HR and Staffing Spotlight: The New Metrics for Staff Augmentation Success
Firms like Charlotte's Windward Partners are taking staff augmentation in a new direction by applying business goals to staffing strategy. This unique approach goes beyond billable hours, focusing on contractor accountability and efficient processes for the client.
(PRWEB) April 25, 2005 -- In today's metrics-driven business environment, companies want to know exactly what they're getting for their money. Every expense must have an explanation that furthers their overall business goals. When it comes to staff augmentation, companies are seeking more control over their projects and delivery strategies without running the risk of increased dependency on the service providers.
That Was Then
The positives of staff augmentation are that it dramatically reduces the costs associated with hiring, termination, idle time, and training. Traditionally, companies plan their yearly projects and assign in-house resources for planning and development. Each project has room for additional resource allocation, but when the time comes, the company hires multiple staffing firms to meet personnel needs.
While it may be tradition, this model doesn't always further business goals. By working with multiple firms, companies have less control over the success and delivery of their projects as a whole. There are multiple work agreements and billing mechanisms to attend to for each group of contractors, creating additional work and project complexity.
More importantly, the odds of contractors all working for different companies using similar processes to ensure knowledge transfer and overall project success are minimal. The traditional "vendor list" model simply doesn't apply to the new priorities of staff augmentation.
This Is Now
Companies like Charlotte, NC's Windward Partners are taking a new approach to staff augmentation. "Our approach focuses on achieving strategic business objectives", says Windward's Greg Smith. "Instead of multiple billing mechanisms, work styles and agendas, we provide one cohesive team that works across multiple projects". This approach creates a more efficient billing process for the client and strong knowledge transfer for their projects.
It also gives companies the flexibility they need to meet the diverse requirements of any project while ensuring the best return on investment. Companies receive employees with the skill sets they need, they're onboarded quicker, and project development is far more cohesive and organized. Internal manhours are reduced when accounts payable and litigation teams aren't bogged down with extra research and paperwork.
Regain Control
This increasingly collaborative style is putting real project control back into the hands of the client. Windward's teams are given specific marching orders based on client business objectives, and the company doesn't measure success by billable hours, but by how well teams execute these objectives. "Our goal isn't to maximize the amount of time our teams spend on the clock", says Smith. "It's about executing tasks to meet specific goals, and clearing the obstacles to efficient and effective staff augmentation."
Windward Partners CEO Beth Crigler agrees. "It was just a matter of time before clients demanded this," says Crigler. "Planning staff aug this way eliminates the big things companies are scared of. Now contractors share accountability across teams, billing processes are streamlined, and contractor management is simplified through one point of contact."
"Team communication is better so performance improves," adds Crigler, "and think about the amount of time and costs saved internally by not having HR and accounts payable dealing with multiple work agreements and payment terms."
Apparently this new take on staff augmentation is working. Windward Partners was founded by Beth Crigler in 2004, and has already landed top notch clients like TIAA-CREF.
For more information about Windward Partners, visit their new company website: www.windward-partners.com
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