Pros And Cons Of Staff Augmentation
Staff augmentation refers to the process of firms hiring employees on a short-term basis to fill vacant roles. Staff augmentation can help with the completion of various projects with the advantage of not having to onboard the employees permanently. It is a better idea for short-term needs when compared to outsourcing. However, staff augmentation has advantages and disadvantages, which will influence a company’s decision on which route to take. The following are the pros and cons of staff augmentation to consider:
Pros
Advantages of staff augmentation include:
Reduced Costs
Hiring employees is an expensive endeavor. It would be best to offer them salaries, benefits, and other perks to attract them. Keeping employees is even dearer.
Staff augmentation helps reduce costs because it is an agreement for a short while based on a contract. After the contract ends, the employees can leave and work elsewhere. Moreover, you pay the employees for only that which you need.
These employees would be severely underutilized and overpaid if hired as regular employees. Therefore, staff augmentation helps save firms plenty of money in the short run.
Maintaining Control
One of the most significant issues with outsourcing is needing more control over the work. Therefore, you must carefully scrutinize and vet the third party before giving them the job.
On the other hand, when you augment your staff, you retain all the control you need. The short-term employees will work under your roof and hence, your supervision.
Though delegation is still vital, you can manage their work to get the desired outcome. You can give the right tasks to the most suitable employees, know whom to let go of, and reward employees appropriately, contributing to the project’s success.
Cons
Disadvantages of staff augmentation include:
Time Wastage
New employees must adjust to the company culture whenever they come into the workplace. They must also learn the finer details about various business operations. The result is that employees can waste much time in the adjustment period, which could otherwise be directed toward the project’s successful completion.
New employees may also require some form of training which takes away from the time that could be spent on the project. For example, the augmented staff may have to learn to use proprietary software seminal to the firm’s operations.
With each new project, time will be wasted, which in the long run amounts to significant periods that ruin efficiency.
Higher Long-Term Labor Costs
Staff augmentation may save you more money than outsourcing, but it may significantly increase your labor costs in the long run. You must pay recruitment agencies for the augmented staff for each new project.
Since there are no benefits and it is for a short time, the hourly rate is often higher than that of regular employees. Therefore, when your firm augments staff for each project, the staff augmentation payroll balloons steadily.
Training permanent employees is a better option so they have the skills to perform various jobs. Otherwise, you are looking at very high staff augmentation costs in the long term.
Staff augmentation is a process that works for many companies rather than for others. Evaluate the pros and cons of staff augmentation above to see if it is worth it. Only comprehensive scrutiny of your business and projects can ascertain whether staff augmentation suits and is profitable for you.
