Finally Charlie Beek can sleep again. As operations manager at Sunbelt Fulfillment Services Inc., a magazine subscription company in Brentwood, Tenn., Beek had her hands full a few years ago. She continuously churned through new people to help with the company's overwhelming amount of work.

In a desperate search to find good people in a tight labor market, Beek went through several hundred workers in about 18 months. "I couldn't sleep at night because [work] was on my mind all the time," she says.

Everything changed when Beek ran across a brochure from OffSite Works. The Nashville-based outsourcing agency provides businesses with the off-site workers who help with tasks ranging from office work and transcriptions to Web site design and marketing.

Now Beek maintains a small staff. She acquires off-site personnel from two companies to help out with data entry and clerical work. "With OffSite, I can either beef them up or scale them back depending upon my need," Beek says.

Non-traditional workers--such as contractors, interns, temps and freelancers--can significantly reduce a company's workload. They can also lower business expenses by decreasing payroll taxes, benefits costs and overtime pay to full-time employees.

Workers Around the Country
Because off-site workers are like contractors, Sunbelt does not worry about payroll taxes or benefits. "It reduces their costs immediately," says Denise Gore, owner of OffSite Works. "There's no time, expense or involvement in that, and they're saving space and equipment."

Clients don't need to worry about the OffSite crew. Gore's company manages the off-site workers, gives them deadlines and ensures work quality.

"It makes it more efficient and more effective," Beek says. "If you don't have to go back and redo things that are done accurately, we are saving production time."

On the other hand, Sunbelt wasted plenty of money in training new hires in the past. "We were literally throwing tons of money out the window," Beek says. "These people came for training class one week, and they lasted a week. Then I was starting over the next week."

Extra Help in the Office
In addition to its off-site workers, Sunbelt hires several temps to help out with on-site demand. "I brought them in for our phone center because I needed some people who I knew had been doing that sort of thing," Beek says. "A lot of times agencies help [by doing] all that prescreening. They know better about what their skill level is."

Sue Foigelman, an area manager for Manpower Inc., a worldwide staffing firm based in Milwaukee, agrees that hiring temporary workers can save companies time. "A lot of small organizations don't have the resources of being able to test people properly and do all the background checks and the drug screening," she says. "We can do it a lot more efficiently because of all the resources that we have."

Hiring temporary workers can also save companies money. Businesses pay the hourly rate--although usually higher than for a full timer--without worrying about benefits or taxes. "It's certainly cheaper if you don't need somebody for a very long term," Foigelman says. "They don't need to pay for when the employee is on vacation or is sick."

Beek uses her agency contacts for temp-to-hire positions as well. That way, she can try people out, and it lessens her commitment. "If these people work out, then we want to put them on full-time," she says. "If it doesn't work out, or if you don't like them, there's no questions asked. [The agency] gets you a replacement and puts that person somewhere else.

Outside Professionals Add Creativity
For more specialized, professional tasks, small businesses can hire freelancers or contractors. Whenever Judy Lynes needs extra help for photography, illustrations, copywriting or public relations, she accesses the freelance resume database she has entered in her computer.

"When a big new account comes in, and we need help right away, we usually need to hit the ground running," says Lynes, vice president of public relations at The Phelps Group, and integrated marketing communications company in Santa Monica, Calif. "Sometimes we just don't have the manpower right then and there."

Through the years, Lynes received hundreds of e-mails from talented people interested in project work. "It's good for companies to have a little roster of people that they know, and they can quickly go down the list if someone is not available," she says.

Lynes says freelancers usually assimilate pretty quickly to her company's fast pace, and they can often help liven up a project. "It's easy when you're working on something to get tunnel vision, and then somebody new comes into the project," she says. "That's a great way to get new ideas and new perspectives."

Hands-On Learning
Also at The Phelps Group, Joe Hartnett, the chief integrated marketing officer, works with local colleges and universities to find interested interns, who help lessen the load of many full-time employees. "No one is an island," Hartnett says. "Our interns are available to everyone. Since we have every discipline, ...there are a lot of different areas for interns to get involved in."

Interns get the chance to obtain hands-on experience. "It's a contract between a young person and more experienced mentors to train them in exchange for some really valuable knowledge that will help them in their future life and get started on an important career," Hartnett says.

Many times Hartnett hires his interns once they graduate. "It's a way to identify high-quality people and bring them in for potential hiring later on," he says.

Like The Phelps Group, businesses may find that nontraditional workers can become one of their biggest assets. "[One person] started as an intern, ...and within five years, she was a team leader on one of our biggest accounts," Hartnett says. 

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