What does staff augmentation mean for you and are there any benefits to using it? The simple answer is that staff augmentation is a strategy for outsourcing your labor. Staff augmentation is different from standard outsourcing practices because with augmentation, you already have staff that are capable of doing the job but they may be lacking in one or two vital skills. Staff augmentation allows you to evaluate where your current staff is lacking and then hire new staff to fill in the gap.
What Does Staff Augmentation Mean?
Staff augmentation means using innovative hiring strategies. These strategies involve hiring temporary workers from an external agency to complete certain tasks in a project. Here are few of the benefits of using staff augmentation and why you should consider using it as a hiring strategy.
Cut Down on Recruitment Costs
Sourcing new hires is a time and energy-consuming process. Finding the new candidates, screening them and getting them started will take time away from completing the project and will incur more costs. Those new hires may still need training and they will take time to adjust to the job’s demands. Staff augmentation allows you to get around these issues because the agency that you hire them from has already screened, vetted and trained them. You just have to tell the agency what you want and let them deliver the perfect employee for the job.
An Easy Way to Scale Your Staff
Being understaffed is an issue and so too is being overstaffed. Business demands tend to shift which means that you may find your business is lacking in a particular form of expertise that is needed in order to progress. Standard hiring practices means that whatever staff you hire to fill the temporary gap have to be laid off right later and that causes resentment among the staff that’s left because they will feel expendable. Staff augmentation gets around this because the new staff hired with this strategy already know that they will leave once the particular job is done. This means that you can easily scale your staff up or down as needed.
Retain Control Over Projects
Traditional outsourcing means putting the responsibility of finishing particular tasks in the hands of a third-party. This may be appealing in cases where a company is stressed with a high workload, however, staff augmentation allows the company to fill in the temporary labor deficit while retaining oversight on vital projects. Keeping the project in-house also allows the augmented staff to interact with the existing staff which boosts efficiency.
Gain Access to a Wider Talent Pool
Staff augmentation allows a company to benefit from the skills of trained professionals. Most staff augmentation recruits are specialists in particular fields rather than the ‘all-rounded’ individuals who are chosen as permanent hires. This means that the augmented staff is able to bring unique ideas and technical skills to the company.
Conclusion
What does staff augmentation mean? Having the option to hire skilled staff on a temporary basis is great in the short-run but you don’t want your permanent staff to grow complacent because they know that new hires will come in for what they can’t do. You should always strive to bring the most out of existing staff but there will be certain situations where staff augmentation may be a better option.
