As different industries continue to adopt new technologies into their strategies, the demand for all types of specialists is more significant than ever. But since business needs can vary depending on their goals, some businesses may only require additional workers on a seasonal basis. Business owners often look for other solutions that avoid hiring full-time employees for this reason.
These days, it can be common to see companies augmenting their workforce − thanks to the ease and convenience that the process provides. But for some firms, getting into staff augmentation is still a new concept they may not understand.
What is Staff Augmentation?
Staff augmentation is an outsourcing strategy that refers to temporarily using outside personnel to augment your company's staff capacity. It is often used to help increase or decrease labor forces, utilize new business strategies, and act as a comprehensive solution to managing your organization's workforce better.
How Can Staff Augmentation Act as a Solution?
Recruiting new talent has become a challenge for many organizations in recent years. While your company's leadership team will have specific requirements in mind, you must also find ways to cater to the needs of the current generation of workers. Otherwise, engaging with qualified candidates can be more difficult, especially when your goals do not align.
Other factors like budget also play a role in the limitations of the recruitment your business can manage. When determining a recruitment strategy, you would have to consider factors like advertising costs, temporary agency costs, and referral bonuses, for example. Luckily, staff augmentations offer solutions for these common problems while offering other benefits to your company.
What Are the Benefits of Staff Augmentation?
Outsourcing has become a popular solution amongst businesses of all sizes. Here are some benefits you can enjoy by augmenting your staff.
Cut Down on Hiring Costs
Committing to hiring a full-time employee can be a costly decision. Hiring temporary workers allows you to reallocate resources to other projects which can benefit your operations. There is less financial responsibility for a temporary worker as there is no need to finance special equipment, employee benefits, and training, for example.
Access a Larger Talent Pool
Managing short-term workers allows you to leverage a much larger talent pool than one just filled with full-time employees. These temporary recruits are often more domain-centric, bringing unique and beneficial skills and techniques to help your organization get ahead of the competition. With access to a better talent pool filled with uniquely-skilled workers, you can foster a motivated workforce that can deliver high-quality results.
Gain More Flexibility with Your Workload
Having the ability to hire short-term workers for specific projects can help save you both time and money. While full-time employees may not be able to accept a constant shift in their schedules, an outsourced worker can typically be as flexible as you need them to be.
Boost Your Operational Efficiency
Opting for the staff augmentation strategy allows you to manage your operations more efficiently. It saves you the trouble of finding a physical work location for all your employees as they are known to work from anywhere. By enabling a flexible work environment where temporary employees can handle their tasks from a remote location, your organization will be able to operate more efficiently.
Maintain Control and Management Over Your Team
While outsourcing a specific task or project is often associated with less control, it is not the case of staff augmentation. This option allows you to sustain control over your operations and leverage the help of short-term staff in any way required at any given time.
Access to an Objective Perspective
While having full-time workers with abundant experience can be a great asset, there are other advantages to temporarily hiring new, younger employees. Testing out some new hires from the millennial and Gen Z worker pools can provide access to contemporary views that can spark new ideas for your organization to leverage.
Lead Your Business with Augmented Solutions
Common issues in hiring have challenged many companies as workforce trends continue to shift with the new generation of workers. But despite these hurdles, outsourcing has become a popular way for businesses to gain access to specialized talent without needing long-term commitment.
Using strategies such as staff augmentation has provided a convenient and beneficial way for businesses to grow without compromising the quality of their operations. Staff augmentation also allows companies to gain more insights from a larger talent pool, which they can leverage to improve operations further.
About the Author: Karl Pulanco is the Product Portfolio Manager for Yondu. He’s into photography which is not surprising as he is a travel junkie as well. While he enjoys working on product planning and custom software development, he has a soft spot for writing and occasionally contributes articles related to his work.
