Why speed of compliance is the new competitive advantage in global talent acquisition
- Josephine Tan
The promise of global hiring has never been more compelling. As skills shortages persist across Asia-Pacific and digital work untethers talent from geography, organisations are increasingly looking beyond borders to build their workforce. Yet for many HR leaders, the operational reality of global employment remains fraught with risk, cost, and delay.
These tensions formed the backdrop of a recent webinar hosted by G-P, Global hiring made easy with G-P’s global employment products, where Vivian Kuo, Sales Engineer for Asia-Pacific, unpacked what it really takes to scale global teams without becoming entangled in legal and compliance complexity.
“Talent has no borders—but payroll tax and legal headaches certainly do,” Kuo said at the outset, framing a challenge that many HR teams know all too well.
When global ambition outpaces HR infrastructure
While international expansion is no longer limited to large multinationals, HR infrastructure has struggled to keep pace. According to Kuo, organisations today expand globally for two primary reasons: to access specialised talent and to enter new markets. In both cases, speed matters.
However, traditional employment models often slow progress. Setting up a local legal entity can take months, incur significant upfront costs, and require ongoing regulatory maintenance—an investment that may not align with uncertain market entry or small initial teams.
“By the time the entity is set up, the business opportunity may have already moved on,” Kuo noted during the session.
This gap between strategic intent and operational feasibility has driven the growing adoption of Employer of Record (EOR) models, which allow organisations to hire employees in new markets without establishing a legal presence.
However, one of the most persistent misconceptions around EOR arrangements is confusion over control and accountability. Who employs the employee? Who carries the legal risk? And does HR lose visibility or authority?
Kuo addressed these concerns directly by breaking down the employment relationship into legal and operational components. Under G-P’s EOR framework, the organisation acts as the legal employer, assuming responsibility for compliant payroll, benefits administration, and adherence to local labour laws. At the same time, the client organisation retains full operational control.
“We hold the risk, but you own the relationship,” she explained. “You decide who to hire, what they’re paid, and what they do day to day. The reporting line stays exactly the same.”
For HR leaders, this distinction is critical. It preserves ownership of performance, engagement, and culture, while transferring regulatory risk to a specialist partner. As Kuo put it, “Functionally, it feels like a direct hire from day one.”
Compliance as a continuous process—not a checkbox
Beyond hiring speed, the webinar highlighted a shift in how global compliance is being managed. Rather than treating compliance as a one-off hurdle at the point of hire, Kuo emphasised the need for continuous, localised oversight throughout the employee lifecycle.
“Software alone isn’t enough when you’re dealing with international labour law,” she said. “Regulations change, and context matters.”
This is particularly relevant in regions such as Asia-Pacific, where employment laws vary widely across countries and are frequently updated. Missteps can expose organisations to penalties, reputational damage, or employee misclassification—especially when contractors are used as a workaround for entry limitations.
Kuo pointed to contractor misclassification as a growing risk, noting that many organisations are now reassessing their reliance on contract labour. “What we’re seeing is organisations wanting a safer way to convert contractors into full-time employees, without creating compliance exposure.”
The session also explored scenarios in which global employment complexity intensifies, such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and entity wind-downs. During cross-border M&A, inconsistencies in payroll systems, benefits structures, and labour obligations can disrupt integration efforts.
“Speed is just as critical in M&A as it is in hiring,” Kuo observed. “You need a stable bridge that allows you to move employees compliantly, without slowing down the transition.”
At the other end of the spectrum, exiting a market can be equally challenging. Entity closures involve intricate legal processes, employee terminations, and regulatory reporting. According to Kuo, these moments test not just compliance capabilities but also employer brand.
“How you exit a country matters,” she said. “It’s about protecting your brand while meeting every local obligation.”
The role of AI in global HR decision-making
While the webinar included a live technology demonstration, the broader takeaway for HR leaders was how AI is being applied to support, rather than replace, human expertise.
G-P’s AI-powered tools, including G-P Gia, were presented as embedded assistants within HR workflows—offering real-time guidance on local regulations, document generation, and compliance questions.
“Think of it as having a local HR expert sitting next to you,” Kuo explained.
Crucially, these tools are backed by in-house legal and HR professionals, a point Kuo returned to several times. “We don’t outsource our expertise. That’s part of who we are.”
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Another key theme was the importance of fitting global employment into existing HR ecosystems. As organisations adopt multiple HR, payroll, and finance platforms, solutions that operate in silos create more work rather than less.
“We know we’re not the only tool you use,” Kuo said, referencing integrations with major human capital management (HCM) and finance systems such as Workday, SAP, ADP, and BambooHR.
Ultimately, the webinar underscored a broader evolution in HR’s role. Global hiring is no longer an exception or workaround; it is becoming a core capability that enables business agility.
The challenge for HR leaders is not whether to hire globally, but how to do so with confidence, speed, and consistency. As Kuo demonstrated throughout the session, the ability to separate day-to-day people management from the legal and administrative burden of employment is increasingly central to how organisations scale across borders.
For HR teams navigating cross-border workforce expansion, the session served as a timely reminder that global hiring need not be a barrier to growth—provided the right operating model and safeguards are in place.
