You know how it goes. You need someone to fill a temporary position but you may only need them short-term...how do you fill that temporary gap?!

This growth step is a stressful, tricky one for most companies. I repeatedly see good business owners stumble here.

While many options exist, there’s one that can be a true win-win. Are you ready for this? Call one of your competitors and ask if they have someone they are having trouble keeping busy. No kidding! You will be surprised how many times your request is warmly received.

A couple things to keep in mind:

When you bring someone on temporarily, be sure that everyone knows the working arrangement. Make it perfectly clear to their employer that you’re not going to “steal” the employee.

If you behave in an ethical and honest manner, this arrangement becomes a win-win for everyone involved. When you have an employee sitting around, you may be able to loan them out, too. Better yet, the next time you go head-to-head with a competitor, you can compete in a manner that builds your market share and reputation.

Two words of caution:

Do not attempt to avoid labor laws by paying the employee directly as a subcontractor unless they legitimately meet the rules for this type of compensation. It will come back to bite you.

This approach only works for companies who have developed friendly competition within their markets. If you go around bad mouthing your competitors, you’re probably out of luck.