Imagine your team being out sick, on vacation, or overloaded with work. Suddenly, you’re facing a staffing shortage. What can you do? One option is to augment staff. Staff augmentation is the process of hiring contract or temporary workers to fill in the gaps in your workforce. It can be a great choice for businesses that need help for a short time or have high staff turnover.
Staff augmentation has many benefits, including cost savings, increased flexibility, and access to top talent. But before you decide if this is the right solution for you, it’s essential to understand what it is and how it works.
This blog post will explore what staff augmentation is and what benefits it can offer your business. We’ll also talk about the different kinds of temporary workers you might find and how to pick the right one for your needs.
What Is Staff Augmentation?
What if you’re the manager of a company? You’ve just been given a new project, but don’t have the resources to take it on yourself. What do you do?
You could hire a new employee, which would involve interviewing candidates, checking references, and onboarding the new employee. It’s a lot of work, and it can be risky.
Also, around 70% of companies still experience issues while hiring candidates for full-time positions.Â
An easier option is to outsource the project to a staffing company. Staffing companies provide temporary or contract-based employees to businesses in need of extra help. This is known as staff augmentation.
According to the report, the global outsourcing market will reach USD 450 billion by 2026. It will continue to grow at a substantial 5.1% CAGR from the beginning of 2020.Â
Staffing companies have a pool of pre-screened employees, so you can be sure that you’re getting someone who is qualified for the job. And since the employees are temporary, you don’t have to worry about them leaving after a few months.
Parsley Energy, an independent oil and gas company operating in the Permian Basin, relies on staff augmentation. Here is how it played out for them:
- Saved $1.5 million in consulting fees
- Saved $300k in travel costs
- Saved $50k in enterprise project management software
Pros and Cons of Staff Augmentation?
Staff augmentation is a great way to expand your workforce without the hassle of hiring and training new employees. With staff augmentation, you get to onboard employees who are already trained and familiar with your company’s policies and procedures.
However, there are many pros and cons to staff augmentation that you should be aware of before you invest in this modality.
– Staff Augmentation Pros
Here are a few perks of investing in staff augmentation to complete a project or serve other business needs.
– Staff Augmentation Cons
Now that you know the benefits of staff augmentation, let us enlighten you with some drawbacks to relying on this strategy:
- Long-Term Dependencies: Continuous reliance on outside sources is unsustainable. If you always use resources from outside your company to reach a goal, you may be able to do better in some ways than your own company.
- Unable to Meet Deadlines: It can be challenging to meet deadlines. It might take some time to introduce new workers to your project. Your project may be delayed by the length of the onboarding and training processes.
- Risk of Drop in Quality: Even though outsourced teams often consist of highly skilled experts, there are still risks associated with adding more IT workers, such as the challenge of integrating them into the project. Hiring a dedicated employee might occasionally be more advantageous in this aspect.
Different Types of Staff Augmentation
Our staff augmentation model can vary according to your requirements. To be precise, there are three different types of staff augmentation:
This type of staff augmentation focuses on the urgency of a particular task or requirement rather than on specific skills. This type of staff augmentation usually involves factory work, manual labor, retail, and other. If you are ever short of staff to perform a variety of tasks, then you should look for agencies that offer such people to work for you.
If you require a bit more skill, then this type of staff augmentation is for you. However, this is considered hiring people with mediocre skill sets. For example, if you need someone for clerical work or data entry tasks, you can consider going for this type.
The third type involves highly skilled staff. This could be the staff you need to improve your business operations. IT and software development agencies are usually on the hunt for highly skilled staff augmentation. But you should only work with agencies that make sure their employees are trained well and have enough experience to get results.
When Should You Consider Staff Augmentation?
To make the most of this service, ensure this model best suits your project. Here are a few scenarios when you can consider this a reliable option:
Recruiting is usually a long process. You can turn to staff augmentation agencies on short notice and receive help from experts while you continue with the hiring process for future projects that are similar.
A time may come when you need specific skills for a period. For example, logo designing, tech setup, app development, web development, and more. In these situations, an agency can give you a temporary tool to help you reach your goals.
Are you looking for a competitive addition while launching a new product? Well, you’ll have to increase your team rapidly. Hire an agency to fulfill the temporary spike or increased workload.
What Are the Challenges of Staff Augmentation?
There are some challenges to consider before you decide to go down this road. For one thing, you need to ensure you have the infrastructure to support temporary workers. This includes HR processes, systems, and tools, and communication channels.
Another challenge is finding the right people to fill the roles. It’s essential to understand the skills and experience required for the job and then find someone who meets those expectations.
And finally, you need to ensure you’re budgeting for staff augmentation correctly so you’re not overspending or underutilizing resources.
How Do You Find the Right Staff Augmentation Partner?
How do you find the right staff augmentation partner? It’s not as easy as just picking a name out of a hat.
First, you need to figure out your specific needs. What kinds of skills do you need to add to your team? What’s the workload like right now? How many hours do you need the person to work?
Once you have a good idea of what you’re looking for, start researching and asking the right questions. Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Ask about the agency’s screening process. How do they ensure that their workers are qualified for the job?
- Ask about the agency’s training process. How do they make sure their employees are ready to follow the rules and policies of your company?
- Ask about the agency’s retention rate. How often do workers leave their jobs after being placed by the agency?
- Ask about the agency’s client base. Are they experienced in working in your industry or sector?
- Ask about the agency’s fees. How much do they charge for their services?
Keep in mind that not all staff augmentation companies are created equal. You want to find someone with a proven track record of success who can provide the quality help you need.
What Roles Can We Fill Through Staff Augmentation?
Businesses should not undermine the importance of staff augmentation, as it allows them to fill different crucial roles. Here is the list that includes various roles staff augmentation can easily fill:
- Cybersecurity specialists
- Design and marketing experts
- Admin professionals
- Project managers
- Business analysts
- IT professionals (network engineers, QA testers, etc.)
When Should We Use Staff Augmentation?
You can leverage staff augmentation strategies to boost your business’s overall productivity. In reality, staff augmentation plays a crucial role in several situations, including:
- Short-term projects (If they need immediate expansion)
- Specific tasks and activities ( if they require expertise)
- Increase in demand (it can be seasonal)
- Bridge a skill gap
Staff augmentation is a blessing in disguise for businesses looking to build their reputation and leave a lasting impression on customers. Furthermore, it allows them to expand their current IT teams to meet the dynamic needs of any project, if they are willing to do so.
Final Words on What is Staff Augmentation
If you are still wondering what staff augmentation is, well, it can help you save money and time, and it’s a great way to find qualified candidates quickly and easily. Staff augmentation is the best option if you’re looking for a reliable, affordable way to fill in the gaps in your workforce.
Objects is the right place to look if you are seeking highly skilled IT staff augmentation. Objects is an established organization with IT professionals who have the potential to help you achieve your goals.
