In a world where IT talent and positions are growing exponentially, it seems difficult to believe that IT departments across the world could be underperforming. One of the best ways for organizations and departments to remedy this fault is to consider Augmented Staffing.
What is Augmented Staffing?
Augmented Staffing is an outsourcing strategy which is used to staff a project and respond to the business objectives. The technique consists of evaluating the existing staff and then determining which additional skills are required. One possible advantage of this approach is that it may leverage existing resources as well as utilize outsourced services and contract workers. The goal of the exercise is to handle staffing requirements with an existing set of talent. Numerous consulting companies offer staff augmentation services.
IT Augmented Staffing services entail allocation of dedicated technical resources, usually offshore, hired as overseas development extensions of in-house application development teams on fixed or flexible terms and conditions. This is a service where the provider will augment the client’s workforce with skilled persons. The Client is still responsible to manage the persons and the work which they will be completing. The software developers are hired based on their technological skill set. Using IT staff augmentation services provide a one-window solution to companies who might require application development across diverse technology verticals.
When You Need Augmented Staffing?
Staff augmentation is frequently used in the IT and software engineering industries. However, it can be helpful for any business that needs human resources to deal with a special project or business spike. Here are some common scenarios:
- Your permanent staff is already working overtime, but a new project has landed. You need extra bodies to ensure that customer service does not falter.
- An employee with critical knowledge has announced plans for an extended period of absence, for example, a sabbatical, illness recovery or maternity leave, and you need temporary cover to plug the skills gap,
- A new project requires specialized skills that your current employees do not possess. You need a consultant contractor to handle project implementation and train up your staff.
- The company has been unable to recruit the right talent, perhaps hiring some people that did not work out.
- You’re thinking about increasing your team permanently but are not sure if you have enough need. Staff augmentation can help you test a larger staff before making direct hires.
Whatever your staffing needs, augmented staffing works best when you have a management system set up to provide project oversight. That way, you can fill crucial positions with a variety of contractors and freelancers in the knowledge they will slot right into your existing operating structure, just like regular employees.
Benefits of Augmented Staffing?
The main benefit to staff augmentation is that the contractors you hire can jump straight in and get to work. There are hardly any hiring formalities, so you’re not wasting valuable time with recruitment, background checks, and onboarding. Perhaps more significantly, you’re not taking on the burden of additional payroll duties. You can simply ramp up and down to meet fluctuating staffing demands without shouldering the cost associated with hiring permanent, full-time employees:
Not bound by geographical limitations
Augmented Staffing presents a very effective solution for this problem, as it allows you to connect with developers located in other countries. You’ll just need to give your detailed requirements to the vendor providing staff augmentation services, and then choose the best candidates out of those the vendor pre-selects.
Reduces time spent on recruitment
Augmented Staffing companies can help you reduce your time-to-hire from months to weeks or even days. Such companies normally keep extensive and regularly-updated databases of tech workers, so it’s likely that they’ll be able to match you with the right candidate a lot faster. You’ll be able to save plenty of time and jump straight to interviewing the most promising candidates
No infrastructure investment
Augmented Staffing helps you avoid all of these investments, since office facilities, work stations, and support staff is all provided by the staff augmentation vendor. Even if the developer you hire through the staff augmentation model decides to leave shortly after they joined your company, you don’t end up with stagnant infrastructure investments.
Eliminates the additional costs of having in-house employees
With Augmented Staffing, you no longer have to pay for employee benefits, technically your developers are employees of the staffing provider. Of course, the provider will charge a fee for their services, but it will almost certainly be a lot lower than what you’d have to pay if the developers were on your payroll.
What’s your thought of Staff Augmentation? Please share with us!
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Ha Pham