ecosystem and
CBRW soon. of CBRW, with the individuals need to sectors that transfer of
banking, finance, Managing time cultivate and dominate knowledge back to
MNCs have been the zones differences,
and professional organisations need Singapore’s local operations
greatest adopters of
services industries distractions and to support. economy. can help promote
CBRW, with Private
close behind. unplugging after the development of
Local SMEs being the
work are the top These include For the Singapore a sustainable CBRW
slowest and least
likely adopters. However, challenges. digital, social, government, the workforce.
respondents from intercultural, and potential disruption
all industries concur functional of the livelihoods of
that the IT sector is competencies. citizens presents a
most likely to adopt challenge to
CBRW. the overall ethos of
openness that has
driven the nation’s
success.

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 3

INTRODUCTION
Survey Demographics
From this sample group, we collected a total of 1,030 responses. We commissioned
PureProfile, an online data and research provider, to help with the data collection process.
Survey responses were analysed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally shifted the ways in software to gauge the statistical significance of our research constructs.
which people work. For many knowledge workers, the traditional
nine-to-five, five-days-a-week in the office is no longer perceived as 58 to 76,
18 to 25, 250 or more, 1 - 9, 8.60%
a norm. For organisations, renting offices in prime commercial 8.90%
14.60% 47.90%
districts is no longer seen as a necessity. Talent shortages have
resulted in organisations having difficulty hiring and matching the
10 - 49,
right people to roles. At the same time, talent
14.70%
retention, attraction, and establishing the right conditions in which
employees can thrive in their roles have become key goals for AGE ORG
many organisations. GROUPS SIZE
Cross-Border Remote Work (CBRW) is an expression of these shifts. 42 to 57,
27.30% 26 to 41,
The need for a deeper understanding of CBRW is particularly acute 49.20% 50 - 249,
as we see more “return to office” processes unfolding, which 28.80%
may encourage a reversion to preferences for physical
presenteeism. Given this trend, leaders must be readied
to effectively operationalise future workplace
Large Local Others, CEO, 6.50%
policies for their organisation’s employees to thrive, that is,
Companies, 11.50%
to concurrently consider how employees can be protected
from CBRW's challenges while remaining enabled by its 16.70%
opportunities. MNCs,
43.20%
The rise of CBRW warrants empirically driven research that can
help to identify the opportunities and challenges afforded by this Public
Sector,
SECTOR SENIORITY
practice. Such information can uncover potential strategies for
organisations in enabling their local workforce to remain relevant 18.10%
amidst growing competition for strong talent.

In response to this need, this report presents suggestions Indiv Cont, Management,
Local SMEs,
and recommendations from our surveyed companies on managing 35.40% 46.60%
22.00%
CBRW processes and workforce enhancements.

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 4

INTERVIEW
DEMOGRAPHICS
Upper
Interview Sample C-Suite, 24 HR Leaders, 11
Management, 19
Our interview sample consists of 55 subjects from
51 organisations of varying sizes and
industries (Appendix B). The majority of these interviews
were conducted over Zoom or Microsoft Teams, with one SENIORITY LEADER
being conducted in person.
LEVEL TYPE
The majority of our interviewees were either business or HR Business
leaders in their organisations, with some in the HR industry Leader in the
doubling as both given their overlapping expertise. Business HR Industry,
Managers, 10 Leaders, 35 9
Employees, 2
Interview Methodology
Interview recordings were uploaded to an AI-assisted
transcription platform, and then edited manually for
additional clarity. Professional Female, 20
Others, 16 Services, 10
Three stages of data coding - deductive, inductive, and
axial coding - were conducted on these transcripts,
allowing for the thematic analysis of the interview
BY
transcripts in order to directly address the project’s main GENDER
research questions (RQs) in relation to the research INDUSTRY
framework.

IT, 11 Male, 35

Finance, 5

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 5

 CURRENT STATUS

The COVID-19 pandemic radically shifted the work processes of many businesses. Some of these shifts will
continue, and some will drop away. CBRW levels in particular increased 30% during the pandemic
CBRW is (Munakata & Manabe, 2021). This rise will likely outlast the pandemic (Baldwin & Dingel, 2021).

here to stay CBRW is posed to continue to grow and to deepen its impacts on businesses and markets globally. Our
survey data suggest this trendline is well entrenched in Singapore – 71% of respondents said they have
used, or intend to use, CBRW. Future growth is being spurred on by competitive forces. 52% of
respondents “agree or strongly agree” that CBRW is being adopted by competitors and 45% of those who
have not yet deployed CBRW said that there are competitive pressures for them to adopt it.

As more market players access the potential benefits of CBRW, and the systems for managing cross-border
workers improve, a tipping point is likely to occur where-in CBRW becomes a firmly established business
operating norm. Such a shift would have major implications for the Singapore economy and its workforce.

Does not Has "I think companies who are not offering
intend to adopted, this arrangement may potentially find
adopt, 47.00% themselves losing out, in terms of
27.60% organisational impact. If this trend
continues.

I think companies really need to rethink:

how do you engage? How do you retain
the workforce? And how do you measure
Intends to
performance? And for some businesses,
adopt,
where interaction is quite important, how
25.40%
do you balance that?
Figure 1 Existing Adoption of CB RW by
Organisations in Singapore
- Partner, Consulting firm

Nearly half of all respondents (47%) indicated

the organisation they worked in has already
implemented CBRW.
25.4% of respondents said that their organisation
does not yet have CBRW but intends to implement
such arrangements within the next one to two
years. This suggests that in the near future, most
organisations in Singapore may have one form of
CBRW or another for at least a part of their
workforce.
© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 6
 ADOPTION TRENDS

IT organisations have a generally larger percentage of CBRW workers as compared to other industries. 45%
Adoption of of responses from individuals working in IT say that at least 60% of their workforce is engaged in CBRW.
As observed from our data, a significant majority of organisations across various demographic segments
CBRW is uneven have or intend to adopt CBRW. We have classified these organisations into f our general scenarios of
adoption, ranging from minimal adoption of CBRW to those that have integrated CBRW and remote

across industries working as integral parts of their organisational structure and policies.

Across these four adoption scenarios, we have seen how CBRW has changed many aspects of work and the
workforce, while also showing disparities in the way CBRW is being adopted across different sectors,
industries or geographies. With these changes along with growing preferences for remote ways of working
occurring globally, more organisations will have to re-evaluate their longer-term strategies to incorporate
CBRW and other remote policies to meet the needs of their workforce.

Figure 2 Current adoption of CBRW by industry

IT 63.8% 20.4% 15.8%

F I N A N C IA L
S E R V I CE S
54.0% 31.7% 14.3%

O THERS 43.7% 24.9% 31.4%

HR 43.3% 33.3% 23.3%

P R O F E SS IO N AL
S E R V I CE S
40.1% 25.1% 34.8%

Adopted Intends to adopt Does not intend to adopt

Figure 3 Percentage of respondents who indicated that more than 60% of their
organisation is engaged in CBRW

Financial Professional IT Industry HR

Services Services

29.4% 22.2% 45.3% 15.4%

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 7

ADOPTION TRENDS

IT and security Most of our respondents believed that IT and security are the job functions with the greatest likelihood of
adopting CBRW arrangements for workers.

have the This is followed by customer support and operations, and marketing and communications. These responses suggest that
the functions requiring less face-to-face interactions, or in-person activities are the ones that individuals perceive to be

greatest
more compatible with CBRW and hence more likely to adopt it.

likelihood of
Figure 2.1 Perceptions of job functions most likely to adopt CBRW
(ranked by percentage of total sample)

adopting CBRW Job Functions

% or respondents who
believe this function is Ranking
most likely to adopt CBRW

IT & Security, Software Engineering 50.2% 1

Customer Support & Operations 40.5% 2

Marketing, Media & Communications 34.6% 3

Accounting & Finance 33.7% 4

Innovation, Design & Development, Digital 33.3% 5

Business Management & Consulting 30.2% 6

Sales & Relationship Management 29.1% 7

HR, Legal, Risk, Compliance, Admin 28.6% 8

Field Operations 19.6% 9

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 8

ADOPTION TRENDS

PROPORTION OF

Perceptions of RESPONDENTS THAT

‘STRONGLY AGREE’ THAT:
C-suite Management
Non-
Management

CBRW vary across CBRW Improves

productivity
30.9% 17.7% 9.3%

seniorities
Top management
communicates support 30.9% 15.4% 11.5%
of CBRW
A significantly larger proportion of C-suite leaders, have
differing views from management and non-management
Top management participates
participants on how CBRW could be beneficial or challenging
in establishing a vision and
to their organisations. formulating strategies 32.7% 13.9% 14.2%
pertinent to cross border work
This may be indicative of how CBRW can affect organisational
factors like productivity, trust, or communication in different
ways when viewed either from a top-down management
perspective or from individuals in lower levels within the
Building trust is difficult
organisation who may have more direct interactions with 32.7% 12.4% 5.8%
CBRW employees.

Managing CBRW
27.3% 9.6% 9.3%
employees is difficult

Hiring CBRW worker

36.4% 13.9% 10.2%
pose challenges

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 9

 READINESS FRAMEWORK

To examine how ready organisations are to adopt CBRW, we apply the Technological, Organisational, and

How ready are Environmental (TOE) framework to guide us in our analysis and in the development of our CBRW readiness
framework. Proposed by Tornatzky et al. (1990),4 the TOE framework is viewed as a comprehensive lens for
the study of adoption along three levels of analysis – technological (e.g., new IT tools), organisational (e.g.,
organisations work processes and culture), and environmental (e.g., regulations and business networks).

to adopt Technological Readiness Organisational Readiness Environmental Readiness

Refers to the existing
CBRW? technological infrastructure that
organisations possess that
supports the adoption of CBRW.
Organisations will have to
consider integration of
technology into processes at all
levels, as well as provision of
necessary cybersecurity
applications to ensure the
safeguard of data and access
upon adoption of CBRW.
Refers to how the structure and
culture of an organisation are
oriented towards the adoption
of CBRW. This includes
leadership and top
management support, a
resilient organisational
culture, and flexible HR
strategies. The introduction of
CBRW may give rise to
complications on this front.
Refers to the presence of
external factors such as
industry structure,
competitor presence, and
legal/regulatory
requirements, all of which can
affect an organisation’s ability to
adopt CBRW.

Here, we take inspiration from EY’s model (Ernst & Young, 2020) of Enabling Factors and Protective
Measures. Enabling Factors are defined as the opportunities arising from CBRW that enable favourable
outcomes for both organisations and employees. Protective Measures are defined as the implementable
actions required to mitigate the risks that CBRW poses to both organisations and their employees.

Enabling Factors Enabling Factors Enabling Factors

Providing connectivity and data Defining and enhancing Investing in the building of
access for individuals/ teams productivity and performance ecosystem networks and
engaged in CBRW for employees engaged in CBRW the transfer of knowledge back
to local operations

Protective Measures Protective Measures Protective Measures

Minimising cybersecurity Emphasising employee well- Prioritising compliance of
incidents and ensuring data being and sustainable remote CBRW hiring processes and
protection work culture employee value propositions

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 10

T ECHNOLO GI CA L "… you definitely need somebody that understands not only the landscape of
potential security implications of all these kinds of publicly available platforms
that we're using, but how to set them up properly. Because it may not be
READ I NESS loopholes in the actual platform, it may actually be down to the way that you
physically set it up as a user. And those can be very common and big issues."

- Director, media agency

The use of various technological platforms for IT Infrastructures for % of respondents who strongly agreed or agreed
communications and tracking business processes was Supporting CBRW with the question: “My organisation has an existing
massively accelerated by COVID-19 pandemic (Abril, IT infrastructure that supports CBRW”
2021; Borrett, 2020). As organisations look into the
post-pandemic future, many
Nevertheless, for many respondents and organisations 60%
employers are planning to 54.50%
that we have came across in our study, the investment
introduce more flexibility in the
in such robust and scalable digital tools had already
ways they engage employees.
taken place well before the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, 50%
Based on our survey data,
the pivot to virtual ways of working, and by extension
54.5% of respondents whose
CBRW, was smoother for organisations who have 40.50%
prepared in advanced. Ultimately, the enhanced digital organisations already have
40%
connectivity brought about by such technological CBRW agree (agree and strongly
investments has resulted in structural (and not agree) that their organisation
transitory) shifts in work processes. The current and has an existing IT infrastructure
30%
future work landscape is one that sees a prevailing that supports CBRW compared
embeddedness of technology-centred practices. to only 40.5% of respondents
who indicated their
For the adoption of CBRW, regardless of the array of 20%
organisations do not have but
technological readiness levels different organisations
intend to implement CBRW (see
are at, the robustness of IT infrastructures is crucial.
Figure 14 below). This suggests
This must take into account not only the technology 10%
aspects, but how the end users are integrated that having compatible and
accordingly for the maintenance and support of adequate technological
CBRW: infrastructure could aid with the
0%
adoption (whether new or
continued) of CBRW in their Organisation already has CBRW
organisations.
Organisation intends to implement CBRW

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 11

ORGANI SAT I O N AL Cost Structures
Organisations in a position to adopt cross-border remote work will find there are various

READ I NESS
operational and financial incentives for doing so (Munakata & Manabe, 2021; Vahromovs,
2022). These incentives often have strategic implications for any organisation’s cost
structures, which require a careful balancing act. For example, cost-savings enabled by
recruiting cross-border talent may influence not only job (re)structuring, but also other
important CBRW enablers like the procurement of digital tools. The management
implications of such considerations are described by an interviewee:
The choice of where to position an organisation on the
spectrum of remote work options (which range from having “The management started to think about what the roles are, the functionalities
everybody at one site, through a mixed hybrid model, to that could actually be done by folks not sitting in Singapore but sitting in some
100% remote and/or a ‘work from anywhere approach.’) is other localities. And they found it very helpful in terms of financial planning,
greatly affected by the nuances of each firm and its
management, and cost effectiveness.”
business model, but it is generally shaped by four variables:
- CEO, Fintech MNC
1) Cost structures;

2) Work processes;
Work Processes
3) Leadership Styles;
It is in the realm of collaborative processes that many of the challenges of CBRW come most
4) Organisational Culture. clearly to the fore.

These are largely because of the lack of co-presence (the loss of informal communications,
the classic water cooler moments), the autonomous and targeted nature of work
assignments (creating silos), and a decline in team cohesion (created by the first two trends).

As an interviewee noted:

“And the ideas you get from these face-to-face interactions is incomparable to
meeting over Zoom. Because the meeting over Zoom is something that you,
sort of, get in the diary. You know, you've got an agenda... but you know, when
you bump into someone in the elevator, when you see him at the breakfast
table, when you know, you sort of make small talk while you're waiting for the
next part of the event to start.... I mean, that's when all the magic happens.”

- Partner, multinational law firm

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 12

READINESS FRAMEWORK

ORGANI SAT I O N AL
READ I NESS Leadership Styles
The importance of leadership in any remote work context
stems from the isolation experienced by employees who
rarely physically interact with each other.

The difficulty of people management in CBRW is a natural

Organisational Culture extension of the difficulty in establishing close relationships
when working remotely. As this interviewee describes,
As CBRW is by definition the movement of core business
leaders need to recognise the importance of intentionality
functions across borders and into diverse settings, the
and consistent, meaningful engagement to successfully
importance of a strong and cohesive organisational culture
manage CBRW employees.
cannot really be overstated.

A clear cultural foundation can assist in addressing the

“I do think that the manager’s role is very
challenges of building a strong organisational sense of
community – a critical challenge in CBRW. The scale of the critical. On top of the overall culture. So, of
course, the whole thing is set in motion by the
challenge is often repeated by interviewees:
leadership team. Then, making it very clear
that every people manager has a responsibility
and accountability for bringing in the right
“So cross border work, will allow you to tap into a
people at the right grade. To onboard them
broader pool of talent, and employ them in their
and to manage their performance on a regular,
own place. But the issue would be how do you
consistent basis. Rather than, you know,
foster a sense of unity and a sense of
ticking the box kind of mindset."
togetherness when people are so spread out?
And they don't interact so much beyond the - Founder, HR consulting company
virtual?”

- Head, E-commerce company

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 13

BENEFITS & CHALLENGES
Remote workforces more generally have been the subject of many studies examining the benefits and
challenges of engaging them (e.g. Adisa et al., 2021; Choudhury et al., 2021; Sen et al., 2021). Our study is the
first that explores this from the angle of cross-border remote arrangements contextualised in Asia (and
specifically, Singapore). The traditional understanding of CBRW, particularly within the region, is often
CBRW benefits associated with labour arbitrage, where organisations seek significant cost-savings by offshoring certain work
functions. However, with the evolving future of work in relation to the growing acceptance of remote work, we

are not believed it was just as important to also understand and explore the benefits that go beyond just costs.

The current variable nature of CBRW is most reflected in our findings –organisations across different industries
universal… and sizes have varying perceptions of CBRW's benefits.

For instance, survey respondents in the

Figure 5 Benefits and challenges by industry IT industry find CBRW most useful for
collaboration on new projects,
while those from the finance industry
found it most beneficial for securing
new customer relationships. All across
the board, our findings continued to
indicate that CBRW's benefits are
largely heterogeneous.

With the exception of financial

“[Cross-border remote work] provides a lot more
flexibility in terms of, sort of, how people see their lives
and works going forward… And, I mean, some of them
found a really good… really good work-life balance in
doing that, as well. So, when you look at the general
sort of satisfaction that they have… it is quite high.”
“We do find that people are at their creative best when
they're in environments which are a little bit more
relaxed, a little bit… more sort of conducive.”
- Business head, Edutech MNC
institutions, most respondents and
interviewees identified the positive
effect on employees' mental health as
a key benefit of CBRW. More generally,
remote work has not only enabled
people to have more flexibility over
their time, but some leaders have also
observed heightened creativity from
their employees in such work
environments.
Other benefits that our interviews have
covered include the ability to access
new talent markets beyond local
shores, as well as better work
productivity.

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 14

BENEFITS & CHALLENGES
On the other hand, the responses regarding challenges appear to be mostly universal (with only minor
variations in ranking). Notably, both our survey respondents and our interviewees noted that managing work
across different time zones is the biggest challenge of CBRW, regardless of the nature of the organisation
and/or industry. Even though work-life balance is a benefit of CBRW, it is not as straightforward when larger
time zone differences across multiple geographies come into play (e.g. America-Singapore time zone

… but its differences) that can complicate meetings.

Managing time zones also comes with a host of other challenges, particularly that of collaboration and
challenges are communication, as reflected by a majority of the survey respondents. Engaging across different cultures adds a
layer of complexity to communication and collaboration, therefore highlighting the ever-important work of
managing intercultural engagements in a sensitive and inclusive manner.

Figure 5 Challenges by industry In short, our survey and interview

data suggest that the existing
challenges within CBRW adoption
tend to be more homogenous. If
all organisations across these
industries encounter the same
pain points of CBRW, this can be
treated as an optimistic sign for
future HR strategies seeking to
pre-identify them or resolve
them.

“I was just thinking, you know, one of the... painful “I think the world... if you can
experiences of working for, say, an American investment sort out the time zone issues –
bank, for instance, is that when it comes to this topic, the world is your oyster, the
Americans are not very good at understanding that New world is your playground. If
York time is not the same as Tokyo time.” you have the skills and the
experience…”
- C-suite leader, Finance MNC
- Consultant, Tech company

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 15

BENEFITS & CHALLENGES

It is also important to understand the views of individuals whose organisations are not considering CBRW
CBRW to begin with. Most of these respondents agree that the main reasons for their organisations not adopting
CBRW are due to difficulties in managing a remote workforce, as well as it being incompatible with their

perceived to be existing workforce.

incompatible Figure 4 - Reasons Why Some Organisations are not Adopting CBRW ranked by percentage of total responses

Views of senior Views of others

with current
Why not CBRW? management

Too difficult to manage

work models cross-border workforce

1 2

Does not improve productivity 1 6

Not compatible with organisation’s

current workforce
3 1

Generally not being adopted in

the industry I am working in
4 3

Not compatible with existing policies 5 4

Insufficient IT support 6 8

Does not sufficiently reduce

operational costs
7 7

Top management does not

support the adoption
8 5

Others 9 9

A key point of difference is that higher management strongly view CBRW as not improving the productivity of
their organisation, while other respondents did not feel that it was a major reason.

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 16

ENVI RONM ENT A L
READ I NESS Regulations and Policies
Moving important operations into other markets means that Singapore-based organisations
must also deal with regulatory and policy structures that are not at the same stage as the
Republic’s. The nature of these issues tends to be specific to individual countries and cannot
really be generalised. However, there is a generic and systemic set of regulatory challenges
The third building block of the TOE framework describes the that all CBRW work faces (and which can be aggravated by specific governance issues).
environment in which businesses operate. A useful way of
seeing CBRW is that technological advances, competitive “We have local accounting company agents, corporate service agent[s]. So,
pressures, internal Singapore skills shortages, and the
we work with a broker, corporate service agent. And also, of course, the
emergence of a global pool of trained potential employees
most important is that we get a good one that advises you what is the right
have changed the operating environment of Singapore-
thing to do, what is not [the right thing to do], what we must do, what we
based business activities.
must follow.
To succeed in capitalising on the emergence of CBRW,
Singapore-based organisations and the government of - CEO, training consultancy firm
Singapore need to adapt to the unfamiliar environment.
This will require expanding and deepening existing
strengths developed for ‘outside-in’ CBRW (attracting global
and regional operations work to Singapore) while also Workforce Training
building linked capabilities for ‘inside-out’ CBRW (such as An important ingredient of the long-term successes of both countries and organisations is how
those outlined above). learning occurs within work. Learning is critical to maintain longer term growth and prosperity.
In general, CBRW is weak in this area. This is because learning is dispersed and needed skills
The current success of the Singapore business environment
has been based on many elements. In terms of the are often accessed externally (and often on a short-term basis) rather than built internally.
implications of CBRW, there are three that need focus.
These are:
“Now, for this [remote] employee[s], these learning ecosystems are broken
1) Strong regulatory and policy structures; completely, right? So how do you still create a sustainable learning
ecosystem for these remote employees, right?”
2) A well-trained workforce; and

3) Tight business networks. - Head, Edutech company

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 17

READINESS FRAMEWORK

ENVI RONM ENT A L

READ I NESS Business Networks
Singapore’s compact nature and the presence of strong
social and business networks are among the sources of the
city-state’s global competitiveness (especially in sectors
such as finance and logistics). This asset cannot be
devalued in the pursuit of CBRW. What is required is an
extension of internal networks into other settings. Some of
this can be done through well curated digital connections
and activities or bringing people to Singapore – but it will
require team members spending time in CBRW source
countries. Such a push would mesh well with wider
government initiatives to encourage global work
experience for Singaporean executives as a crucial step in
pathways to global leadership roles.

“[CBRW] actually, in my opinion, might be not

that great for networking. Because a lot of the
decisions is like, you know, you're meeting
people in-person, and you get to network and
doing all of these thing... And if you're doing
remote – it's harder to do that.”

- Head, E-commerce company

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 18

 SCENARIOS OF CBRW ADOPTION
CBRW Readiness
Scenario 03 Scenario 04
Adoption as a New Norm Adoption as a First Principle
• Accepts CBRW as a way of working, although the scale of • Organisation is structured and operationalized around
adoption is still highly variable (e.g., only certain CBRW and remote working in general
departments/functions adopt it).
• Tends to adopt a human-centric approach that enables
• Future adoption prospects are framed around business adoption of good CBRW practices
operational considerations, coupled with a cautiously
• Future considerations are framed as a larger regional
optimistic outlook of the readiness of the local Singapore
benefit that capitalises on overall talent competitiveness.
context towards CBRW as a growing phenomenon.

Example organisations:
Example organisations:
Local Organisations (Start-ups, SMEs, Large
100% remote work organisations;
Corporations) and MNCs where remote
Employer of Record organisations
work in general is a common sight

Scenario 01
Minimal Adoption Intentions
• Organisation has little intent to adopt CBRW
• CBRW is seen as a costing/talent alternative borne not by
choice but rather by necessity.
• Leaders often espouse higher hopes for Singapore talent to
be more competitive in order to avoid being “passed down” to
their oversees counterparts.
Scale of Adoption
Scenario 02
Adoption for Survival
• Organisation adopts CBRW as a pandemic-incurred
business adaptation, more out of necessity (e.g., business
survival) rather than active choice.
• View CBRW futures as contingent on the global
competitiveness of local Singapore talent pool (which may
or may not require CBRW down the road)..

Example organisations: Example organisations:

Local start-ups; Organisations with Local SMEs with varying business
near-100% localised operations engagements locally and across borders

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SUCCESS FACTORS

Thriving in CBRW The analysis of interview data yielded some of the key competencies that can help CBRW employees thrive
in their work environment and thereby benefit their employers. The four main competency groupings are:

requires more 1.
2.
Digital
Cultural

than digital skills 3.

4.
Social
Soft Skills

Digital Competency
Working with a distributed workforce makes
interaction across borders and boundaries
much more complex. This leads to greater
demand for specialised technical skills in
managing increased complexity. Employee
technology savviness is perceived to be an
important trait for effective CBRW. Some
researchers have gone as far as to say that
technology defines the employee experience
and have called for organisations to invest in
technology to meet the demands of employees
and consumers alike (Anderson & Patton, 2022).
“I will say there, there are quite a few [key
competencies needed]. But the very [essential]
factor is digital tool literacy. So, things like how
comfortable you are with using Zoom, how
comfortable you are with using a messaging
platform of your choice, be Microsoft Teams, or
Slack or whatsoever. Those tools are
fundamental in enabling cross border remote
work. So fortunately, a lot of these literacy stuff
is quite easy to pick up. But it depends on
individual to individual, maybe some folks a bit
more resistant to change and as such might
not be able to adapt. But I think that's a
solvable problem. So that is I think the base
layer - the hygiene layer.”

- HR Director, Fintech company

However, our statistical analysis of our quantitative data suggests that organisation-related factors are
more significant in relation to CBRW adoption scenarios.

Why is this so, especially when remote work is perceived to be an inherently technological innovation?

The reason potentially lies within the added complexity of collaborating in a larger, global context. When it
comes to priorities, organisations operating across borders rely more heavily on cultural and social
competencies rather than an enhanced digital infrastructure.

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SUCCESS FACTORS

Thriving in CBRW Cultural Competency

As previously mentioned, CBRW is inherently global – being able to understand and appreciate,
different countries, cultures, and languages is a key competency.
requires more
than digital skills “In the old days, we always say IQ is
very important that's why we focus
“I think the two key things I would
say is open mindedness and
on academics. But increasingly, EQ adaptability. Yeah. Because a lot of
has been thought of as important. things that are in here... especially
But beyond EQ and IQ, there is CQ here in Singapore, when I talk to
(cultural quotient) and AQ people – I realised that we kind of live
(adaptability quotient). CQ is a in our own little bubble.
cultural quotient, your ability to
So, when you talk to people from
work with people from everywhere in
other countries, you realise some
every stratum.”
things, it's like common sense to us.
- Managing Director, EOR Company And it's not common sense to [them].

Business-wise, there are certain

things... [in the] US, we can go
[straight to customers]. Here in Asia,
it has to be done through a partner,
or a third party.
Some levels of business dynamics,
how deals are being done, culture-
wise – there is a certain level of
things that you need to adapt to.”

- Consultant, Tech company.

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SUCCESS FACTORS

Thriving in CBRW Social Competency

In "conventional" remote work, it is important to be able to read or understand the cues of the people

requires more
behind the screens. Thus, having good interpersonal competencies helps remote workers thrive in their
global workplaces. Verbal and written communication capabilities have arguably become essential for
keeping employees, managers, and customers well-connected and well-informed
than digital skills These social competencies become even more essential in the melting-pot environment of CBRW.
Good communication skills ensures that information, ideas, and feelings are well-communicated
between employees whose working styles may differ vastly based on their cultural backgrounds.

“By far the number one thing we look f or is communication. Verbal communication skills.
I'm not even going to mention the rest, because this is overwhelmingly important that the
rest takes care of itself, if the person is a good communicator. If the individual or if the
culture is very high context, you know, like, let's say, for example, in the Japanese culture,
there's a lot of non-verbal things that you would have to understand. Then that kind of
things is not going to work for us, right?

So, the kind of cultures that cross border is very good for is when it is a low context
culture. That means, like 99% of communication can just be done verbally, without any
hidden meaning - that kind of culture usually works better for cross border.”
- CEO, Proptech company

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SUCCESS FACTORS

Thriving in CBRW Soft Skills

But employees in CBRW environments need to be more than just culturally aware and proficient
communicators.
requires more
Without a physical location to mediate collaboration and cross-cultural exchange, independence and

than digital skills flexibility become crucial for CBRW employees who are expected to manage their own time and
productivity. To thrive in CBRW, organisations need to prioritise empowerment over micro-management
and encourage the following traits across their workforce.

Self-discipline Dealing with Ambiguity

“It's linked to productivity. I think “Now, another one that is critical, I

that if you talk ab out the skills that
somebody should bring to the world,
of course, you're like somebody who
is like very self-driven, with Type A
personality, somebody who doesn't
need to be probed to say, 'do this'.”
- Manager, Edutech firm
think, is, you know, ability to deal
with ambiguity. Because in the world,
in a world where your workf orce is
not necessarily concentrated in one
place, that increases ambiguity, right,
irrespective of the fact that that
ambiguity is also part of the lives,
right?”

- CHRO, E-commerce company

Flexibility Sense of Adventure

“So, it's about being flexible in all
aspects, I would say. In the day, my
working hours are kind of broken up.
But if I have compromised in that
one-hour meeting at night with my
US colleagues – then I need to maybe
shut out one or two hours during the
day where I just don't reply to
messages, just to do what I need to
get done.”
- Manager, EOR firm
“You almost need to have a sense of
adventure, right? If you're very
contented, right? It's gonna be very
difficult, right? Or you need to be-
have a bit of mischief and want to
explore new things, right? A bit of a
YOLO kind of mentality, to use the
young people's word, right? You got
to try. You got to go for experiences,
right? I think that's paramount.”
- Director, Tech MNC

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THE FUTURE

The Future of In CBRW, the distinctions of where we work, how we work, when we work, and who we work with have
become blurred. Collectively, this shift has made the future of work more borderless and inclusive.

CBRW: “So, the reality is if you have that talent, or you have that niche, then regardless of where

Borderless and
you're located... it's your talent, right? It meets a need, then it [will] never occur to me it's
cross border remote work, you know? It's just seamless. It is all borderless. It doesn't
matter, you can do it from anywhere! Even coffee shop, airport – I used to do that all the

Inclusive time. So now it's even easier.”

- Director, HR consulting firm

Capitalising on this opportunity to plug labour gaps and “The Singapore workforce has to
reduce costs, recruiting remote workers across borders value-add, because if you don't
is an ongoing strategy organisations are embracing. value-add and you're just doing
work, that can be easily passed
What does this mean for Singapore? Given that CBRW’s
down – then you will be passed
impacts are strongly felt in the knowledge-based sectors
(Molla, 2022), a business ecosystem like Singapore built down… You kind of need to be
on global openness will be caught off-guard if left operating one, two levels above
unprepared. This impact cannot be understated, given what you traditionally would have
that well over half of all jobs in Singapore can be done. That increased level of
classified as knowledge-based (Employment Table(s) - competence. Okay. It's [admittedly]
Labour Force In Singapore 2020, n.d.). Therefore, how high pressure.
can organisations remain globally competitive?
- CEO, Edutech company

Our research suggests that CBRW can be proactively harnessed into opportunities for both employers and
employees, which starts at the organisational level. Getting ready for this optimistic future requires
organisations to engage on four fronts: performance management, employee engagement, talent
development, and workforce sustainability.

In the following pages, we provide an organisation-focused framework that lays the foundation for a
sustainable CBRW ecosystem.

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 24

THE FUTURE

Hybrid models Survey responses suggest there is no one-size-fits-all strategy regarding the continued use of CBRW
arrangements across different industries, and each are working towards their own balance of work
arrangements.

remain the
preferred mode
Figure 6.1 Industry Proportionality of Plans for Future CBRW

of remote
IT 26.0% 52.0% 11.0% 11.0%
working
F I N A N C I A L… 22.0% 50.0% 10.0% 18.0%

OT HER S 25.0% 53.0% 10.0% 12.0%

HR 23.0% 31.0% 15.0% 31.0%

PR OFESSION AL… 32.0% 37.0% 11.0% 20.0%

Opt for permanent CBRW Greater flexibility for CBRW

Stop supporting CBRW To be decided

Based on the distribution of responses, individuals working in the professional services industry had the largest
proportion who indicated that their organisations were willing to allow employees to permanently apply for CBRW.

Conversely, half the respondents from both IT and banking & financial services industries said that their
organisations would allow employees greater flexibility in applying for CBRW arrangements, but that their
organisations would primarily revert to pre-pandemic work locations.

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 25

Figure 6.2 Sectoral Breakdown for Plans for Future CBRW

The public sector has the greatest proportion of

respondents who indicated the willingness to
provide an option for permanent CBRW
arrangements.

In contrast, local SMEs, large local companies, and

MNCs appear more likely to offer greater flexibility
for CBRW but intend to mainly return to pre-
pandemic working arrangements.

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 SUSTAINABLE CBRW: A FRAMEWORK

Performance Employee Talent Workforce

Management Engagement Development Sustainability

Investing in the
Building a Emphasising
Ensuring building of networks
compelling human-centred
productivity within the ecosystem
Employee Value practices as a
and well- and transferring
Proposition competitive
being knowledge back to
(EVP) advantage
local operations

Organisational Ecosystem
Scale of Readiness
Readiness Readiness

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 SUSTAINABLE CBRW: A FRAMEWORK
Performance Management
Previously, we discussed at length the importance of organisational-related cultural
and social competencies in helping both organisations and their employees thrive in
a CBRW setting. This thriving is highly dependent on leaders supportive of the
greater agency afforded to CBRW employees when it comes to managing work-life Performance Employee
balance and mental health, according to our interview data.
Management Engagement
"I think it's also about educating the employer and giving them
tools and knowledge and understanding how to manage remote
work or to help employees be productive, even if they might not
be working from the office."

- Manager, EOR company

Building a
Ensuring
compelling
Not only does performance management built around the flexibility of CBRW productivity
support employee wellbeing, but the empowerment in allowing employees to Employee Value
and well-
manage their own productivity independently in turn encourages greater personal Proposition
ownership of their contributions to the organisation. being
(EVP)
“The main challenge, especially for managers and leaders, is the
need to shift their own expectations, from expecting people to
spend a set amount of time on a given task. Rather than doing
this, they need to set very clear expectations.

What do I expect from each of my team member to be done by

which deadline, and how you get this done? I'm not going to
micromanage that, because I'm not sitting next to you, because
I'm not going to check in every hour to make sure that you're
doing your work. The whole shift of mindset is to empower and
trust the team members. It also forces the managers in the team
leaders to set expectations very early on. So that requires a higher
level of more precise understanding of what you really want your
team to achieve in each given period.”
- Regional lead, EOR firm
Employee Engagement
Once this holistic approach to performance management has been
established, CBRW arrangements become an opportunity for leaders
demonstrate the organisation’s commitment to inclusivity and a better
work culture.
In other words, the organisation now has a compelling Employer Value
Proposition (EVP) that informs both current and potential employees on
their company values – a strong pull factor for talent retention and
attraction.

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 SUSTAINABLE CBRW: A FRAMEWORK

Talent Development
Beyond performance management that mostly focuses on current
productivity goals tied to day-to-day employee responsibilities, Talent Workforce
organisations should also look implement other forms of talent
Development Sustainability
engagement that is beneficial towards desired outcomes, long term.

Talent development, in the form of employee-facing learning and

upskilling initiatives designed to align individual career aspirations with
business objectives, can be a potent competitive advantage for
organisations.

Not only does this contribute to the EVP mentioned earlier, but Investing in the
Emphasising
such initiatives promote skill diversification and performance building of networks
optimisation in a manner that is again mutually beneficial to both the human-centred
within the ecosystem
employee and the organisation. practices as a
and transferring
competitive
knowledge back to
“Coming from a training personnel, essentially, I think an advantage
important aspect to engage people on remote work is local operations
really about being very intentional in the activities that you
embed in your session. As somebody who promotes digital
learning and uses a lot of virtual instructor-led trainings, I
would still want to have that level of engagement as
someone physically attending in-person sessions. I think
the crux of it comes down to how we want to approach
training. Essentially, what we are doing is having a
multimodal approach. Some things you can do self-paced,
via digital learning. Some things, if you already are an
expert in the subject matter, you just take the assessment
and you're done. Otherwise, they are just-in-time
facilitations, which are virtual-led.”

- Manager, Tech MNC

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 SUSTAINABLE CBRW: A FRAMEWORK

Workforce Sustainability
Talent Workforce
From an ecosystem perspective, achieving CBRW sustainability will
Development Sustainability
mean careful calibration of policies targeted at nurturing a structure
focused on value creation. This structure encompasses
stakeholders, from within the organization and beyond, working to
strengthen the talent pool collectively.

What is required is an extension of internal networks into other

settings. Some of this can be done through well curated digital
connections and activities or bringing people to Singapore – but it Investing in the
Emphasising
will require team members spending time in CBRW source building of networks
countries. It also means that organisations looking to attract and human-centred
within the ecosystem
hire global talents would have to think more strategically about practices as a
and transferring
talent attraction and retention (including compensation), competitive
performance management, learning and development (L&D) knowledge back to
advantage
opportunities, and diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I) polices. local operations

“This ecosystem approach is a significant departure

from the traditional view of the workforce, which
envisions individual employees performing work along
linear career paths to create value for their
organisation.”

- Altman et. al. 2021, p. 515

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 30

THE FUTURE

CONCLUSION While our study and framework provides a promising blueprint for the path forward, getting Singapore to thrive,
not just adapt, in a world increasingly undefined by physical borders will still require a major paradigm shift in
local attitudes and mindsets towards remote work, from employees to CEOs. As this leader succinctly phrases it:

“Once the COVID restrictions eased up a bit... there is this huge desire [in Singapore]
to bring everybody back as much as possible to the workplace. [This is] because
human beings are hard to change. We still treasure that way of working. Therefore,
the downside for ourselves is the risk of screen fatigue [due to] cross border work,
because we're using old mindsets and old practices to contract work through
this medium. And that's just not right.”

- HR leader, global real estate start-up

Singapore can be positioned to benefit from such an opportune inflection point, particularly in wider global and
regional ecosystems that already expect more CBRW to come. In this sense, a fine calibration of Singapore’s
approach towards investments, talents, and jobs can reproduce our success as a regional and global hub on this
CBRW frontier.

“I think that Singapore, actually to the benefit of the rest of ASEAN, and frankly, the
rest of the region, can be a lighthouse in terms of exploring and defining successful
practice around how to manage both the interests and the requirements of our
citizens and our nationals and making sure that the economy is providing for the
opportunities that are required to keep our citizens engaged and productive.”

- General Manager, EOR Company

© 2022 Human Capital Leadership Institute Cross-Border Remote Working | 31

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