Every business looks to maximize its profit and reduce its costs. Companies use many different strategies to achieve the twin goals of higher yields and lower costs. Some of these strategies focus on hiring the best talent as in-house resources to have the most productive workforce. In contrast, others outsource certain business operations or projects to other companies to achieve better performance.
Sometimes, however, such strategies are impractical or don’t deliver the expected results. Here, a business must think of an out-of-box solution and strategy.
One such strategy is staff augmentation. This article gives a complete guide to staff augmentation for businesses.
What is Staff Augmentation?
Staff augmentation is a hiring strategy that falls under the umbrella of outsourcing. It is the process of hiring talented professionals from around the world through third-party vendors, usually on a temporary basis. Let’s use an example to explain it.
Suppose Company A is looking to hire a JAM stack developer to work on a certain project. Company A approaches Company B for the resource, who has a JAM stack developer who can work on Company A’s project. So, the resource is hired by Company A through Company B for the project’s duration.
In all this, Company A only has to share the specific skill set and qualifications it is looking for in its desired resource with Company B, the vendor. It is the latter’s job to find the right resource and conduct interviews and the subsequent onboarding in case it lacks an in-house resource. Most importantly, the new resource will work remotely for Company A, either from home or from Company B’s premises.
There are three kinds of staff augmentation services:
- Commodity – This type of staff augmentation refers to hiring a resource for manual tasks like warehouse management, manual labor, etc.
- Skilled – This is where you require a certain skill set from the resource. It may include copywriting skills, clerical work, transcription, etc.
- Highly Skilled – This type of staff augmentation entails hiring highly skilled workers like software developers, DevOps engineers, etc. The example mentioned above falls under this category.
Advantages of Staff Augmentation
There are multiple benefits of staff augmentation. Let’s look at these very briefly.
- Flexibility – The best advantage of staff augmentation is the flexibility it offers you. If you regularly take up projects of different natures, staff augmentation could emerge as your best hiring strategy. You can hire a certain top-notch resource for a specific period to complete a project efficiently.
- Lower Resource Costs – Your business can save on staffing costs because you don’t need to retain the resources beyond the project’s deadline. Once your project is done, you can relieve the resources, thus saving money.
- Access to Global Talent – Another vital advantage of resource augmentation is providing access to a global pool of talented professionals. This is particularly relevant to IT firms looking to hire cheaper resources from developing countries like India and Pakistan. Do you want a full-stack developer? Get one from India at half the salary! This also makes your business more competitive.
- Operational Efficiency – Staff augmentation improves operational efficiency as on-site and off-site resources collaborate to deliver high-quality services to their employers. This leads to knowledge-sharing and develops a growth mindset, positively impacting your operational processes.
- Transparency – Staff augmentation entails a high level of openness and transparency. Your vendor, Company B, in our earlier example, is responsible for the performance and appraisal of the new resource. It will have complete control over the new resource.
When to Go for Resource Augmentation?
Here are some scenarios where you should consider opting for staff augmentation as your go-to hiring strategy.
- Quick team expansion – Staff augmentation is the right strategy for you if you’re looking to hire new resources quickly. It will save you the time needed to find and vet potential job candidates.
- Fill vital vacant roles – Suppose your company’s graphic designer has a severe car accident, but since you like the resource, you would have them return after recovering. Here, you could hire a resource temporarily to serve as your designer without letting go of your existing employee.
- Enhance workforce capacity – External hiring also does wonders to boost your company’s workforce capacity. The reason could be an increased workload or lack of specific skills that can be addressed through resource augmentation.
- Reduce staff costs – It is no secret that tech professionals are highly paid in the West. You might want to reduce your staffing costs by hiring equally talented people residing offshore to supplement your workforce. A software developer from Pakistan will cost you less than one from the U.K.
Conclusion
Staff augmentation supremacy has emerged as a powerful way to achieve operational excellence and competitiveness. The world is rapidly changing, and we are all more connected with each other than ever before. Moreover, the pandemic has really changed the way people live and work. In such an age of connectivity and technological progress, staff augmentation is a fantastic way to drive business growth.