You can choose from various models when looking to outsource resources and employees to perform specific tasks. Most companies, however, prefer using staffing augmentation. But what does that mean? And why is it the preferred method?

What is staffing augmentation?

The most foundational of all outsourcing methods is staff augmentation. Companies use freelancers or experts to boost output to satisfy company objectives. Staffing augmentation is a prevalent practice. With the emergence of worldwide freelance platforms, freelancing has recently gained popularity. The staff augmentation strategy describes hiring or contracting individuals from a third party by the outsourcing firm. The impetus for such a structure is a need for more in-house staff or capabilities for the practical completion of the project.

In this approach, the outsourcing company contracts or leases a specified quantity of staff from a vendor, or service provider, for a set length of time. The service provider provides the necessary staff for the task's duration or on an as-needed arrangement at an agreed-upon charge. The contracted staff are often positioned at the customer location under this approach. As a result, this model presupposes that the customer supplies the infrastructure required for the team to operate on-site.

Types of staff augmentation

When considering staffing augmentation, one of the most important things you need to determine is what you are looking for. Staff augmentation in itself is divided into three categories;

Commodity staff augmentation

This is often used for basic labor skills. It requires no additional skills. All you need is a group of ready and willing workers. This type is mainly sought after within the factory ad warehousing industry. It is also utilized for events, manual labor, and retail jobs. You can efficiently work with anyone as long as they have the right attitude.

Skilled-based staff augmentation

This level requires the team or employee to possess specific skills. For instance, typing, use of certain software applications like word processors, and simple task performance capabilities. At the same time, these skills are not exactly critical or essential for project development. Such jobs are often open to office clerical positions, data processing, copywriting, and transcription jobs. Again, for a software team, these skills must match the required level of expertise.

Highly skilled level

This is the highest level of staffing augmentation, requiring the employee or contracted individuals to possess a specified, highly definitive skill set. Most software development jobs fall under this category. You need to acquire advanced skills both academically and with experience. Such levels open opportunities for software engineers, designers, and other highly technical jobs.

Benefits of staff augmentation

Some of the advantages you can look forward to with staff augmentation include the following;

Reduces the time required for recruiting

Planning and organizing the selection process involves significant time and resources. You must write a position description and post it on many employment boards. You will also spend time initially screening and interviewing individuals. If you happen to strike a rock during this procedure, you will be required to cancel and redo the process.

Cost-cutting measures

Based on the type of staffing augmentation you pick, you can save money over hiring in-house programmers. The increased cost is merely the fee for the new hire or expert. Staff augmentation is less expensive since it entails recruiting temporary personnel rather than full-time employees who need additional overheads like health insurance, taxes, and other administrative expenditures.

Access to a brilliant group of specialists

You only get to choose whatever abilities and technical competence you want applicants to have. Thanks to the outsourcing industry, you may select from a worldwide skilled workforce of remote software engineers. It implies you may work with specialists from all around the world.

Even if your country or location lacks programmers, you may engage foreign citizens to accomplish your company objectives. Staff augmentation allows you to harness both external and internal resources and identify and fix gaps. As specialists add skills and expertise to your projects, the approach saves you time on retraining and education.

Conclusion

Staffing augmentation allows you to boost your team for only a required duration, so you don't incur any extra costs of hiring individuals. You can also temporarily work with the best in the industry while focusing on the most crucial aspects of your business.