What are the Pros and Cons of Staff Augmentation?

Staff augmentation can provide numerous benefits to your business and employees, from helping new hires get up to speed faster to allowing staff members to work on a project specific to their interests and abilities.

As per Statista, Staff Augmentation ranks fifth among the types of services sold worldwide by professional organizations and had a popularity of 6.3% in 2020. Staff Augmentation benefits are tempting as they provide easy and flexible options for established enterprises. However, it’s essential to weigh the cons too of this approach before implementing it in your own business or considering it as an option in your career development.

In this article, we’ll discuss some of the benefits and drawbacks of staff augmentation, so you can make an informed decision if you continue to pursue this route.

Also Read — Which Option is Better for Your Enterprise: IT Staff Augmentation or Project-Based Consulting?

Staff Augmentation Benefits for Enterprises

• Quick Access to Expertise

Staff augmentation benefits enterprises with immediate access to expertise. It can provide this resource without the need for full-time commitments. For ecommerce websites, you can go for a dedicated development team with prior experience. Thus, you don’t have to spend time on training.

• Lower Hiring Costs

Hiring staff augmentation is an effective way to save hiring costs while meeting organizational requirements. It involves lower costs than developing full-time resources because it allows an organization to pay only for services when they are used.

Staff augmentation development companies in India offer more affordable rates compared to dedicated employees in the U.S or U.K

• Eliminates Risks of Hiring Full-time Resources

Businesses are highly dependent on dedicated resources. If these personnel leave their employment, the organization’s continuity and development can be threatened. One can use staff augmentation development firms in India to avoid such risks. They can provide project-based resources that help businesses ensure better continuity without any burden on full-time resources.

• Highly Scalable Teams

Based on the project requirements, companies can quickly scale up or down the number of members. For example, if your project needs a hundred people and all hundred people are unavailable at one time, you can use 25 people now and 50 people later.

Or, if your project needs less than ten people, it will not make sense to get more than ten. Staff augmentation companies can provide this flexibility and expertise without placing additional obligations on organizations.

• Project Flexibility

Most successful project deliverables rely on quick responses to changing circumstances. In today’s world, where deadlines are constantly pushed back due to unforeseen complications, it is difficult for an organization to hire or retain talent to complete one project.

Rather than making a permanent commitment upfront which may lead to failure, many businesses prefer staff augmentation to adjust staffing according to changing requirements.

• Reduced Overhead Costs

In contrast to employing dedicated resources, staff augmentation reduces overhead costs by avoiding fixed salaries and expenses associated with long-term employees. For example, by using staff augmentation service providers, your company does not have to worry about paying benefits or pensions for workers who may only work for a few months.

You also do not need office space and other infrastructure like computers, printers, etc., since contractors come to your office when required. Staff augmentation benefits allow you to try out new technologies without spending too much money upfront.

Also, Read — 30 Top Software Ideas for Startups & SMEs for the Year 2022

Staff Augmentation Drawbacks

• Higher Long-term Costs

Unlike other staffing options, a company hiring for staff augmentation pays per project. Employees are only required to be provided with payment for the hours they work on that specific project. In some cases, long-term costs are higher because a company has to pay someone’s salary even if they are not working on anything.

• Unpredictable Expenses

Not knowing how many hours will be needed is a concern for companies who use staff augmentation. There is hardly any guarantee that an employee will have work in any given week or month. An employee may only have one day of work over an entire period.

• Culture Compatibility Issues

Staff augmentation involves hiring sources from a different nation. These people might have a very different culture than your own, which leads to clashes in communication styles. One example of this type of clash would be when workers come from cultures where team members do not speak up during meetings because they feel it is disrespectful to the person speaking. That culture might clash with a North American culture where everyone participates and debates ideas openly during meetings.

When Should You Go For Staff Augmentation?

Employing contingent staff or sending some employees on contract to handle overflow can help you when you need quick help and there’s no time to make it happen internally. You can also hire external staff to plug potential gaps during peak demand.

It’s also great if you want to complete a project phase with a lesser number of employee onboarding required. For example, hire a temporary employee if your company needs help transitioning from an old software system.

Overall, staff augmentation proves beneficial under the following scenarios:

• The project holds a lot of high-risk, low-volume tasks, which employees would require more effort to manage
• Unstructured tasks with zero concrete steps require less creativity and input from the client
• The overall team strength needs to scale up or down during the project
• When planning your project, you have to customize it or make changes based on the feedback you have gathered from your direct experiences
• It can’t be done by your provider as efficiently and quickly as if you had gotten the feedback firsthand

Final Words

One should hire a Staff Augmentation team for large or small projects that require extraordinary dedication and effort from professionals. Direct control over a group of professionals ensures higher quality work as teamwork is more productive when augmenting staff.

FAQs

Question: Do You Think Staff Augmentation is Essential?

Answer: In IT firms, staff augmentation is becoming increasingly popular as it entails flexibility with the workforce. It acts as a bridge between the available talent pool and the availability of short-term opportunities.

Question: What Does Staff Augmentation Mean?

Answer: Staff augmentation is an outsourcing technique used to staff a project in response to business objectives. It involves evaluating the existing staff, then determining what additional skills are required.

Question: What is the Purpose of Staff Augmentation?

Answer: In many situations, companies add contractors and consultants to increase their output to meet their business goals. Staff augmentation is incredibly common.