Recruiting and retaining exceptional talent is challenging and time consuming, especially when companies in the tech space are in need of experienced developers and engineers.

In addition, filling the gaps due to lack of resources or specialists can be challenging and time-consuming at the same time, especially for high-tech positions such as iOS developers or machine learning engineers, for which the demand has been on the rise since the big layoff.

This is where the workforce augmentation model comes into play! In this article, we discuss the concept of workforce expansion, the increasing demand, and why companies should focus on internal team expansion to quickly hire staff.

Related: 10 strategies for hiring and retaining new employees

Increase in staff

Staff augmentation is a type of collaboration model where companies from startups to large enterprises seek talent through staffing agencies to work with them temporarily to quickly fill the talent gaps.

Today, workforce expansion has gone mainstream, with nearly $500 billion annually spent on global IT workforce services alone.

Companies now prefer to work with staffing services providers to boost the competency of their internal teams and speed up the development process, rather than spend weeks searching for ideal candidates, conducting interviews and shortlisting candidates to avoid an immediate shortage of filling talent.

Related: 6 ways to effectively navigate market turbulence in the IT world

Why is staff augmentation gaining popularity?

The staff augmentation model has been successful in recent years due to the following three reasons:

1. It is suitable for a hybrid working environment

People who are willing to move to low-paying remote jobs rather than continue on-site work in their previous environment indicate that the future of remote work lies. Remote working is the new normal, especially in the technology and digital transformation sectors.

Staff augmentation services are suited to meet the needs of a remote-focused global economy that has yet to prepare to let go of all the benefits of on-site working. With this mindset, companies can support their internal teams by partnering with workforce enhancement services to bridge talent gaps and meet deadlines faster.

2. It is low risk compared to other outsourcing models

The workforce augmentation model triumphs over all outsourcing models in terms of flexibility, affordability and quality. Compared to other outsourcing models, the risks associated with staff augmentation services are zero to none due to the constant collaboration with the in-house teams.

The augmented team or resource operates either as an extension of the internal teams or under the supervision of the internal managers. Uninterrupted collaboration and seamless integration of both teams eliminates any chance of error.

The risk of this model is therefore significantly lower than other project outsourcing models, such as offshoring or managed services.

3. Staff expansion can be scaled up flexibly without jeopardizing sustainability

As the global recession began to knock on the doors, the results of aggressive hiring and hefty spending became increasingly apparent. Consequently, most companies exited with significant margins or cut spending to scale.

This phenomenon has stopped thousands of international entrepreneurs from risking everything and aggressively investing in scaling their businesses. However, things started to take a pretty exciting turn as IT staffing and resource augmentation services went mainstream.

With IT staff expansion, companies no longer remain susceptible to sustainability compromises, as they can terminate contracts with remote teams if things go badly.

This model enables entrepreneurs to fuel their desire for exponential growth and scalability without having to worry about laying off permanent employees or (in the worst cases) bankruptcy.

Related: 6 ways to effectively navigate market turbulence in the IT world

Why you should start implementing the workforce increase model

The following facts and figures are clear proof that the workforce increase model is here to stay:

1. The great resignation and the wake-up call

The silent stop culture has been disrupting the workflow of organizations since the epidemic. Even during the global recession, which has forced companies like Meta and Amazon to lay off a significant portion of their workforce, the culture of quietly stopping has not stopped.

People quietly leave their high-paying jobs due to lack of serenity, toxic work environments, pay gap, or other reasons. As an australiabusinessblog.com, you must be prepared to handle such matters within your organization.

While you should prioritize fostering a culture of collaboration and encouragement, you should also be prepared to fill talent gaps in the event of a team member resigning at short notice, rather than compromising the quality of resources to to fill the gaps.

2. Going to great lengths to fill talent gaps

The onshore, offshore and nearshore markets can offer more diversity in the IT skills and expertise your business needs, depending on your location. With recruitment services, you gain access to a wider universal talent pool, including from regions known for having the best IT talent, such as Europe and Asia.

Building remote teams to bridge the talent gap using workforce augmentation services can also help you save time and costs in setting up dedicated workspaces and recruiting highly skilled teams.

3. Increasing cyber attacks

As companies move to fully remote and hybrid working models, they become more susceptible to cyberattacks and data breaches. According to Statisticaldata breaches in the third quarter of 2022 were the highest ever, with companies reporting approximately 15 million data breaches.

While companies are now setting up dedicated network teams to protect confidential information from hackers and intruders, not all of them can afford it. For example, they ultimately recruit network engineers through an expanded staffing model to stay protected against potential cyber threats and data breaches.

Related: 4 Best Practices When Choosing a Staffing Agency

Final thoughts

Using workforce expansion to address talent shortages rather than outsourcing or managed services models allows business owners to stay in charge of the project. As a business owner, you get to choose the talent you deem fit for the role and retain control of the project to get things done your way.

With staffing services, you not only eliminate recruiting time and costs, but you also gain access to a global talent pool of highly skilled developers and engineers to work alongside your internal teams to optimize overall competencies and increase productivity.