“Most companies hire remote teams like they hire on-site ones—then wonder why culture doesn’t stick.”

At our agency, we’ve supported over 50 global companies—primarily from Singapore, the U.S., and Europe—hire and scale remote engineering teams in Southeast Asia. Across more than 100 hires, one theme comes up again and again: hiring remote engineers is not the hard part. Building a high-functioning, trusted, and engaged remote team? That’s where most companies stumble.

Remote team building isn’t just about Slack, Zoom, Notion, or Asana. It’s about designing processes and relationships that replace the hallway chats, coffee breaks, and instinctive team alignment that on-site teams naturally benefit from.

👀 The Invisible Challenges Companies Overlook

Many of our clients come to us after their first attempt at remote hiring fails.

They often say things like:

• “They deliver the work but never speak up.”

• “They don’t ask questions until it’s too late.”

• “We thought remote would mean more flexibility, but it’s been more misalignment.”

The truth is, these issues are less about individual talent—and more about missing infrastructure for trust and context.

A recent report from GitLab’s 2023 Remote Work Survey reveals:

• 67% of remote professionals feel they need to over-communicate to be recognized.

• 38% of remote workers say they receive less feedback than they need to improve.

• 58% of SEA-based engineers we’ve interviewed report being confused about decision-making authority in remote-first roles.

So while companies are investing in async tools and documentation, they’re not investing enough in cultural onboarding, expectation-setting, and leadership upskilling.

📉 What Remote Fails Often Have in Common

In our post-hiring follow-ups, we’ve identified a few recurring red flags that signal future remote failure:

1. No clear “remote rituals” – Standups are skipped. 1-on-1s are infrequent. Social moments? None.

2. Lack of onboarding beyond tech setup – Engineers are given Jira access and Slack invites, but not clarity on how decisions are made, or how to escalate concerns.

3. Leadership assumes silence = alignment – In co-located teams, it’s easy to tap someone on the shoulder. In remote setups, silence often means confusion or disengagement.

💡 What We Now Recommend to Clients (That Works)

We’ve advised dozens of startups to rethink how they build remote teams—not just hire them. Here’s what works:

• Create a Remote Onboarding Playbook: Not just tools—but how the team works, communicates, and makes decisions.

• Onboard in “Cohorts” When Possible: Pairing two hires at a time reduces isolation and accelerates cultural integration.

• Build Psychological Safety, Intentionally: That means regular 1-on-1s, async check-ins with Loom, anonymous feedback surveys, and encouraging even “half-baked” ideas to be shared.

• Don’t Skip Soft Skills During Hiring: We now include async writing challenges and simulated stakeholder questions in our assessments—not just take-home coding tests.

In one notable case, a SaaS company in Singapore came to us with 40% churn in their remote dev team. Six months after revamping their onboarding process, shifting to async-first rituals, and adjusting their screening to focus on remote-readiness, they saw 0 attrition and had two Vietnamese engineers promoted to tech leads.

👀 What to Look For in a Remote Engineer (Hint: It’s Not Just Stack Fit)

We’ve refined our hiring process to prioritize the following signals:

• Written communication: Are they clear in pull requests, specs, or Slack threads?

• Proactive ownership: Do they ask questions early? Flag blockers before being asked?

• Pattern recognition: Can they identify what’s missing—even if no one tells them?

• Experience working in async setups: Freelancers and OSS contributors often excel.

And finally, do they understand the business? Remote doesn’t mean just shipping code. It means understanding why the code matters—especially when product, design, and leadership are continents away.

🧠 Final Thought: Remote Is Not “Cheaper Talent,” It’s a Different Operating Model

Hiring remote teams should not be viewed as “outsourcing” or “cost-cutting.” It’s a strategic advantage—if done right. Done poorly, it leads to misalignment, shadow work, and attrition. Done well, remote teams give companies access to a global pool of engineers who thrive independently, contribute meaningfully, and scale with you across time zones.

We’re not just recruiters—we’re your partners in designing teams that last.

Need help finding remote engineers who thrive asynchronously, communicate proactively, and actually stay? Let’s talk.