Staff Augmentation VS Freelance

Staff Augmentation VS Freelance – Modern methods of hiring developers

Freelancing and staff augmentation are both ways in which businesses hire external talent. They are good staffing methods that allow an organization to scale up quickly. They both offer unique advantages. However, there are differences. In staff augmentation, a team works as an extension of the business, providing more control. On the other hand, freelancers provide cost-effectiveness and more flexibility.

Selecting the right approach depends on the scope and size of the project, budget, and the business’s individual needs.

Why Does a Business Need to Strengthen Its Team From Outside?

The right talent can make a key difference in today’s competitive and fast-paced world of business. For mid-sized tech businesses, attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent can influence how they will innovate, execute jobs, and achieve the result they wants.

On the other hand, tech businesses are sure to face hurdles if software development teams cannot acquire the right talent.

Many hire IT professionals from the outside. Staff augmentation service is increasingly becoming very popular. In 2023, the IT staff augmentation service market size was valued at USD 299.3 billion. It is projected to reach USD 857.2 billion by 2031.

Top reasons to strengthen the team by hiring from outside – 

• Fill skill gaps – Outside talent fills specific skill gaps that might be missing in the existing team.
• Acquire specialized knowledge – Attract people with specialized knowledge in emerging technologies and areas like data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
• A fresh perspective – New people bring new knowledge and viewpoints to spark creativity.
• Better productivity and performance – When the company has the right person doing to correct work, it will ensure that the team has the necessary expertise and skills to excel. Employees doing the work they are good at improve overall performance, which leads to better business outcomes.

 What is Staff Augmentation?

Staff augmentation refers to hiring external experts who will work as part of the company’s internal team. These people will blend with the existing employees to support the ongoing work or add expertise and skills that the internal team lacks.

Staff augmentation is a good business strategy for a business when it wants to hire external help to supplement the existing workforce. Typically, this is for the short term for a specific job or project. It is a good way to fill out skill gaps, improve capabilities, and manage temporary workload surges. And the best news about businesses is that it doesn’t have to hire permanent employees, which means there is no long-term commitment.

Key Features – 

• Easy team integration.
• A business can scale up quickly to meet the project demand.
• It helps the business acquire specialized talent.
• Staff augmentation is an easy way to hire temporary talent for a specific project.
• It lets the business fill skill gaps for project needs.
• Businesses can adapt quickly to the changing needs, ramping up talent whenever there is a need.
• It is a cost-effective solution for the short term.

 Who Are Freelancers?

A freelancer is a self-employed professional who offers services to businesses on a contract basis for a particular project rather than working full-time as an in-house employee. Typically, freelancers work for many clients and earn money per project. Freelancers set their working hours and bill clients based on the hours they have worked.

Businesses consider them as contractors, not employees.

 Recruitment and Onboarding Process

• Identify your needs – Outline the scope of the job and the skills that need to be filled.
• Find providers – Decide on freelancers or augmented staff and find a good place to hire the talent you need.
• Recruitment time – Consider the likely recruitment time. In some platforms, it may take up to 3 weeks. However, when you work with a professional staff augmentation agency, this may come down to just 5 days.
• Evaluate – Consider the hired help you are getting and evaluate the skills and experience. Carry out assessments and interviews to decide on their work ethics, communication style, and skills.
• Adaptation – Think about how the augmented staff will integrate with your team, job dynamics, and company culture.
• Onboarding – Integrate the new members into your existing team and the job workflow.

 Control and Manageability

Staff augmentation will give the business complete control over the process and tasks. Supervision is straightforward, as the augmented staff works together with the in-house people, which makes the model perfect for jobs that demand direct involvement. On the other hand, freelancers offer flexibility, but you may have to sacrifice some control, particularly when it comes to company standards and integration strategies.

Also, freelancers have direct involvement in project execution, whereas augmented staff is more integrated into the job.

Reliability and Stability

Reliability is a major issue for businesses when it is hiring talent. Freelancers offer valuable service, but often, there can be questions regarding reliability and the quality of service offered. Remember, they are outside contractors and can quit the project in the middle if something doesn’t suit them or because of personal issues.

However, with staff augmentation, you will have a contract with the company that is providing the help. This company is answerable to you and will provide a replacement with the same skills and experience if for whatever reason, the original person leaves.

Quality and Professionalism

You can expect better quality and professionalism with staff augmentation, as there is always an agency in the background that provides the talent, and this agency is answerable for everything. You can depend on the hired help because the skills and quality will always be verified before deployment. We interviewed the CEO of the company newwavedevs, which provides IT staff augmentation, and formed the TOP3 advantages – 

1. Expert outside talent in 48 hours to 5 days, compared to the time needed to find freelancers, which can be as long as 3 weeks.
2. Trial period and free replacement with staff augmentation service.
3. Experts always verify the quality of the developer. 

Further, when you work with a good IT staff augmentation company, you will get a flexible solution that will let you scale up or down anytime.

Legal and Financial Aspects

You must also consider legal and financial aspects.

Legal aspects to consider – 

1. Make sure that the contract covers the scope of the job, timelines, deliverables, and payment terms.
2. The contract must address the ownership of Intellectual Property.
3. Compliance with data privacy regulations.
4. The contract should also include liability clauses so that the business is protected from legal issues.

Financial aspects – 

1. Staff augmentation is cost-effective. But do compare the cost of getting full-time employees with the augmented staff to be sure.
2. Establish payment methods and schedules.
3. There should be a clear agreement on the service fee.

Flexibility and Scalability

Staff augmentation is a flexible solution that helps businesses scale up or scale down according to need. They can hire dedicated developers whenever they need and on a project basis. This allows easy upsizing and downsizing to address issues like seasonal increases and decreases in demand. The hired talent can work part-time or hourly basis. The solution is completely flexible according to the business’s needs.

When and What to Choose: Practical Recommendations

Freelancing is appropriate for one-time tasks where minimal ongoing support and regulatory oversight are required. You may also work with a freelancer if the job requires limited knowledge transfer.

Staff augmentation is good for more complex, long-term projects where you need better accountability, reliability, and more control. It is best for safety-critical, high-risk, or medium-risk jobs.