The Various Types of Staff Augmentation You Can Implement
0Businesses use staff augmentation to expand their workforce and address specific skill gaps. It’s, in fact, a cost-effective way to meet a business’s evolving requirements by bringing specialists on board on a temporary basis.
As per a recent study, the staff augmentation services sector will experience steady growth in the forthcoming years while registering a “spend” of $81.87 billion by 2025.
That doesn’t come as a surprise, considering the fact that many more companies are turning towards these services to bring competent people on board on an as-needed basis.
In this blog, we will dig deep into various types of staff augmentation companies can implement to achieve their business goals. Before that, let’s summarize the benefits of the approach.
Benefits of Staff Augmentation
The overarching goal of staff augmentation is to improve the efficiency and productivity of an organization by adding skilled resources to the team. To that end, it allows businesses to:
- Scale their workforce per their requirements
- Hire competent people to address specific skill gaps, albeit temporarily
- Reduce overhead costs and avoid the long-term commitment of hiring permanent employees when not necessary
- Focus on their core business activities while leaving the recruitment and management of staff to specialized agencies
Next, let’s understand the various types of staff augmentation you can leverage based on your specific needs.
Staff Augmentation – Based on Duration
The first type of staff augmentation is based on the duration of the engagement. This can include short-term, long-term, or even permanent staff augmentation.
1. Short-Term Staff Augmentation
Short-term staff augmentation is an excellent option for companies that need to fill a temporary gap in their workforce. This could pertain to a one-time project, a seasonal demand spike, or an employee’s temporary absence. Short-term staff augmentation is also a cost-effective way for companies to test out new hires before committing to a long-term relationship.
Here’s an example of short-term staff augmentation: A company launches a new product; they need additional marketing professionals to manage the launch. They can hire a few marketing professionals on a temporary basis to handle the launch and drive the initiation efforts.
2. Long-Term Staff Augmentation
Long-term staff augmentation is ideal for businesses looking to fill a skill gap for a long-term project. The requirement could pertain to a lack of expertise in a particular area or a need for additional staff to support growth. Long-term staff augmentation allows companies to build a dedicated team of professionals who can work together to achieve the company’s goals.
An example of long-term staff augmentation is a company looking to expand its IT department. The company can hire a few long-term IT professionals to support the growth and build a dedicated team to manage IT operations.
Related Reading: IT Staff Augmentation vs. Managed Services – What Do You Need?
Staff Augmentation – Based on Skills
The second type of staff augmentation is based on the skills of the specialists onboarded. There are three types of staff augmentation based on skills: commodity, skilled, and highly skilled.
1. Commodity Staff Augmentation
Commodity staff augmentation refers to hiring employees with basic, entry-level skills. These employees are usually easy to find, and the associated hiring costs are lower. For example, commodity staff augmentation is mostly practiced in areas like data entry, customer service, and administrative assistance.
2. Skilled Staff Augmentation
Skilled staff augmentation refers to hiring employees with specialized skills in demand in the current job market. These employees have a specific set of skills, such as programming expertise. For example, bringing web developers, graphic designers, and software engineers on board is a part of the skilled staff augmentation exercise.
3. Highly Skilled Staff Augmentation
Highly skilled staff augmentation refers to hiring employees with in-demand and invaluable specialized skills from a narrow pool. These employees may have specific skill sets, such as advanced data science expertise. Highly skilled staff augmentation examples include hiring data scientists, machine learning engineers, AI developers, product designers, content designers, etc.
Staff Augmentation – How Companies Approach It?
Now that we’ve looked at the different types of staff augmentation based on skills, let’s explore some ways companies can leverage it.
1. Traditional Staffing Providers
One of the most common ways to implement staff augmentation is through traditional staffing providers. These providers are typically large, established companies that provide temporary staff to various industries. A large pool of pre-screened and pre-qualified candidates may be available for immediate placement.
2. Specialized Agencies
Another way to implement staff augmentation is through specialized agencies. These agencies specialize in providing staff augmentation for specific industries or skill sets. They may have a smaller pool of candidates but may be more specialized and experienced in their field.
3. Gig Platforms
Gig platforms, such as Upwork or Fiverr, are another way to implement staff augmentation. These platforms connect businesses with a talent pool that can augment the staff on a project basis – mostly short projects.
4. Independent Contractors
Finally, companies can also implement staff augmentation by hiring independent contractors. Independent contractors are self-employed individuals who work on a project basis. This can be a great way to find highly skilled staff, but it can also be more challenging to find the right fit.
Conclusion
In conclusion, staff augmentation is a cost-effective solution for businesses to achieve their goals and objectives by hiring additional staff on a temporary or project-based basis. However, to realize success with it, they need to understand their specific needs, resources, and budget. In most cases, a combination of all the above factors leads to the best solution.
At Clear Thought Solutions, we help companies leverage the power of staff augmentation. We empower them to access a competent talent pool so that they swiftly drive their projects.
So, if you’re looking to expand your team? Get in touch with us today!
