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In an increasingly competitive and connected Asia, Singapore-based companies are reimagining how work gets done. The model known as “twinshoring” allows businesses to anchor strategic operations in Singapore while partnering with execution teams in neighboring Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. This model combines the innovation, governance, and market intelligence strengths of Singapore with the execution agility and cost advantages of regional talent hubs, especially through effective remote hiring practices.
In a twinshoring setup, Singapore serves as the “brain”, where strategic planning, product design, leadership, and customer engagement take place. Regional teams, enabled by remote hiring, function as the “hands,” executing work such as software development, operations, marketing, and support functions at scale. This relationship is inherently symbiotic: strategic direction is led from Singapore, while regional teams, often recruited and managed through remote hiring channels, adapt and implement solutions locally.
This is not about moving jobs out of Singapore. Instead, it’s an expansion of Singapore’s business footprint through a hybrid workforce, where remote hiring allows companies to tap into regional talent pools quickly and efficiently. As Singapore-based teams focus on higher-value activities, regional remote teams enable speed, flexibility, and local market penetration. The net result is stronger resilience, broader capability, and faster growth.
Twinshoring should be viewed as a complementary talent strategy that leverages remote hiring as a key enabler. Singapore’s position as a trusted business hub, with world-class infrastructure, governance, and ecosystem connectivity, cannot be duplicated. Regional teams, recruited through remote hiring channels, bring depth in scale, execution, and local market insights. Together, these approaches amplify each other’s strengths.
Companies that adopt a strategic twinshoring model backed by effective remote hiring practices find that cost efficiencies and regional talent access go hand-in-hand with innovation. Singapore teams can pilot new ideas faster, while remote regional teams adapt and scale solutions in diverse markets. The synergy accelerates regional growth and innovation.
The recent ASEAN Summit 2025 reinforced the region’s strong commitment towards deepening economic integration and accelerating digital transformation. ASEAN’s planned Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), set to be signed in 2026, aims to double the region’s digital economy by 2030. This ambition underscores the importance of digital skills and capabilities, which directly support the model that Singapore companies are embracing.
Further, ASEAN leaders emphasized building regional economic resilience through enhanced trade, investment, and supply chain cooperation amid global uncertainties. This political and economic momentum strengthens the case for Singapore businesses to adopt twinshoring, leveraging remote hiring to tap growing digital talent pools and remote work infrastructure in neighboring countries, making regional teams more productive and integrated than ever before.
For Singapore business leaders, twinshoring combined with robust remote hiring strategies is not about relocating opportunities, it’s about multiplying them. By anchoring strategic roles in Singapore and leveraging regional remote talent, companies stay lean, innovative, and globally competitive. The future landscape of talent and work in Southeast Asia will be defined by seamless collaboration across borders, enabled by smart remote hiring practices and regional cooperation.
This article is brought to you by Glints TalentHub. Leading companies are actively building their borderless teams in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and beyond. However, the prospect of going borderless can be daunting due to complex regulations and cultural ambiguities. With Glints TalentHub, you’ll have a dedicated team of in-market legal, HR, and talent experts by your side at every step of the way.
Glints TalentHub offers an end-to-end, tech-enabled talent solution that encompasses talent acquisition, EOR, and talent development. We empower businesses to leverage the strengths of regional talent efficiently to build high-performing, cost-efficient teams.
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