Staff augmentation refers to the process by which a company hires contractors, consultants, or third-party service providers whose primary function is to supplement the client’s existing workforce. They are typically engaged when the company is unable to obtain or retain permanent staff, or when it needs specialized skills. Thus, the contractors function as members of the department, taking their day-to-day direction from in-house managers. However, their paychecks come from a different company, and their assignments can be terminated on short notice according to the terms of the contract under which they were hired. Augmented staff is often indistinguishable from other members of the company. Most firms have a list of preferred staff augmentation firms where the managers usually choose the firm whose employees most closely meet the company’s requirements.
The primary advantage of staff augmentation is the flexibility it can give business owners. Because of the short-term hiring nature of most staff augmentation models, business owners can move on quickly, bringing on additional staff for newer projects and ending their contracts as soon as the work has been completed.
Many SMEs are operated by solo entrepreneurs. If business owners want help on a specific temporary project but do not want to take on additional full-time, staff augmentation can help them gain access to highly skilled resources on flexible terms.
Tailored Staff Augmentation
Tailored staff augmentation means that the staff provided by the firm would be best suited for the client’s customized demands. Different businesses can have unique resource requirements and finding a suitable resource for specialized roles such as Accounting can be a daunting task for business owners.
Thus, staff augmentation can help business owners by providing them with highly skilled resources who are trained to fit the customized requirements. This way, business owners can focus on core areas such as business development to promote their firms. Staff augmentation firms can save business owners time by supervising the hiring and recruiting processes. Reputable firms such as the Expertise Accelerated not only supplies business owners with high-quality accounting & finance and supply chain professionals but also trains them on client-specific roles, and ensures their good performance through co-management during the transition period.
Although, staff augmentation can help business owners gain access to quality work at effective costs, however, they should be aware of staff augmentation concerns such as co-employment, which can occur during the long-term use of contractors. Some contractors can request employee benefits because their staff might function essentially as employees. Thus, business owners should avoid co-employment. To avoid this, business owners can set a time frame in which the contractor can work for them.
How can Firms Benefit from Tailored Staff Augmentation?
When there is a shortage of permanent staff
Companies may be unable to hire or retain sufficient staff to meet their normal workloads due to a shortage of qualified technical staff. For example, a sports firm requiring accounting services may lack the technical staff for them. Thus, the augmented staff is brought in to ensure effective management of the company’s workload. Augmented staff can work on the company’s projects until permanent employees are hired or the project is completed.
Cost-effective
Staff augmentation can prove to be cost-efficient for firms looking for contractual staff on a short-term basis. Further, firms relying on staff augmentation can have access to a larger talent pool at lower costs as compared to traditional hiring. The augmented staff are highly qualified experts who can help the firms gain a competitive foothold in their respective industries.
Firms Require Access to Specialized Skills
During large-scale development projects, a company may need more skilled individuals than it has on its existing payroll. Thus, instead of hiring permanent staff, companies can rely on staff augmentation to fill the gaps.
The company wants to retain daily control over entire workforce
Some firms might not prefer the transfer of responsibility and task-level accountability that outsourcing demands. Thus, such companies opt for staff augmentation for their staffing needs, without compromising their work ethics and staff control.
Access to Highly-skilled Professionals
Staff augmenting firms such as the Expertise accelerated offer highly skilled individuals trained on client-specific roles and co-managed by the Connecticut-based team to ensure optimum service quality at a highly affordable cost.
Staff Augmentation or Outsourcing?
According to a research titled, A Practical Guide to Staff Augmentation and Outsourcing conducted by Christine B. Tayntor: “In contrast to staff augmentation, outsourcing focuses on services rather than individuals, and success is measured at the engagement level.”
Staff augmentation brings in extra manhours, expertise, and knowledge to a company, and with a high-quality and reliable staff augmentation partner like Expertise Accelerated, the benefits associated with it far outweigh the costs. Meanwhile, outsourcing relieves the company of the burden of mundane and non-core functions. This, too, is beneficial with a reliable service provider such as Expertise Accelerated.
Expertise Accelerated as Staff Augmentation Partner
Expertise Accelerated (EA) is Connecticut-based outsourcing and staff augmentation specialist for accounting & finance services that promises 60 percent quality-assured payroll savings to its US clients.
Led by a US CPA team that boasts decades of US CPG industry experience, EA offers high-quality staff augmentation solutions geared toward delivering substantial value and cost savings to client companies.
EA’s staff augmentation doctrine is not based on body shopping but on remote staffing under which seasoned accounting & finance and supply chain professionals from an offshore global talent pool are trained by the US onshore team for client-specific roles so as to turn such professionals into strategic fits for the client companies.
EA’s staff augmentation has proved to have delivered payroll savings, process efficiencies, and value-addition to the US SMEs.
Conclusion
Staff augmentation refers to the process by which a company hires contractors, consultants, or third-party service providers whose primary function is to supplement the client’s existing workforce. Tailored staff augmentation means that the staff provided by the staff augmentation firm would be best suited for the client’s customized demands. Many SMEs are operated by solo entrepreneurs. If business owners want help on a specific temporary project but do not want to take on additional full-time staff, staff augmentation can help them gain access to highly skilled resources.
