One Friday afternoon, a hiring manager I’ve worked with for years called me with an exciting update. Her agency landed a new Fortune 500 client.
The good news was her business had the chance to build a complex, innovative app. The bad news was the client wanted to get to work Monday and the hiring manager didn’t have the team in place.
“I need to hire three employees yesterday,” she told me.
“Before you do that, have you considered tech staffing?” I asked.
She paused. “I never considered staffing this project.”
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Staffing is often overlooked by hiring managers because it presents risks:
- Losing control over the recruitment process by outsourcing it
- Concerns over culture fit
- Reputation of less reliable employees
When a company selects the wrong staffing firm, those concerns may become truths. A true partner provides a wealth of value to their hiring team.
Ultimately, my hiring manager colleague decided to supplement her staff using a tech staffing solution.
In many situations, staffing works better than selecting full-time employees. Here are five reasons why.
Finances
Hiring full-time employees for the purpose of working on a specific project costs more time, money, and effort than always necessary. Instead, companies can augment existing teams with specialized professionals to work solely on a short-term basis.
In the example of the hiring manager with a task to build an app quickly, she brought on developers with the sole purpose of working on the app. All parties agreed to this temporary status.
This avoids expenses associated with salaries, benefits, and other costs of hiring full-time employees — and hiring a person who may not have the specific skills to work on a particular project. Staff augmentation gives companies the option to hire for the short-term, immediate, and specific needs of the business without compromising on the quality of talent.
Control
Short-term projects are ideal for temporary employees who only need to work for a set number of hours. Staffing augmentation services, then, give companies the chance to hire based on specific skills.
The app project needed experienced Java developers. So, the hiring manager decided to boost her existing team with seasoned professionals.
By selecting a staffing solution, companies gain expert talent at a fraction of the cost of hiring a salaried professional for full-time work. They can identify the skills or areas in which their permanent workforce needs help, and tailor their staff augmentation to fit those needs. It keeps companies in control, and costs down.
Scalability
Staff augmentation allows you to scale your workforce in a cost-effective way. By cutting down on costs while still hiring top talent for specific projects, companies can scale their business faster than if they were to hire new, full-time employees.
In most industries, a company’s workload is ever-changing in size. Temporary staffing is the perfect solution to ongoing and upcoming demands on a project-by-project basis. That means taking on more business without sacrificing the quality of your project.
If the app project was a success, the hiring manager knew there was a promise of more work to come with this large client. She brought staffers on to quickly Hire Today, with the ultimate goal of growing her business.
Avoid Complete Outsourcing
While staff augmentation is a form of outsourcing, it allows companies to retain control over the skills and experience they need from temporary staff. Companies have the ability to monitor the progress of their temporary hires because they’ll likely be working alongside their full-time staff. This also eliminates other downsides to completely outsourcing projects to external teams.
The developers brought on to the app project worked directly with the full-time employees. They attended client meetings and were visible team members. Even though it was “outsourced” talent, the tech staffers seamlessly integrated with the team.
Staff reinforcement allows businesses to maintain the confidentiality of their projects, for example, and make recommendations to the project in real-time.
Objective Perspective
For temporary staff, an outsider’s perspective may be useful to a company with ongoing projects. A pair of fresh eyes can illuminate suggestions for improvement to projects or practices that permanent staff may be too engrossed in their work to realize. This objective or outside voice may increase productivity and ideas in the workplace.
Success!
Whether you are hiring a full-time employee or using a staffing solution, the ultimate goal is the same = “better results” or “efficient results” or “productivity and results” Staffing can be the perfect solution when you need a reliable, skilled employee quickly.
