International hiring set to surge by 2026: Remote’s workforce report
CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES — A report from global HR platform Remote reveals that international hiring is set to become the primary mode of talent acquisition for most companies.
According to the 2025 Global Workforce Report, which surveyed 3,650 business leaders globally, 73% of HR leaders anticipate that more than half of their new hires will be based outside their primary country by 2026, driven by local talent shortages and enabled by technology.
Lean HR teams turn to automation for global scale
The push for international talent is increasingly managed by lean HR teams, with 87% of surveyed companies having HR teams of nine people or fewer. Despite small headcounts, these teams are delivering results comparable to those of larger departments, particularly in areas such as employee experience and retention.
This high performance is powered by the strategic adoption of technology, where AI and automation have become the essential infrastructure for managing global compliance, payroll, and employee experience at scale.
The automation of routine work is advancing rapidly; in fact, 75% of HR leaders expect AI to handle more than half of their routine administrative tasks by the end of 2026. The report also notes that a sweeping 76.7% agree that AI is already curbing hiring for entry-level roles.
A significant 21% of hiring teams have uncovered misleading AI-generated resumes, with 26% having accidentally advanced a candidate using one. This cautious adoption occurs as 27% of HR teams have recently added a new AI tool, yet a nearly identical 28% have abandoned one due to fairness or compliance issues.
This fragmentation has created a strong appetite for consolidation, with nearly nine in ten HR leaders stating that they would replace their current system with a unified platform.
Compliance and EORs enable hiring expansion
As companies rapidly expand their global footprint, managing cross-border compliance and payroll has emerged as a critical and costly challenge.
“Companies are increasingly looking beyond their home borders for top hires and niche skills, yet they face a web of compliance requirements and operational hurdles in doing so,” the report notes.
The report found that 74% of leaders who recruit internationally have faced compliance challenges in another country, with 31% of those incidents costing over $50,000. A significant 76% also stated that unclear local regulations have made it harder to hire confidently in their desired location.
To navigate this complexity, companies are increasingly turning to Employers of Record (EOR). The survey found that 55% of companies employing international talent use an EOR service, just behind the 66% that have set up their own legal entities.
EORs have become a mainstream solution for mitigating risk and accelerating market entry, with 76% of companies using them reporting satisfaction.
This model directly addresses the top barrier to expansion—the cost of setting up a local entity, cited by 27.7% of companies—by allowing businesses to hire internationally without the overhead and compliance burden of establishing their own entity.
To gain a competitive edge, companies are strategically turning to the global talent pool, using AI-augmented lean teams and EOR-enabled compliance to efficiently hire and manage employees from anywhere in the world, which reorients the future of work around a global talent pipeline.
