A Beginner's Guide to Staff Augmentation
The percentage of businesses struggling to find skilled talent has doubled since 2015 and is now at 77%, according to reports. This talent shortage is dictating new ways of recruiting and hiring specialists, and staff augmentation has emerged as one of the most successful models.
FatCat Coders
Summary
This simplified guide will give you the key points about staff augmentation.
What is Staff Augmentation? Staff augmentation is a hiring model where employees are brought in temporarily to support in-house teams. It can also be used for long-term needs.
How is it Different From Outsourcing? Outsourcing involves handing over an entire project, a major part of it, or even an entire department to a third-party provider.
When Do You Need Staff Augmentation? It’s ideal for reducing costs, finding fast and scalable solutions, or managing increased workloads.
What Are the Benefits of Staff Augmentation? We’ll cover why this hiring model is important and what we’ve learned from it.
How Do We Enhance Staff Augmentation Priciples in Our Approach? In our hiring approach, we take the best of this model and improve it to suit your needs.
What Are the Types of Staff Augmentation? From onshore to project-based, temporary to long-term, we’ll explain each type.
Let’s dive in!
The percentage of businesses struggling to find skilled talent has doubled since 2015. It is now at 77%, according to reports. This talent shortage is dictating new ways of recruiting and hiring specialists. That is why staff augmentation has emerged as one of the most successful models.
This hiring strategy gives companies flexibility and agility in talent acquisition. It helps them find highly specialized full-time employees. Finally, they can adjust their workforce as needed, and complete projects efficiently.
If you haven’t tried this model yet but are wondering if it’s right for your business, you’re in the right place! This article explains the basics of staff augmentation and how it supports businesses. We are focusing especially on the IT industry!
What Is Staff Augmentation?
Staff augmentation is a hiring model in which employees, are hired on a temporary basis. The aim is to supplement in-house teams.
Usually, this includes highly skilled specialists.An important feature of this model is that the hiring is not done directly but through a third party.
The term “staff augmentation” implies that you enlarge your team usually temporary. Although, it can be long-term as well. It has become a popular and sought-after recruitment approach as it helps cut costs. It also reduces hiring times, and allows for quick scaling up (but also down).
The concept of staff augmentation makes it particularly suitable for the IT industry. Permanent hires are not ideal for project-based work. Here, staff augmentation successfully overrides this problem.
Startups and SaaS companies often don’t have enough resources to manage multiple projects or reach goals quickly. Staff augmentation - again - can offload many of the responsibilities.
It spans from B2C and B2B business tasks to development, testing and QA.
Staff Augmentation vs. Outsourcing
There is a common myth and misconception surrounding staff augmentation. Many believe that it’s just another, fancier name for outsourcing. However, the two concepts are fundamentally different.
Outsourcing usually means bestowing the entire project. This includes either a big part of the project or even an entire department. Simply, you delegate it to a third-party company or service provider.
Staff augmentation means complementing the in-house team with external talent. However, you are still maintaining full control and oversight of the project.
In staff augmented teams, new talent is fully incorporated into the company culture. These also include processes, and workflow. The work of staff augmented teams is managed and controlled internally. In outsourcing, the external teams usually proceed autonomously, without much control.
Furthermore, outsourcing tends to be a "clunkier" strategy compared to staff augmentation. Augmented teams can be scaled up or down very quickly. This makes them suitable for short or long-term arrangements.
When Do You Need Staff Augmentation?
Staff augmentation is not a universal solution that works for just any business. Sometimes, other hiring models would be more suitable. There are, however, situations in which staff augmentation proves ideal.
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How Staff Augmentation is Connected to Us?
FatCat Coders has its hiring solution rooted in some of the elements of staff augmentation. With our 30-day trial, we match you with a vetted developer tailored to your needs in an average time of 2 working days.
Want to learn how can we help you? Feel free to contact us!
When you need to bridge a skills gap in your team.
Let’s say you have a project that requires talent specialized in a skill you don’t have on your team, nor you can afford to hire on a permanent basis. This is the ideal scenario for staff augmentation, as it helps bridge that gap while saving money and resources.
When you want to cut costs.
Maintaining a full in-house IT team can be quite costly, especially for start-ups and companies in financially sensitive positions. Staff augmentation helps cut expenses related to office rental fees, wages, equipment, etc. - because the recruiting company handles those.
When you need more flexibility.
Because staff augmentation involves hiring skilled talent for a specific duration, it provides you with greater flexibility and scalability. This model has a more nuanced and individual approach that follows your needs as they change.
During peak periods and increased workload.
Sometimes you need just one or two people to help handle the workload during peak periods, and if the project in question requires highly specialized talent, staff augmentation is the ideal hiring model. The talent can be hired on demand when needed, and the team is scaled down when the work is done.
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What Are the Benefits of Staff Augmentation?
We already saw that staff augmentation means better flexibility and scalability of teams. It can also help cut costs quite. Other key benefits of staff augmentation (especially compared to other recruitment models) include:
Better process control
In staff augmentation, a third party handles recruitment and hiring. The client keeps full control of the project. These include its specifications, scope, and outcome.
Staff augmentation implies a client-centric approach. With this model, your requirements and parameters are key to finding the right talent. This not only helps the client save time, but also guarantees the best possible match.
Access to a wider talent pool
By using staff augmentation, you can access a wide range of specialized skills. This includes expertise that is currently not available within your in-house team. This access to diverse skill sets can enhance project outcomes and innovation.
Want to be sure in your candidates soft skills in 2025?
✓Assess developers' Team Orientation, Communication, Passion, Learning, and more,
✓ Ideal for internal and external selection processes,
✓ Useful for in-house assessment of the employees,
✓ Handy for starting a new team and cross-culture hiring
Faster time-to-market
With staff augmentation, you can fasten project timelines. One extra benefit is the simple onboarding of experienced professionals. Now, you can bring your product to market faster. which can be crucial in competitive industries.
Risk mitigation
Staff augmentation reduces risk by hiring external talent for specific tasks. This avoids long-term commitments and liabilities of permanent hires. It helps navigate uncertain market conditions and economic changes.
Why Do We Talk So Much About Staff Augmentation?
The benefits of staff augmentation matter to us too. Our experts bring diverse experience in hiring models, and here’s what our approach offers:
Better Process Control Absolutely! We quickly match you with a new colleague and handle all administration. You stay stress-free and focus on your goals.
Wider Talent Pool & Faster Hiring Definitely. Our growing talent pool means we can match you with a developer in just 2 working days.
Risk Mitigation With staff augmentation already low-risk, we take it further by offering a 30-day trial.
What can I do in 30 days?
With our 30-day trial, you can:
✓ Test your new team member (our developer),
✓ See if they are a perfect fit for your project,
✓ If you feel a change is needed, we’ll replace them at no additional charge.
What Makes Us Different From Staff Augmentation?
We go beyond traditional staff augmentation by taking on more responsibilities for you. Call it full developer care or whatever you like.
What’s important is that we don’t just solve hiring challenges—we handle even more. From onboarding to satisfaction and performance, we manage it all. You need team members with specific skills for short-term projects or support with project management? We’ve got you covered.
Here’s a breakdown of our responsibilities:
Types of Staff Augmentation Services
Now let's go into even more details. There are different types of staff augmentation services.
One popular type is project-based augmentation. Companies hire experts specifically to help with certain projects. This way, they can finish the work without committing long-term or spending too much money.
Another type is temporary staff augmentation. Here, businesses bring in extra help for a short time. This is perfect for addressing urgent needs. It gives companies flexibility when they face short-term problems.
For longer needs, some businesses use long-term staff augmentation. This lets companies cover skill gaps over longer periods. It goes without saying that it saves money by not hiring full-time workers.
There are also onshore and offshore staff augmentation options. Onshore means hiring people from nearby areas. This is helpful for cultural and time zone alignment. Offshore allows companies to hire talent from around the world, often saving costs. Although managing different time zones can be tricky, it is manageable.
These staff augmentation services offer businesses flexible solutions. They help companies find the right balance of cost, skills, and project needs. Thus, making them more competitive and efficient.
Conclusion
In conclusion, staff augmentation is an interesting hiring strategy. This is especially important for businesses facing modern hiring challenges. With a growing talent shortage since 2015, companies need flexible, efficient solutions.
Staff augmentation helps businesses adapt quickly. It adds skilled workers for short-term projects without long-term commitments. This model is especially useful in IT, where specific skills are often needed for short periods.
By hiring external talent while keeping project control, companies can save money. But they can also stay flexible, and access a wider talent pool. It also speeds up project completion, which is vital in today’s competitive market.
This approach reduces risks and helps businesses align with their goals. That is why we incorporated its most important elements in our approach as well and enhanced it.
Feel free to contact us and learn how to make the best of it!
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