More small businesses enlisting the help of contract workers

Many large companies often enlist the help of temporary workers as a way to offset any production gaps that would commonly be filled by full-time, permanent employees. However, many small businesses are beginning to bring on contract workers to address open needs as well, according to a report from Entrepreneur.

The magazine stated that many independently owned organizations are using temporary workers at an increased rate. Citing data collected from the Internal Revenue Service on small businesses enlisting the help of contractors, 3.5 percent of expenses came from temporary labor in 2003. By 2011, that number had nearly doubled, topping out at 6.4 percent.

Entrepreneur pointed to a number of reasons for such substantial growth, including giving small business owners increased flexibility with respect to labor costs. Essentially, when needs are high, contractors can be brought on quickly, and when business slows, they can be let go more easily than permanent staff.

These are just some of the benefits of small business owners using temporary workers, but there are others. Fit Small Business listed a number of advantages for enlisting the help of temps, some of which include:

1. Lower overhead: The cost of hiring permanent, full-time workers isn't just related to salary. Other costs include insurance benefits and payment into state unemployment coffers. With temporary workers, these expenses are the responsibility of the staffing agency, not the small business.
2. Easier to manage: For an employer using contract workers, any work-related issues don't have to be communicated to them directly. Concerns can be voiced to the employer of record who can then address them with the contractor.

Small businesses can obtain all the perks of using contractors without having to deal with many of the day-to-day tasks required in the management of full-time employees.