Staff Augmentation vs Independent Contractors: Choosing the Right Collaboration Model

Even after the pandemic is over, many companies still continue hiring talent remotely due to the world’s post-pandemic recession and economic instability. Remote work has become a practical solution, allowing businesses to find the right specialists, reduce costs, and remain flexible in the face of economic uncertainty.

In particular, companies are turning to staff augmentation and independent contractors to quickly engage with the right talent, and save time and resources. Both collaboration models let you find skilled engineers around the globe while maintaining quality and resource efficiency compared to local hiring. 

But which working model should you choose? In this article, we’ll break down and compare staff augmentation with independent contractors, drawing on our ten years of experience in providing technical sourcing and IT staffing services to businesses worldwide. After reading this article, you’ll learn the pros and cons of independent contractors and staff augmentation, and choose what’s best for your needs. Ready? Let’s dive in.

Staff augmentation

So what is staff augmentation, exactly? Essentially, this is when you add talent to your existing in-house team, whether for a short project or a long-term collaboration. To illustrate, here’s how we at Bridge help our clients with staffing.

Using our clients-only platform, you send us details on what engineer you’d like to hire. Based on your description, our hiring specialists source and pre-vet potential candidates. You remain the final decision maker on whether the candidate fits your project and pay a daily or monthly rate for the actual developer’s work. Team setup and payroll operations are on us.

If you want to hire talent on your own, consider reading our guide on how to hire a software developer.

As a result, you can quickly expand your existing team, and scale your remote team when needed. And thanks to our online platform, you can manage your talent pipeline, review candidates, and schedule interviews with ease.

Here’s a table that summarizes the responsibilities of both sides. Take a look:

Key benefits of staff augmentation

The benefits of staff augmentation are numerous and it will take a separate article to cover all of them. So to save your time, we’re going to focus only on the most crucial ones.

• Reduced costs. When hiring talent across the globe, you can expect more competitive salaries due to different costs of living. For example, hiring talent in Mexico is much more cost-efficient compared to the US.
• Access to skilled talent. Your recruitment provider carefully handpicks candidates taking into account your requirements, and hard and soft skills, ensuring a perfect match.

Disadvantages of staff augmentation

While there are significant benefits of staffing, it is important to address the potential challenges.

• Integration issues. Your remote employees can have different work cultures and communication styles, which might negatively affect the onboarding process. So carefully choose professionals, whose business values align with yours.
• Time zone differences. Remote workers are located in different time zones, so it’s natural that you have to align work schedules to ensure productive work.

Hiring independent contractors

Now, what is an independent contractor? This is another way to hire people for remote work, but unlike staffing, you sign a contract with an individual, not an agency. If you have small tasks, it is recommended to hire independent contractors, which is probably the best option for short-term projects.

You can easily hire an independent contractor using freelance platforms such as Upwork or Toptal. But if you feel like you could use some help, consider our sourcing-as-a-service. At Bridge, you can enjoy all the benefits of hiring an independent contractor. Our dedicated team of researchers will tackle the time-consuming task of finding candidates. Our sourcing engine built specifically for engineer recruitment lets us configure the selection criteria, making the outreach process five times faster.

Advantages of independent contractors

Below are the main pros and cons of independent contractors.

• Flexibility. Unlike hiring full-time employees, contractors hired for small tasks let you finish the collaboration once the project is over and remain more agile. 
• Reduced overhead costs. Companies typically reduce their overhead costs by an average of 20-30% when they choose independent contractors.

Disadvantages of independent contractors

Apart from benefits, it is also worth considering the disadvantages of hiring independent contractors.

• Scalability complexities. In case you hire talent on your own and want to scale your team, you’ll have to start a new hiring campaign that might take a while.
• Dedication. Another disadvantage of an independent contractor is that they can work on several projects, which sometimes negatively affects their work efficiency.
• Management challenges. When working with independent contractors, communication and administrative tasks are on you.

Staff augmentation vs independent contractors: Wrapping up

As you can see, both remote staffing vs outsourcing models have their advantages and disadvantages, so it’s up to you to decide what is a better solution for your project. To make your choice easier, here’s a table with a brief summary of both collaboration models.

Also, take the following factors into consideration:

• Project duration and complexity. If you have a short-term project with small tasks, it is better to opt for an independent contractor. If you want to work with a person long-term, choose staff augmentation or consider our sourcing-as-a-service to find full-time employees.
• Risk tolerance. When you choose to work with independent contractors, there’s a possibility of partnering with engineers who may not be completely dependable. To ensure a 100% fit, hiring dedicated employees might seem like a better solution.

Hire skilled developers with Bridge

At Bridge, we understand the ins and outs of the recruitment process. While we can’t make the final choice for you, we can certainly offer our expertise and help no matter which path you choose.

Our talent pool spans over 13 countries, where we can find candidates for you in your time zone. Bridge stands out because our experts have a deep understanding of technology and software development, allowing them to communicate effectively with developers. Our sourcing services are not only cost-effective compared to hiring an in-house recruiter but also, thanks to our sourcing engine, we can identify and present up to 30 qualified candidates per month.

Want to learn how much it costs to hire a dedicated employee? Use our budget calculator.

Looking to hire full-time developers? Send us your requirements and we will get back to you as soon as possible to discuss the details.