things to consider in staff augmentation

Staff Augmentation, why, when and how

Hiring competent and efficient IT and development staff with a Staff Augmentation Services organization is critical for the successful implementation of any technology project. It is really important to have the right people on your team. This is especially on big-budget projects with tight deadlines.

With the right teams in place, your projects will meet every required deadline while delivering quality products.  A technology company providing staff augmentation services enjoys the benefit of not only providing highly talented individuals, but, most importantly, provide teams that work in unison and already possess a synergy and team spirit. This is something that an HR team cannot provide.  HR can only hire individuals, and build teams in that fashion could result in a costly, frustrating, trial and error exercise. It could take years to outfit a development team using traditional HR, versus a week or two, using a staff augmentation strategy.

Benefits

Flexible
Staff augmentation services allow your company the flexibility of adding and reducing staff as necessary. This is a great strategy for seasonal work or to help with staff shortages due to layoffs or employees leaving the company.

Cost Effective
Cost-saving is one of the key benefits to staff augmentation. The cost of posting a job opening along with other administrative costs and efforts of hiring new staff can be over $18,000 per employee. However, staff augmentation uses databases of potential candidates. Recruiters like Maxiom keep information on skilled candidates, which can then be screened to find the right match for the job.

Peace of Mind
Recruiters can also conduct a background check, drug screening and other testing you may want to have done. Thus, you can be sure you will be hiring the right person with the specific set of desired skills.

Control
Cost is one of the biggest problems. Rates seem higher for augmented staff than regular full-time employees. It is important to remember that the cost of hiring an employee goes beyond the salary. When you hire an individual your company becomes responsible for Social Security payments and other benefits. The cost of the employee can be higher than you would like. This is true when you hire someone that will not be needed regularly but only for specific projects.

Drawbacks

If management uses augmented staff for a long period of time, they will find themselves in a budget overrun. While augmented staff’s wages look higher than regular salary staff only one was meant to stay with the company for a long period of time.

Another negative we found is that sometimes management gets comfortable with staff augmentation and over uses the strategy. This can become a disability to the company when current full time staff’s assets are overlooked or undervalued. Management may decide to bring in augmented staff instead of looking to team members who have the right qualifications for the task. Best strategy is use staff augmentation for short-term projects.

Conclusion

At Maxiom, we offer a variety of project and staffing options, including Staff Augmentation Services. It helps build the team instead of having an employer advertise, search through applications and hire staff on their own. We take on the hard work to make sure you get the best candidates and build the best team possible.

If Staff Augmentation is right for your organization, then we know we can help outfit you with the best candidates. Let us help you solve your staffing problems with our solutions and competitive rates.