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Hong Kong firms seek offshore talent as some expats harried by Covid-19 restrictions eye exits, online recruitment platform says

  • A lot of people want to be based in countries with fewer travel restrictions, says CEO of online recruitment platform Glints
  • Local technology sector was leading the search for remote workers

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Expats leaving Hong Kong is ‘a temporary phenomenon’ that will be reversed as infections are curtailed and rules are relaxed, says Chinese University economics professor Terence Chong Tai-leung. Photo: K Y Cheng
Cyril Ip
The number of Hong Kong companies looking to hire offshore workers has risen following an outflow of expats leaving for Singapore, which scrapped its Covid-19 restrictions last month, and elsewhere.
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Hong Kong’s fifth and severest wave of Covid-19 infections led to the introduction of the city’s most stringent anti-epidemic measures, driving Hong Kong-based professionals to seek international opportunities, data from online recruitment platform Glints shows. It has also pushed firms in the city to find overseas talent through the platform.

“A lot of people working in Hong Kong are looking to … be based in countries where there are fewer travel restrictions,” said Oswald Yeo, CEO and co-founder of Singapore-based Glints. The platform provides matching services for Southeast Asian companies looking for professionals for remote work. Its clients in Hong Kong increased by 75 per cent between 2019 and 2021.

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Hong Kong’s leader, recently conceded that the city’s restrictions had contributed to exits by talent. Last week, the government lifted flight bans on nine countries and shortened the hotel quarantine requirement to seven days. But non-residents are still barred, except those arriving from mainland China, Macau and Taiwan. This has driven professionals to neighbouring markets, notably Singapore, which has a similar economic system to the special administrative region.

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About 70 per cent of offshore talent hired by Hong Kong companies through Glints last year came from Indonesia, 25 per cent from Vietnam and the rest from across regional hubs such as Taiwan and the Philippines.

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The local technology sector was leading the search for remote workers, Yeo said. “More companies are planning digital transformations, but there’s not enough supply of [technology] talent, which is why a lot of companies are looking beyond their own shores and tapping remote and offshore hiring,” he added.

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