What Ifs About Contingency Workers

If you're a soloist, have you ever thought of yourself as a ‘contingency worker’? CWs are workers brought in as freelancers or contractors for short- or long-term tasks. When the job's done, they leave - 1099 in hand. Nothing new here. Aside from consulting positions, the Department of Labor reports that temp staffing jobs alone jumped 577% from the early 1980s to the late 1990s.

Positioning yourself as a CW for your clients can help them in a bind. I frequently remind my newer editors that I can be their ‘utility infielder,’ able to write on a variety of topics - and on very short notice. I recall once being given 2,500-word feature that I turned around in less than a week. Trust and reliability go a long way in building a relationship.

Another way to position yourself as a valuable contingency worker: A way to thwart ‘brain drain.’ With the departure of staffers to lay-offs or other employment moves, company knowledge is lost. This ‘institutional memory decline’ can be costly to a company, according to workplace expert Hamilton Beazley in Continuity Management: Preserving Corporate Knowledge and Productivity When Employees Leave (John Wiley & Sons). Employees or teams of contractors conduct research, planning, strategizing and reporting. When they leave, so, too, does what they've learned. And it's only accelerating with layoffs, job-hopping and retirements.

Freelancers should make themselves invaluable to their clients. Offer fresh ideas. Think of new ways to do things differently. Report on new trends you've learned. Position yourself as essential to your clients.

Jeff Zbar, the ChiefHomeOfficer.com, is a speaker, writer and expert on alternative officing. He is the author of Teleworking & Telecommuting: Strategies for Remote Workers and Their Managers (Made E-Z Products, 2002); Safe@Home: Seven Keys to Home Office Security (FirstPublish 2001) and Your Profitable Home Business (on CD-ROM from Made E-Z Products). Visit his Web site to subscribe to Home Office Success Stories, his free electronic magazine on home business and teleworking.