What is staff augmentation? Why it’s essential for your company?
Staff augmentation is an outsourcing model that helps increase the staff for a specific client or project. You can get the required professionals for your company without exceeding your budget. Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? It is not the traditional long-term hiring and instead depends on the duration of the project or the hiring company’s needs. During this process, companies hire professionals for their expertise. They are responsible for a specific project or client only. Other specifications also vary according to the situation at hand. Tekglide has professionals with a lot of expertise in staff augmentation.
What is Staff Augmentation?
Staff augmentation services are becoming quite common as companies move towards remote jobs. Additionally, many startups now consider the digital services required in every field. Thus, remote jobs with polished skills help companies hire staff at a lower cost.
There are three types of staff expansion models:
1. Core Augmentation (Long-Term Contract):
It involves hiring staff on a long-term basis to become a core part of your team. These employees integrate into your company culture and work alongside your existing employees.
2. Functional Augmentation (Temporary Help):
This augmentation involves hiring temporary staff to assist with specific functions or projects. Companies bring in these employees for a limited duration to fulfill a particular need, and they do not become part of the core team.
3. Temporary Staff Augmentation (Short-Term Contract):
It is like functional augmentation. Yet, it involves hiring staff for even shorter durations to fill temporary gaps in your workforce. These employees are usually brought in for a specific project or task and are not intended to be long-term additions to your team.
12 Unique business ideas for staff expansion
1. Skill Specialists:
Focus on providing staff with expertise in niche areas like blockchain, AI, or cybersecurity.
2. Virtual Team Building:
Help companies create and manage remote teams with activities and tools for collaboration.
3. Industry Experts:
Offer staff with industry-specific knowledge for short-term healthcare, finance, or e-commerce projects.
4. Project Managers:
Provide temporary project managers to streamline project execution.
5. Support Teams:
Offer on-demand teams for customer service, IT helpdesk, or administrative tasks.
6. Onsite Tech Support:
Provide temporary onsite support for IT infrastructure and troubleshooting.
7. Event Staffing:
Provide staff for events, conferences, and trade shows.
8. Sales and Marketing Support:
Offer temporary sales and marketing professionals for lead generation and campaigns.
9. Language Services:
Provide translators and language specialists with multilingual support.
10. Training Programs:
Offer training for employee development and new technologies.
11. Health and Wellness:
Provide professionals for employee well-being, including fitness trainers and counselors.
12. Startup Support:
Offer mentoring, advisory, and temporary staffing services for startups.
Benefits of staff augmentation for your company
Following are some of the known benefits of staff augmentation.
- Flexible workforce
In times of lower workload, you can also decrease the staff. You can increase the staff as needed when you get more projects. It helps maintain the budget without having a high per-head cost. You can take on more projects due to staff expansion, as the staff will be available anytime your workload increases. Most companies have to let go of a few projects due to the shortage of staff and insufficient funds to bear the cost.
- Lower overhead cost
The overhead cost is lower since the augmented staff isn’t included in the full-time workforce. More so if they are working, their seating, laptop, transportation, etc, costs are not present. So, they are light on the company budget. The company can analyze their needs since augmented staff work on a project or contract basis. They can end the contract when they don’t need or can’t afford it.
- Easy to manage
Staff expansion is different from outsourcing. You are not giving away a project to get it done; instead, you rent professionals to cater to your projects/clients. Thus, you still have complete control over the project and how you want it completed. It is easier to manage and maintain quality. When you outsource a project, you cannot ask them to do it a certain way. Everyone has their way of doing a job, and you cannot dictate to anyone. You can decide the whole process compared to when you have control over it.
- Better employee retention
Staff augmentation services’ most essential and unique benefit is the employee retention rate. Companies that augment staff have higher employee retention. Their employees also have high morale and work motivation. It is because the core team is well-rested. They do their job in a set period with a relaxed mind. There is only a little pending work, making them anxious and draining their mental energy. Happy employees make a company successful with their focus and quality of work.
- Access to Specialized Skills:
Staff augmentation allows companies to access various specialized skills and expertise. These skills are available in multiple ways. Whether you need a software developer, a data analyst, or a digital marketer, staff augmentation gives you access to a diverse talent pool.
- Cost Effectiveness
Hiring full-time employees can be expensive, especially when you factor in salaries, benefits, and overhead costs. Staff augmentation saves companies money by hiring temporary staff only when needed. This approach avoids the extra costs associated with full-time employees.
- Improved Productivity
By supplementing your team with skilled professionals, staff augmentation can help improve productivity and efficiency. Temporary staff can bring fresh ideas and perspectives to your projects, helping you achieve better results in less time.
- Risk Mitigation
Hiring full-time employees can be a costly and time-consuming process. The process can take weeks or months, from advertising job vacancies to interviewing and onboarding new hires. Additionally, hiring full-time employees comes with the risk of hiring, leading to decreased productivity, increased turnover, and wasted resources.
Staff augmentation helps in risk mitigation by providing companies with temporary access to skilled professionals. It allows companies to fill skill gaps in their workforce without the long-term commitment of hiring full-time employees. If a project ends or a business needs change, companies can scale down their team without layoffs or severance packages.
Ability to Adjust Staffing Levels in Response to Market Changes
The business world is evolving, and companies must be able to adapt to stay ahead of the competition. Staff augmentation allows companies to adjust their staffing levels in response to changing market conditions. Whether they need to scale up to meet a sudden increase in demand or scale down during slower periods, staff augmentation allows companies to do so.
By using staff augmentation, companies can mitigate the risks of hiring full-time employees while maximizing their ability to respond to market changes. This flexibility is essential for companies looking to stay agile and competitive in today’s fast-paced business environment.
Difference between staff augmentation and hiring a freelancer
| Staff Augmentation | Hiring a Freelancer | |
| Relationship with Worker | Becomes part of your team, working alongside internal employees | Works on their own need to be integrated into your team and are often remote |
| Scope of Work | Used for longer-term projects or to fill skill gaps in your team | Hired for short-term projects or specific tasks requiring specialized skills. |
| Control and Supervision | More control and supervision over the external talent working under your direction. | Freelancers work on their own with more autonomy over their work. |
| Cost and Flexibility | Can be cost-effective for long-term projects, with the flexibility to scale your team up or down as needed. | Cost-effective for short-term projects, but may pay more per hour than staff augmentation. |
| Process and Accountability | Dealing with a company, which assigns you a team, providing a perception of better accountability. | Dealing with an individual freelancer, who others may perceive as less accountable. |
| Insurance and Risk Mitigation | Staff augmentation providers often offer insurance services against fraud, cybersecurity risks, general liabilities, errors, etc. | Freelancers do not provide proper insurance coverage. |
Why Staff Augmentation is Essential for Your Company
It is essential for companies looking to stay agile and competitive. By using the benefits of staff augmentation, companies can:
· Adapt to changing market conditions
· Access specialized skills and expertise
· Reduce costs and improve efficiency
· Maintain a competitive edge in their industry
· Protip for maintaining effective staff augmentation
Regular Communication and Integration:
Ensure that you integrate your augmented staff into your team and culture. Schedule regular check-ins and team meetings to keep them updated on project goals, progress, and changes. Encourage open communication channels so they feel comfortable asking questions and sharing ideas. It helps encourage a sense of belonging. It ensures everyone is on the same page, leading to more effective collaboration.
Key takeaways
1. Keep your augmented staff integrated into your team. Do this through regular check-ins and meetings. Ensure everyone aligns on project goals.
2. Encourage open communication for questions. Also, encourage it for feedback and ideas. It develops a sense of belonging and collaboration.
3. Integrate augmented staff into your company culture to create a cohesive team environment.
4. Set expectations for roles, responsibilities, and deliverables to avoid misunderstandings and ensure accountability.
5. Provide feedback and recognition to augmented staff to motivate them and maintain engagement.
6. Provide the necessary support and resources for augmented staff to succeed.
Conclusion
Staff augmentation is an excellent way to increase your company’s efficiency. You can take on more projects and help your employees feel less burdened and more relaxed. In staff augmentation, the company is not responsible for training the professionals as the providers do. You can focus on generating more revenue by increasing sales. The staff can concentrate on specific projects and give their 100%. While the augmented staff can handle other projects. Tekglide showcases skilled professionals who specialize in staff augmentation.
