How to Choose the Right Staff Augmentation Partner
When a company decides to augment its staff or build a distributed engineering team, the first objective should be finding a vendor that understands its specific staffing needs. A company’s outsourcing strategy is unique, and the IT staffing agency it hires should be equally flexible and resourceful.
Before delving deeper, let’s make sense of differences between staff augmtentation and outsourcing.
Understanding Staff Augmentation vs. Outsourcing
Staff Augmentation involves hiring temporary employees to meet immediate demands, such as a tech company bringing on extra developers for a critical project. The hiring organization retains control over the project and integrates these temporary staff into their existing team.
Outsourcing, on the other hand, entails delegating entire functions or processes to a third-party vendor, often in a different country. For example, a U.S. business might outsource its IT support to a team in Central Europe. Here, the vendor manages and delivers the project using their own methods.
Pros and Cons of Staff Augmentation
Pros:
Flexibility: Easily add engineers for specific projects.
Cost Savings: Lower expenses by hiring external professionals, especially from countries with lower salary expectations.
Specialized Talent: Access experts with specific skills for short-term needs.
Challenges:
Short-term Focus: Not suitable for building a long-term, dedicated team.
Limited Control: Temporary staff may have divided commitments.
Inconsistent Quality: Variation in adherence to your standards and practices.
Pros and Cons of Outsourcing
Pros:
Fast Turnaround: Established processes and expertise lead to quick project completion.
Core Focus: Allows businesses to concentrate on main competencies by delegating non-core tasks.
Global Talent Access: Tap into large talent pools in regions like South Asia and Central / Eastern Europe.
Challenges:
Hidden Costs: Potential for unexpected expenses for out-of-scope work.
Cultural Misalignment: Outsourced engineers might not align with your company's mission and values.
Security Risks: Sharing confidential information with vendors can lead to security concerns.
Assess Your Staffing Needs
Start by evaluating your company's staffing requirements. Determine the scope of your projects and identify skill gaps. Consult with HR, managers, and employees to create a staffing blueprint that outlines essential outsourcing needs on a project-by-project basis. Once you have your staffing challenge defined you can decide whether you need to hire a full-time employee, augment your team or simply outsource some tasks to freelancers or agencies.
Quality of Talent
When turning to a third party for staffing, you naturally want top-notch professionals within your budget constraints. Therefore, it’s essential to scrutinize your prospective partner’s screening, selection, and hiring processes. Ensure their standards meet or exceed your own, particularly for highly technical roles.
Look for partners with rigorous screening and selection processes to ensure high-quality talent.
Inquire about their methods for background checks, skills assessments, and reference checks.
Check their talent pool’s size and availability to ensure they can meet your needs promptly.
Research Your Staffing Partner’s Experience and Expertise
Having a structured approach to assessing partners can prevent you from getting lost in endless Google searches. For larger enterprises, a rigorous procurement process may already be in place. Smaller organizations might need to create a checklist to evaluate potential partners effectively.
Here’s how to cut through the noise:
Verify a potential staffing partner’s experience in your field. Review their credentials, consult previous clients, and read testimonials on third-party review sites like Clutch or Glassdoor. Ensure they have the expertise to handle your specific staffing needs and manage distributed teams.
Review their website
Check the 3-rd party reviews
Check the social media to understand the scope of their focus
Check testimonials and client case studies
If possible, consult with previous or current clients
Evaluate Your Provider’s Market Reach
Depending on your staffing requirements, consider onshore, offshore, or hybrid staffing solutions. Choose a vendor with the connections, experience, and infrastructure to recruit, hire, and manage remote staff globally, ensuring access to top talent within your budget.
Examine Communication Protocols
Many clients report poor experiences with vendors due to inadequate communication. Some consulting groups focus solely on securing the contract, then let communication lapse once the deal is done. Avoid such partners. Continuous, clear communication is vital to maximize the benefits of augmented staff and ensure they integrate seamlessly into your team.
Choose partners with clear communication protocols willing to collaborate within your existing processes.
Understand their communication strategies, tools, and approaches to project management, accountability, and conflict resolution.
Look for simple, clearly defined procedures that keep all parties connected, fostering uninterrupted workflow and allowing for regular updates and adjustments based on feedback.
Verify Commitment to Security
Ensure the staffing agency is committed to data and IP security. Reputable vendors should have NDAs, thoroughly vet temporary hires, and train staff on security procedures. This safeguards your valuable data while building a robust distributed team.
Assess Contract Types and Delivery Schedules
Avoid vendors offering standardized contracts. Instead, choose a firm that tailors agreements to your business needs and can meet your development schedule. They should provide detailed outsourcing plans, skilled staff, and reliable IT services promptly.
Choose the Right Service for You
Don’t shy away from grilling potential partners on the essential factors discussed above. Ensure they can build a relationship with you that considers all these elements.
Select a staffing partner that fits your specific requirements. Avoid one-size-fits-all approaches by evaluating your needs, researching vendor expertise, and considering global reach, communication, security, contracts, and cultural compatibility.
Ready to put us on fire? Discuss your project with us today!