What is outstaffing and why use it?

Sometimes a company needs to perform a small amount of work, but there are no suitable specialists in the staff. And since creating a full-fledged position is expensive and inefficient, it is necessary to look for interested people on the side.

Such an action is called outstaffing - searching for employees outside the state to perform a certain front of work. An example of outstaffing would be finding handymen to clean up trash at a construction site in a week. Today, let's talk about what types of outstaffing there are and how to properly hire new employees.

Why is outstaffing necessary?

Because renting employees can often be profitable. You don't pay taxes, you don't specify that they are on staff, you don't report to the state. All of this is handled by the outstaffing company you are working with, and they are responsible for the staff.

Competent rental of workers - an effective solution when you need to increase the staff of the firm for a certain period of time or hire narrowly specialized specialists.

More about the pros

There are specific reasons why outstaffing is beneficial:

• When it's not profitable to expand your workforce, you can outsource the right number of employees. For example, if a company wants to stay on a favorable tax bracket.
  
  
• Solving management-related situations. A chain of stores opens a new outlet in the city, but there is no good manager yet, and no one within the chain wants to go. In this case, you can try to invite a manager with the right skills.
  
  
• Everything that has to do with regulatory agencies is taken care of by the outstaffer company. Also, you need to have less to do with certificates and documentation.

What is the difference between outstaffing and outsourcing?

If you put “outsourcing” in place of the word “outstaffing”, most people won't notice the difference. That's because these two hiring models are similar. So let's list a few of the differences:

• In outsourcing, the customer gets the result but does not control the process. In outsourcing, he can manage both.
  
  
• There are certain legal regulations for outstaffing. It can be done by firms that have been accredited. If you do not comply with the law, you can be fined up to 1 million roubles.
  
  
• Outsourcing is usually more expensive, as more resources are spent on work there. At a minimum, you need to pay for the services of one manager, leading the team.

What kind of employees are hired through an intermediary and when?

Any kind of employee - from construction workers to IT specialists. Despite the fact that such workers can be useful for small firms, they are often hired by relatively large companies (from 100 people). This is necessary when a firm wants to focus solely on what it is good at.

What to watch out for when hiring employees through outstaffing?

One pitfall is firms that seek to circumvent government bans. For example, a company wants to save money, so it hires employees for a paycheck in an envelope. The employees will not be protected by the state, and the company will have no problem firing a person without official employment.

The customer may also have problems. Controlling services may ask: why do you have people working in your company who are not officially registered anywhere? And the lack of a clear answer can get a fine of up to 100 000 rubles.

To avoid such situations, follow simple recommendations:

• Do not turn to one-day firms.
• Pay attention to the company's reviews. Not all of them are tipped, so you can check what former clients think about the organization.
• Do not turn to companies that offer their services too cheaply.
  
  

In what cases does a business use outstaffing most often?

There are many situations on the market in which outstaffing can be profitable. Among them:

• Finding highly specialized specialists or crisis managers. The enterprise is going through a decline and needs a person who can cope with the problems. He can be hired on a temporary basis. The same goes for IT specialists.
  
  
• The desire to occupy a vacated niche. If a certain area is being vacated by competitors and the company knows what it takes to be successful, a temporary team can be assembled to take over the niche.
  
  
• Many companies have a plan for the year. If it can't be achieved due to a lack of manpower - outstaffing can help with the workload.

Outstaffing is also popular when you need to do analytics, digitalization, marketing, etc. Because it is not always cost-effective to maintain departments for these purposes. Besides, notional advertising agencies have more experience in this field.