Staff augmentation is a tried-and-true staffing technique to consider as a potential supplement to your company’s flexible workforce management strategy. It is intended to temporarily complement an in-house team with skilled workers, and it can be a cost-effective solution to achieve project deadlines and objectives, as well as to address skill set gaps.
With corporate employment freezes and market uncertainty during these unusual times, businesses must be more flexible, nimble, and responsive to shifting market dynamics and customer needs than ever before. A component of accomplishing this is evaluating flexible talent management solutions. They should address short-term staffing demands and provide a functional framework for adding and removing employees in a timely, efficient, and cost-effective manner. There are several options. Staff augmentation has been demonstrated to be successful for many years.
How does staff augmentation work?
Staff augmentation expands an organization’s talent capacity by providing high-quality temporary workers or contractors with the necessary expertise. These short-term contracts are often completed by a staffing agency or an online talent marketplace and are paid by the hour. To address rapid technological expansion, it was initially implemented by the IT industry and tech sector verticals.
Staff augmentation has spread beyond these industries throughout the years, growing in tandem with the global staffing business. According to a Staffing Sector Analysts market analysis, the global staffing industry, which is one of the primary providers of staff augmentation, produced $500 billion in 2019.
Staff augmentation is being used in practically every industry today as a cost-effective approach to address short-term employment demands, which is contributing to this linked market expansion. Marketing leaders and managers, for example, are using staff augmentation to add temporary production capacity to their existing workforce for a new marketing campaign, product release, or rebranding initiative. O
Different staffing methods, such as traditional outsourcing and managed services, compete with staff augmentation. It is critical to recognize the distinction. Contract labor is payed on outputs and particular outcomes rather than by the hour in both traditional outsourcing and managed services. Your organization is less involved in the day-to-day implementation of the intended outcomes when using outsourcing services.
Staff augmentation is frequently used to cover temporary shortfalls. For a variety of reasons, additional personnel may be required. For example, if a software developer has to bring a new application to market quickly but discovers a skills shortage in his or her existing team, staff augmentation may be the appropriate answer. Alternatively, you may only add a short increase in headcount to handle work overflow. A short-term addition of nurses to an existing team to assist with surges in patient load is an example of staff augmentation in the healthcare business.
Although staff augmentation works well for many businesses, it has advantages and limitations like any other organizational employment method. Understanding the benefits and drawbacks allows organizations to choose the optimal staffing plan for their needs.
The Advantages of Staff Augmentation
Staff augmentation is a flexible and innovative way to increase resources within an existing team for increased short-term capability. It also gives a swift approach to bring in talent to address a skill set need without committing to a long-term employment relationship. However, there are other benefits, such as retaining in-house teams focused on producing and deliverables rather than worrying about new hires with greater talents replacing them. The benefits of using staff augmentation are numerous and persuasive for many firms, including those listed below.
- Highly Skilled . When a project requires a skill set that your present business does not have, staff augmentation can be an excellent answer. It is especially beneficial if the necessary abilities will not be required in the long run.
- Scale employees up or down as needed. The ability to rapidly and efficiently increase resources in any direction on demand is a significant benefit as we traverse the uncharted waters of a global epidemic. Staff augmentation allows an organization to add personnel when and where they are needed, and it may allow it to easily scale down when needed with less impact on direct recruits.
- Staffing versatility . Staff augmentation usually makes it easier to swiftly and efficiently add to an existing team. Once a staffing agency or online talent platform provider knows a company’s requirements, they can select from a pool of contractors and put those who are the greatest fit. Staff augmentation also makes it easier to replace individuals who are a poor fit for the job or firm, or who are underperforming.
- Training cost reduction Onboarding new direct hires takes time and money from the company. One goal of staff augmentation is to supplement the present workforce as seamlessly as feasible. Instead of onboarding and assimilating new personnel, the idea is to augment full-time employees with people with diverse abilities for a set length of time.
- Acceptance inside the organization. Let’s face it: when a new permanent hire joins the team, employees may feel threatened, especially if they have a sought-after skill set that fulfills the current project or program demands. Staff augmentation, which temporarily enhances talent, can assist alleviate this problem.
- Savings on overhead. Employees with a full package of benefits are expected to cost 1.25 to 1.4 times their income, depending on the conditions. Using staff augmentation to fill a temporary position allows a corporation to avoid long-term costs and overhead.
- Taking part on a trial basis. Hiring a new employee with the correct skill set can make sense in some cases, especially if a short-term project turns into a long-term program. Staff augmentation allows organizations to test possible team members in the workplace to evaluate if there is enough need to justify hiring an employee and if an individual is a suitable match before giving a permanent position.
The Drawbacks of Staff Augmentation
Staff augmentation, as appealing as it may sound, is not appropriate for every situation. In comparison to the standardized processes built for direct hires, staff augmentation necessitates changes and enhancements to internal processes and tools. Furthermore, problems might occur when staff augmentation becomes the go-to strategy for longer-term initiatives, such as increased costs and risk when a service level commitment is not properly specified.
- Management and oversight Any increase in a team’s size and resources necessitates oversight and processes. This comprises temporary personnel brought on as a result of staff augmentation.
- External employee training. Staff augmentation onboarding typically requires less time and effort than hiring personnel, but it is not nonexistent, and some level of involvement may be required.
- There is no institutional understanding. Some initiatives needs a depth of historical knowledge that can only be provided by current staff. Depending on the project, a new employee may need to be trained and ramped up.
- Long-term labor expenditures are increasing. . When using staff augmentation, the placement agency is paid, as is the talent. As a result, staff augmentation contractors may end up costing more than permanent employees doing the same job function over time. In the short run, the lower hiring/firing costs may outweigh the higher labor costs.
Does staff augmentation make sense for your company?
Before deciding on staff augmentation, it is critical to evaluate and analyze different staffing models such as the aforementioned managed services and project outsourcing. Here at Amazing Devs we can provide top-notch, highly skilled and experienced talents, bringing the best part of hiring an external professional in long-term without risks.
Begin by carefully examining and outlining your company’s, department’s, or project’s goals, workforce requirements, skill shortages, budget with risk exposure contingencies, and project schedules, milestones, and concrete deliverables. Take into account your organization’s culture and structure. Will one or more of these staffing models be more easily integrated into the current framework, or will modifications in oversight, management, and/or processes be required? If this is the case, discover any differences in these requirements between the models.
A preferred staffing model will most likely emerge from the facts and data obtained from this type of comparison and research. Keep in mind that it may differ from one project to the next. Spending time upfront to do a thorough needs and solution evaluation will help guarantee you make the best selection possible.