Defining Outsourcing vs. Staff Augmentation: What’s Right for You?

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, many people have found themselves switching jobs, or even industries to work in a fashion that they prefer. This is also known as the era of the “Great Resignation”- and it is causing a talent shortage. 

With this talent shortage comes the need to restart training programs and upskill existing employees. However, hiring a new employee is a big decision and you may be unsure of your exact needs. 

Perhaps a better solution would be to start outsourcing employees to fill specific roles or to consider staff augmentation - but how do you know when one is the best solution over the other? 

A staff augmentation vendor provides your learning and development team with employees who have the specific skills that your team may lack. Outsourcing an employee includes finding one person to join your organization to work on a specific set of tasks. The talent brought in through outsourcing becomes limited to that one employee's expertise, whereas staff augmentation allows you to experience as many people as you may need to get the job done under one contract.

There can be many pros to outsourcing employees, starting with reduced costs and lower project risk. Outsourcing may also be the most viable option when it comes to a specific gray area where your organization lacks expertise. 

Staff augmentation can meet the demand for entire teams or individual positions with candidates who are fully sourced and have solid experience and credentials. When staff augmentation is used, you get access to a pool of L&D talent who accurately aligns with your immediate or long-term requirements, and is ready to join your team. 

Reasons for Staff Augmentation

Working with a staff augmentation vendor ensures your organization has a qualified team that can fulfill the top most requested job roles, such as:
 

• Instructional Designers 
• Technical Writers
• LMS Administrators
• Facilitators/Trainers

And many more!

Staff augmentation is an agile approach where vendors cooperate with your business goals and quickly assist your organization in finding quality and temporary talent solutions. The advantage of staff augmentation is a group of immediately available talent who understands your business strategies.

Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Talent

In some cases, the general practice of outsourcing talent and hiring permanent employees can be the best option for your business depending on your business needs. Outsourcing an employee gives you more control over who you are recruiting and the projects they are working on. Outsourcing is also a great way to stabilize your L&D budget and create projected expenses and deadlines. 

Outsourcing, or hiring a permanent employee, means there needs to be strong communication and an ongoing dialog between the employee and the leader (or supervisor). A lack of communication can affect project quality and outcomes, making it difficult to work directly with an outsourced employee. The other risk is that if the outsourced employee is not needed at all times, you could still be on the hook for paying the full contract amount. In this case, outsourcing might not be cost-effective. 

Benefits to Staff Augmentation

Hiring a staff augmentation vendor is also a great way to reduce costs versus hiring a full-time employee through outsourcing. Plus, there are other benefits:

Increased Agility

L&D strategists can offer specific skills to fill gaps within an L&D team. Rather than taking the time to train existing employees on an initiative they don't specialize in, staff augmentation provides talent with qualified knowledge and resources. This leaves your existing employees to stay focused on the current tasks whereas staff augmentation teams can quickly fill a role to meet fast-approaching deadlines.  

Increased Flexibility

A staff augmentation team is brought in for specific skills and current project needs, and they can be kept long-term or short-term. Once a project is completed and finished, their services are no longer needed. Therefore the contract ends with no additional commitments. This is different from outsourcing, where you are locked into a contract that cannot be easily terminated. 

Reduced Time-to-fill

When outsourcing an employee, a key factor to think about is timing. Is it the right time within your organization to take on a full-time employee? Will their full-time service be fully utilized? Will you have to take the time to train them in areas they aren’t familiar with? When it comes to staff augmentation, you place a knowledgeable member who specializes in the project’s desired area, an individual or a whole team, whatever is necessary. Your staff augmentation vendor will have a deep pool of highly equipped talent that can be inserted and removed depending on what skills are needed to get the job done within your timeline. 

Ability to Source Specialized Talent

Learning and development teams are constantly updating their strategies and implementing modern methodologies based on new learning requirements. For many businesses, this task can be a struggle as some organizations do not have the money, resources, or time to innovate strategies and educate their employees on their own. That’s why staff augmentation can be noted as the go-to solution. Staff augmentation broadens the capabilities of your L&D team. 

Lastly, staff augmentation allows you to pinpoint specific budgetary targets and keep everything in the black. Should you require more support, you add more hours to the project. If you discover some talent that you feel is the perfect fit for a position, you can then reach out to them with an offer to move to a permanent position. So rather than losing quality talent in the first 90 days, you can have a “try before you buy” strategy that allows you to audition talent first.

Permanent Hires Can Offer Stability

When outsourcing employees, ideally you want them to be invested and dedicated to your business goals. When you fill a permanent position, you have a great deal of control over the quality of talent you bring into the organization. This can impact the level of control L&D leaders have on L&D project outcomes. 

As we’ve come to understand in recent years, not all permanent employees are guaranteed to be there for the long term. Research suggests that around 33% of new employees quit in the first 90 days. Some leave for personal reasons, others are disillusioned with job expectations, and some may have been courting alternative job offers. Whatever the reason, the cost to repeat the hiring and onboarding process puts a hefty price tag on a single job role. Ultimately, it doesn’t appear that hiring permanent employees is as stable as one might think.

Why Hire a Staff Augmentation Team?

Staff Augmentation is a critical strategy to strengthen existing teams that can expedite project delivery, create a flexible workplace, and support agility within an organization. Based on what your team's needs are, a staff augmentation vendor can work with you long-term or short-term. A vendor can supply individual employees to work on parts of single projects, or a team of people who can manage an entire project, leaving you to put more focus on your business. 

Selecting a Vendor

A good vendor understands your long-term and short-term business goals, and has a solid reputation. To learn more about staff augmentation capabilities, contact ELB Learning for a free consultation.

Caroline Healey is the Marketing Manager at ELB Learning. Previously, she was the Chief of Staff at CoreAxis Consulting, which was acquired by ELB Learning in 2022, Caroline has experience and extensive knowledge of staff augmentation, marketing, and learning and development products and services.  Connect Caroline Healey