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If you are working on a project and you need immediate assistance but really don’t want to recruit anyone new, then staff augmentation, especially offshore staff augmentation, can come in very handy. Offshore staff augmentation works well for teams of all sizes and any company right from a small one to a large enterprise can work well with offshore staff augmentation.
What Is Offshore Staff Augmentation?
Staff augmentation is the process of adding resources to your project, without adding them as employees on your payroll. Most staff augmentation happens remotely, and the process is called offshore staff augmentation.
Offshore staff augmentation is especially effective when you don’t want to offer new resources the benefits you offer your full-time employees but still want to complete the tasks in the project.
What Are the Key Benefits of Offshore Staff Augmentation?
There surely would be some benefits of offshore staff augmentation, which is why many companies and teams opt for it. Offshore staff augmentation can be very useful, especially in teams where the number of people can vary from project to project and when the company is on a tight budget and cannot make any relaxations.
1. Faster Time to Market
Time is a constraint, and every industry has its unique demands on time. So, if you are in an industry that needs to accelerate time to market to stay competitive, then staff augmentation can work for you.
2. 24/7 Operations
By leveraging remote resources, offshore staff augmentation companies can ensure that the project is in a continuous mode 24/7. There is always someone working, innovating to make sure the project is completed on time, or even before time.
3. Risk Mitigation
By sourcing talent from across the globe and working with them, companies can fight the risk of geographical or political upheaval and optimize their strengths and make use of the opportunities available to them more effectively.
4. Cultural Diversity and Innovation
When you have augmented offshore staff on your team and they are actively contributing to the way ideas are created, approved and implemented, not only are you building diversity and inclusion, but innovation as well.
5. Compliance and Quality Assurance
Almost all reputable offshore staff augmentation partners adhere by both statutory as well as regulatory compliance, ensuring that the business follows all the necessary requirements even while implementing offshore staff augmentation.
What are the Common Challenges in Offshore Staff Augmentation?
1. Communication Barriers Across Time Zones
When working with remote experts, there is often a communication barrier due to differences in language, culture as well as the time zone. This can be easily overcome with the right technology and internal cooperation.
2. Need to Select a Good Offshore Staff Augmentation Vendor
The offshore staff augmentation vendor you select could make a big difference to your staff augmentation process and the promptness of action and even the quality of work. A poor vendor translates to a poor experience.
3. Cultural Fit Not Assured and Difficult to Find
Sometimes it is difficult to find a good cultural fit for your team when engaging with offshore staff. To get the right people on board would take a more coordinated effort.
4. Lack of collaboration due to differences in culture
Due to the differences in culture and language, collaboration may be a difficult thing to do. To collaborate effectively, you will need to use the right tools and have the right stakeholders involved.
5. Difficult to manage quality when few resources are working remote
When resources are working remotely, it is difficult to manage their quality, though great quality work is often expected of them, given their skills and the experience they come with. This is why the staff augmentation partner must regularly monitor their performance.
How to Effectively Implement Offshore Staff Augmentation?
To implement offshore staff augmentation, you need to follow some guidelines. When implementing staff augmentation, if you follow a set of best practices, then you can ensure that everyone on the team is on the same page, the collaboration happens effectively, and that the project deliveries are of the highest quality.
What are the Best Practices for Managing Offshore Staff?
1. Set the Right Expectations
Offshore staff augmentation requires you to set the right expectations with everyone who is working remotely and with the team too that must work with them.
2. They Are Experts, Do Not Micromanage
You hire smart people to tell you what to do, not to tell them what to do. This is the truth. The sooner you realize this in offshore staff augmentation, the better it would be.
3. Be Culturally Sensitive
Your augmented staff are from a different culture and speak a different language and their cultural sensitivities would be different. Set the right boundaries and show them the respect they deserve.
4. Recognize Achievements on Time
Your remote staff are just as important to you or even more so than your regular employees. You must recognize their achievements periodically and hold them in esteem when you speak to them and have them interact with other members of your team.
5. Identify Skill Gaps Immediately
If any skill gaps exist in the augmented team members, you must identify them immediately and make sure that you address them soon.
6. Communicate Effectively
Make sure that you communicate all the goals of the project, the time on hand, the resources and tools available and the people involved so that the staff are very productive and work to their best.
7. Implement the Right Technology
The right technology for communication and collaboration can make a big difference. With the right technology, offshore staff augmentation can be very effective.
Are You Looking for an Offshore Staff Augmentation Partner?
No matter how complicated or easy your project may seem, a little bit of good help can go a long way. Hire experts through offshore staff augmentation and ensure that your team stays on top of every challenge. With over two decades of experience in recruitment and staffing, Alp Consulting should be your staffing partner of choice. Get in touch with us when you are ready to hire some great minds.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Offshore Staff Augmentation?
A business practice where companies hire skilled professionals from abroad to work remotely as part of their existing team is called offshore staff augmentation. These resources typically work at a time and environment that is convenient for them.
2. How do I choose the right offshore staffing partner?
To choose the right offshore staff augmentation partner, you will need to look at three things in particular, does the partner understand your staffing needs well, does the partner have the necessary capability to fulfil your needs, and can the partner work within the budget that is allocated by the company for the hiring of the resource.
3. Can offshore staff work in different time zones?
Offshore staff typically work in different time zones. They do not work in the same time zone as the rest of the team. The offshore staff are hired for their expertise, and even if they are not able to communicate or collaborate as well with the rest of the team, hiring them can be very beneficial.
4. What is the cost of Offshore Staff Augmentation?
Offshore staff augmentation can be costly, depending on the seniority level of the resource to be hired and the advanced skills required. It would generally cost more than hiring a junior or mid-level employee as you are hiring a resource for a very rare skill, and they would demand more money.
5. How do you manage communication with offshore teams?
To manage communication with an offshore team, you would have the cooperation of the staffing partner, and you also have sufficient control over the way the resource works. There are also many communication and collaborations tools available today that greatly simplify communication even across time zones and help you get all the benefits of offshore staff augmentation.
