The era we currently live in is all about agility. Now, people are looking for split-second solutions to their needs. The same goes for recruitment. Gone are the days of screening CVs and conducting multiple-round interviews.
Instead, organizations want a new resource in the blink of an eye. So how do they achieve this? Enter Staff augmentation. Staff augmentation is the new recruitment technique which ensures that you get the desired resource based on your requirements, such as the level of expertise and qualifications.
Amazing, isn’t it? According to the numbers, by the close of 2023, application outsourcing alone contributed to $118.70 billion in terms of revenue. So, we can see that Staff augmentation/outsourcing is already going strong.
In today’s blog, we’ll discuss the ins and outs of staff augmentation as the modern day recruitment technique. So stay tuned and keep reading.
First, let’s dive deep into staff augmentation and how it benefits users.
What Is Staff Augmentation?
Staff augmentation is the practice of hiring a 3rd party agency that provides you with the resources that you need to fulfill your operations. For example, you need to hire an app developer to design a new app for your grocery stores to facilitate online shopping.
Now, you have two choices. Either you hire a recruiter who finds you the right resource, or you contact a staff augmentation agency. In the first choice, you’ll have to go through a lengthy recruitment process that involves continuous screening of candidates. Moreover, you’ll also need to pay the employee the full range of benefits, which means a further increase in costs
In the next case, the staff augmentation company provides you with the right resource, based on the requirements. You pay on an hourly basis and the company provides it’s services. In this scenario, the responsibility of fulfilling the employee’s needs lies on part of the company rather than you. As a result, it’s a more cost effective approach. But, that’s not the only benefit of staff augmentation. Next, we’ll look at more benefits that staff augmentation brings to your business.
How Staff Augmentation Benefits Your Business
Here are the numerous benefits of hiring a staff augmentation agency for your business.
1. Flexibility
The staff augmentation model provides the benefit of flexibility for firms. Using staff augmentation you can hire the resource you need at a particular time and replace it seamlessly with another resource as and when you see fit.
In this case, you don’t need to relieve anyone from their job. In fact, just contact the staff augmentation company and they’ll handle the rest. So, if you need a web developer rather than an app developer, you can contact the staff augmentation agency and they’ll oblige accordingly.
Moreover, staff augmentation companies also provide the added benefit of being able to provide you with resources that are comfortable to work during varying time-zones. Thus, you don’t need to hire additional staff that can work during night shifts. Once again, just tell the staff augmentation company and they’ll fulfill your requirements.
2. Scalability
There comes a point when you’ll decide to expand your business to newer horizons and greener pastures. Once again, you’ll need more staff to ensure that you are well equipped to tackle the new market. But once again, hiring staff is a time taking process.
Because of this time constraint you’ll be unable to cater to the market on the spot. But with staff augmentation, this process becomes easy. In just a snap of the finger you’ll be able to onboard staff, allowing you to cater to your customers accordingly.
For example, you own a digital marketing agency. You started by offering content writing services, but now you want to cater to clients that demand video design and editing services. Now, rather than spending months looking for the ideal resource that meets your payscale and experience requirements, you contact a staff augmentation company. The company provides you with a video editor on an hourly pay rate basis. Now, you can start offering video editing services right on the spot.
Thus, staff augmentation is a great way to begin expanding your business.
3. Managing increased workloads
Seasonal spike in product demands mostly lead to increased workload. For example, there is an increased demand for customized hoodies in the winter months. As a result, many companies and e-commerce stores sprout up, requiring logos for their brand.
Now, if you own a digital agency with one graphic designer, you’ll need another one to fulfill the increased demand. But once again, you can’t think about hiring a full-time resource, because the demand is only seasonal. But with staff augmentation, you can hire a designer at a day’s notice.
Thus, you can quickly address the surge in demand, without hiring a permanent employee. Therefore, staff augmentation is a great approach to manage increased workloads.
4. Filling skill gaps
Staff augmentation is a great way to fill the skill gaps within your team. There are times when your team is short of the skills needed to meet changing consumer demand. For example, new e-commerce websites are beind developed using Woo-Commerce and Shopify.
However, your team lacks a Shopify developer. As a result, you can contact a staff augmentation agency to provide you with a Shopify developer. Thus, you will be able to fulfill a skill gap in your organization without having to hire a full-time resource.
Hence staff augmentation is a great way to fill the skill gaps within your organization and stay in line with the competition.
Now, let’s look at the challenges to consider when availing staff augmentation services
Challenges in Utilizing Staff Augmentation Services
Before utilizing staff augmentation services make sure to address the following challenges to facilitate a smooth onboarding process.
1. Cultural Differences
When you’re onboarding employees from a different organization that are used to a different culture, you face a cultural compatibility issue. As a result your existing employees will take time to gel in with the newly augmented resource.
2. Communication Issues
Staff augmentation is flexible and the hiring company can replace employees as per their needs. So, full-time employees might face an issue in building a connection with the augmented staff, which hinders communication, leading to uncertainty and the inability to build cross-functional teams.
So, ensure these best staff augmentation practices before implementing the model in your workplace.
The Ending Note
Staff augmentation is a great recruitment technique without the added cons of hiring a full-time employee. It allows organizations to maintain flexibility and achieve scalability without going through the lengthy recruitment process and also switch the resource as per their liking and requirements. .
However, before implementing this model organizations must also consider the cultural differences and communication barriers involved. Only then can this model achieve the required success.
