Staff Augmentation: What Is It and How Does It Work?
Businesses use outsourcing to staff their projects and meet submission deadlines. This strategy comprises evaluating current employees and finding additional capabilities.
Simply explained, staff augmentation is the temporary deployment of outside professionals to boost an organization’s expertise.
By using staff augmentation services, brands may save money on payroll, recruitment, and project execution. This recruiting technique is easily scalable, which means that even if an employment contract is cancelled, ending this kind of collaboration is rather straightforward.
Types of Staff Augmentation
It’s crucial to grasp the various types of staff augmentation before learning more about it.
Staff augmentation may be categorized into three types:
• Skill-Based
Although it is not essential, this kind of employment requires a specific skill set, such as data processing, clerical labor, basic copywriting, transcribing, and so on.
• Commodity
Warehouse jobs, events, retail, and physical labor need a trustworthy worker, but not necessarily someone with a certain skill set.
• Highly-Skilled
Contract law, software engineering, and brand design are just a few examples of very complicated skills that can only be learned by practice or teaching. A certain level of know-how is also necessary.
What Are Staff Augmentation Services and How Do They Work?
Correct staff augmentation talent is accessible in a variety of forms. The finest and most suitable solution is chosen by the demands of the company.
Let’s take a look at the possibilities accessible to you depending on the needs of your business.
Master Vendor Staffing Providers
A large-scale staffing program is managed by a single provider. It’s a commodity kind that suits highly commoditized labor demands with low prices and enormous scale.
Gig-Sharing Platforms
These are online portals that provide independent workers quick access to information. Commoditized skill-based is best suited for task-based demands for more commoditized skillsets. It is well-known for its versatility and speed. Sites like Freelancer.com, Upwork, and others are excellent examples.
Firms that have been in operation for a long period.
These are non-critical initiatives that need high-level expertise and require temporary workers specializing in skill-based commodities. For example, TEKsystems, Adecco, Experts, and others choose it due to its versatility.
Firms that specialize in staffing and consulting
These are tiny organizations or agencies that specialize in finding highly qualified and specialized labor. It is well-known for its high-quality services, such as Patina Solutions, PintB, and others.
Relationships that are direct and independent
Organizations hire these contractors directly, and they provide highly qualified and skill-based personnel. Professionals—for example, WorkMarket, TalentNet, and others—are the best at satisfying the standards.
Platforms for On-Demand Talent
Such platforms provide access to vetted, highly trained individuals. These are ideal for highly trained personnel that need to be deployed fast. For instance, Toptal, BTG, and others.
How Do You Pick the Best Staff Augmentation Model?
Many businesses employ a variety of suppliers at the same time, depending on their requirements. When thinking about hiring more people, it’s important to keep in mind your objectives and priorities. Furthermore, before deciding on a model, you should assess the benefits and drawbacks.
It would be impossible to consider pricing while looking for a machine learning specialist, for example.
When Should You Hire a Staff Augmentation Company?
Now we’ll discuss the instances in which companies choose to use staff augmentation. When you find yourself in one of the following situations, you may use staff augmentation:
When you need an extra pair of hands for your in-house team
Employee augmentation, as we all know, entails expanding a current in-house team to add additional employees to do workflow tasks or filling the knowledge gap by recruiting individuals who are proficient in certain tech stacks in specialized IT disciplines.
When you need to swiftly expand your workforce
If you need a local worker with expertise in a certain product, such as ERP software or anything similar, you may use staff augmentation. This strategy helps us save time spent looking for a professional. All you have to do now is connect with the vendor, go through the candidates’ resumes, and interview them.
You’re on the lookout for high-level expertise.
Software engineers have talents that need education, effort, and experience to master. The skill level is also important since most workforce augmentation initiatives only hire experienced developers because they don’t have time to teach juniors. It’s a more efficient and easy method of acclimating an experienced engineer to the project’s working environment.
When your project is in the hands of a tech-savvy manager, you can be certain that it will be completed on time and on budget. When choosing a resource augmentation paradigm, you must consider the management aspect. You are solely responsible for the management of your team and the development of your product. It specifies that you must be tech-savvy as well as a skilled manager.
When you need to work successfully with your colleagues
You will meet your project needs and have total control over your project if you choose a staff augmentation plan. In addition, every member of your team would be expected to report to you. They will also be a member of your in-house team.
What Are the Advantages of Adding More Employees?
Staff augmentation has a number of benefits. Let’s have a look at a few examples:
Flexibility
With team augmentation, you may recruit as many IT professionals as you desire. You may also scale that team up or down. You can start with two QA engineers, iOS developers, and a UX/UI designer, but later on, you may focus only on Android or iOS developers.
Conserving Natural Resources
The definition of staff augmentation that is based on your company needs may help you save money on recruiting. Although, in order to acquire personnel for your project, you must follow the vendor’s schedule. The amount of time it takes to recruit augmented personnel is solely decided by the degree of expertise of the staff augmentation firm.
Communication that is direct
When you outsource software development or web development, you may be certain that the vendor will keep track of every step. However, you have the power to assign work, schedule sprints, and ultimately govern the process using corporate project management tools such as Trello, Jira, and others when it comes to staff augmentation. The developers will solely report to you since they will be in regular contact with you.
Adaptability and Growth
Brands may extend their operations on a trial basis without risking a loss of investment, failure, or a full-time crew. Staff augmentation services provide expanding firms with a variety of alternatives by allowing them to employ on a project-by-project basis.
Productivity is high.
If you want to hire more people, you should think about how productive they are. Simply said, the team you recruit must be entirely focused on the project, devoting both effort and time to it. As a result, their efficiency should be better than that of an outsourced team that can manage many projects at once.
Prices that are within reach
If full-time staffing is too costly, consider an enhanced team. Hardware, software, training, and office rent are all included in the hourly rate. In-house development services are often inexpensive for this reason.
What is the Process of Staff Augmentation?
For a better understanding, consider the following scenario.
Assume you have an internal CRM system that has to be updated. In addition, your present staff lacks experience or expertise who can improve your product. So, despite opting for the usual recruitment procedure of investigating, interviewing, and onboarding, you choose an outsourced software development provider.
The vendor selects qualified engineers with comparable project experience and shares their CVs with you. You may interview the experts and, if chosen, sign a contract with them.
Short-term initiatives benefit from this kind of staffing and resource augmentation since they need less time to complete.
Another scenario is that you will need to replace a current engineer who is on leave. So, the vendor will assist you in finding the correct programmers for a certain period of time and fill in the gaps in the team’s expertise.
There is a pressing need to grow the team quickly.
If you’re seeking for a skilled applicant in a certain field, the staff augmentation approach may save you time while providing you with the greatest option. All you have to do now is connect with a vendor, evaluate the applicants’ CVs, and interview them.
Having an in-house staff is a good idea.
When you need to expand your present in-house workforce, you may utilize employee augmentation to acquire extra employees who are qualified to do specific workflow tasks.
You should have a tech-savvy manager on your team.
Using a resource augmentation paradigm necessitates self-management. You retain total control over team and product management in this scenario. It necessitates that you be both tech-savvy and a smart manager.
Better team communication is required.
When you desire total control over your project, hiring an augmented team will completely match your company objectives. That team will also be a member of the in-house team that has been assigned to you.
High-level talents are required.
Software engineers have talents that need extensive training, effort, and experience to master. The skill level is also important. Junior developers are seldom included in human resource augmentation initiatives since they need time to train. Adapting a talented engineer to the working environment and project is quicker and simpler.
What are the Difficulties of Adding More People to a Team?
Well, if you don’t recall the primary issues that a firm might confront, the staff augmentation function will not be advantageous to you. So, let’s scroll down and get to know them a little better.
Quality Assurance
Companies looking for specialists for their projects should analyze their prior work and collect feedback from previous customers to verify their quality and experience. Furthermore, they must confirm that the candidate’s skills match their staffing requirements.
They may cause project delays, end-user security issues, and cost overruns if they fail to do so.
Technical know-how
You’ll need to go through a careful screening process that allows you to study the applicants’ profiles and maintain track of their expertise in the subject you’re looking for. If you discover that your augmented team’s performance falls short of your expectations, the sooner you acquire more professionals, the longer your project will be delayed.
Barriers in terms of language and time
This is the most prevalent issue that customers have with staff augmentation. Because of the different levels of English, you may misunderstand throughout the development procedure. However, you may avoid this problem by assessing your vendor’s English skills by speaking with its representatives or communicating with its employees.
Security Concerns
Because the staffing business model necessitates third-party integration for internal processes, security is a major problem. The safety of the project and its clients is critical and should not be jeopardized.
Staff augmentation companies should conduct security audits on a regular basis to identify security vulnerabilities and threats. They must also adhere to strict rules in order to get NDAs signed after enlisting the help of enhanced personnel to assure perfect security.
What are the Benefits and Drawbacks of Staff Augmentation?
Now we’ll look at the benefits and drawbacks of staff augmentation that every company should be aware of before using its services.
The Benefits of Staff Augmentation
Total Control Over the Staff The staff augmentation service will enable you to expand your team while maintaining complete control over their working hours, procedures, duties, and more. It also helps you to manage the outcomes of a given project or assignment.
HR & Overhead Management should be removed from the recruitment process.
The vendor will handle the HR and recruiting management for you if you use staff augmentation services. It allows you to save time and money on the recruitment process.
Cost Savings
Because different staffing firms draw on resources from all around the globe, they are able to provide workers at a reduced cost. To give you a sense of the typical savings that staff augmentation may deliver, these are some of the jobs that a vendor can provide to its customers, along with the corresponding savings:
Cost savings of nearly 52% for a software developer
Additionally, since the employees will be working remotely, it is necessary to economize on expenditures such as an office computer, space, and equipment in order to cut wage costs.
On-Demand Staffing Can Be Reduced or Increased
Staff augmentation enables you to swiftly reduce or increase staff based on your company’s requirements. Staff augmentation may be used to temporarily increase resources and then removed after the project is completed.
Because you don’t need to recruit full-time staff, this strategy allows you to expand your firm at a lower cost and with less risk.
You’ll have access to a large pool of well-trained professionals.
Because many staffing firms have offices across the globe, you may tap into a vast pool of talent regardless of location. It enables you to recruit specialist expertise more quickly and achieve your deadlines.
Furthermore, nations and localities often encourage and grow specialized abilities, giving you the opportunity to attract top individuals with specific expertise and ability.
Miscommunication is a disadvantage of staff augmentation.
However, although the majority of nations speak English, each has its own dialect, which might lead to miscommunications. To prevent this, important instructions should be carefully explained to guarantee that the message is comprehended. It will reduce communication mistakes and, in certain cases, eliminate time wastage.
Accessibility Issues Due to the presence of remote employees
To save expenses, providers utilize personnel from nations with a lower cost of living for staff augmentation. As a result, the employees hired will be working remotely, which means they may not be as available as someone who works in the same office.
Various Cultural Perspectives
Different cultural backgrounds have an impact on a person’s management. Furthermore, a person’s thinking and work habits may be influenced by language, religion, and history. As a result, it’s normally advised to study appropriate books and articles to understand how to manage employees from the nations in which your staff augmentation supplier operates.
