What’s the Difference Between Staff Augmentation
and Contingent Workforce Management?
Staff augmentation involves hiring external resources to supplement the existing workforce for specific projects or tasks, with the organization retaining direct control over the augmented staff. Contingent workforce management encompasses the strategic management of a flexible workforce, which may include various types of temporary workers engaged through third-party vendors or platforms, providing scalability and cost efficiencies to the organization.
Here are the main differences between these two concepts:
Staff Augmentation:
- Definition: Staff augmentation involves hiring external resources, typically on a temporary basis, to supplement an organization’s existing workforce for a specific project or task.
- Relationship: The augmented staff, often contractors or consultants, work directly under the organization’s supervision and direction. They become an integral part of the team for the duration of the project.
- Control: The organization retains control over the augmented staff, including their tasks, schedules, and performance evaluations.
- Expertise: Staff augmentation is often utilized when the organization needs specialized skills or expertise that are not available in-house or when there’s a temporary surge in workload.
- Duration: Augmented staff may work for varying durations, ranging from a few weeks to several months, depending on the project’s requirements.
Contingent Workforce Management:
- Definition: Contingent workforce management involves the strategic management of a flexible workforce that includes temporary, freelance, contract, or part-time workers.
- Relationship: The contingent workers are not considered permanent employees of the organization but are engaged on an as-needed basis to fulfill specific roles or tasks.
- Control: While the organization has some level of control over contingent workers, they may be managed through third-party vendors, managed service providers (MSPs), or through contingent workforce management platforms.
- Scalability: Contingent workforce management offers scalability, allowing organizations to quickly scale up or down their workforce in response to changing business demands.
- Cost Efficiency: It can provide cost efficiencies as organizations only pay for the services rendered or hours worked by contingent workers, without incurring additional overhead costs associated with permanent employees.
