Staff augmentation is one of the most popular methods businesses use to fill skill gaps quickly and efficiently. It is a process where businesses hire skilled professionals through a staffing agency to work on short-term projects. Staff augmentation has many benefits, such as cost savings, flexibility, and scalability. In this blog post, we will discuss the benefits of staff augmentation, its types, and the industries where it is used extensively. We will also highlight the pros and cons of staff augmentation and its primary differences from outsourcing.
WHAT IS STAFF AUGMENTATION?
Staff augmentation hires skilled professionals through a staffing agency to work on short-term projects. Staff augmentation allows businesses to quickly and efficiently fill skill gaps without worrying about long-term commitments such as legal, healthcare, insurance, and retirement plans. Staff augmentation allows companies to scale up and down in staff size without the need to hire permanent employees. Staff augmentation is often used in mobile cross-platform app development, the design web app, and other complex projects.
BENEFITS OF STAFF AUGMENTATION
Cost Savings
Staff augmentation helps businesses save costs by eliminating the need to commit to long-term employment contracts and other related expenses. Staff augmentation is often a more cost-effective solution than hiring permanent employees.
Flexibility
Staff augmentation allows businesses to scale up and down in staff size as needed without having to commit to long-term contracts or hire additional employees.
Scalability
Staff augmentation allows businesses to scale quickly and efficiently without the need for long-term commitments or additional employees. Staff augmentation also allows businesses to easily switch between different skill sets as needed, depending on the project requirements.
TYPES OF STAFF AUGMENTATION
Staff augmentation is supplementing an existing team with additional personnel to achieve a specific goal. In the modern business world, it is increasingly common for businesses to turn to external staff augmentation to keep up with ever-changing customer demands, technology advancements, and market trends. Three main types of staff augmentation are typically seen in organizations.
Commodity Staff Augmentation
Commodity staff augmentation involves hiring essential factory workers or labourers who do not require specialized skill sets and are usually compensated at an hourly rate. This type of staffing is often used when organizations need extra assistance with manual labour or production processes, such as manufacturing goods or processing orders quickly and efficiently.
Skilled Staff Augmentation
The next type of staff augmentation focuses on recruiting skilled personnel with particular knowledge or skills within a specific field. This can include clerks, data entry operators, machine operators, etc., with a set skill set and expertise in their profession. When utilizing this form of staffing, organizations may require higher pay rates and a more detailed approach to recruitment to ensure that they find the right individuals for the job.
Highly-Skilled Staff Augmentation
Finally, highly-skilled staff augmentation focuses on finding expert professionals with advanced skill sets and experience in their field of work. This commonly includes software engineers, digital marketers, designers, etc., who can provide invaluable assistance across various organizational departments. Often referred to as IT staff augmentation due to its focus on technology-related positions, this type of staffing requires a comprehensive recruitment process that takes into account all aspects, from technical tests to interviews, in order to ensure that only the most qualified candidates are considered for employment.
