With employee-leasing companies, small businesses can consolidate their workforces to better compete with corporations for employees seeking a lucrative benefits package. Leasing companies also take over the painstaking chores of payroll, hiring and firing, and dealing with risk management issues, such as workers' compensation.

The biggest draw to employee leasing companies is the benefit packages — such as health, dental and 401(k) — they offer.

One such company offering employee leasing is Salt Lake City-based Resource Management, which opened a branch office in Las Vegas six months ago.

With the steep costs of health insurance, a contract with an employee leasing company can cost less than just the cost of current health benefits alone, said Jared Jones, a local account executive of Resource Management.

And instead of a small businesses focusing much of their time on administrative and employee issues, they can redirect their attention to core competency and growing their businesses, Jones said.

His job is to act as the liaison between his clients and Resource Management.

Having access to corporate-priced medical plans and other benefits can help not only to attract employees, but retain them as well, Jones said.

The company, with $250 million in revenue this year, has grown 25 percent every year for the last six years.

Most companies that seek out his organization's services have about 20 employees, but can range from five to 500 employees, he said.

Because his company is new to Las Vegas, Resource Management has signed few local clients.

Jones said he's focusing his efforts on signing on private medical groups, such as surgery centers, chiropractors and dentists.

In the United States, small businesses with fewer than 500 workers represent 99.9 percent of 26.8 million companies, according to the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

The federation, a lobbyist for small business, also reports that federal regulations cost small firms with less than 20 workers (when compared to large firms with 500 or more employees) 45 percent more ($2,400 more per employee) in 2005.

Also, the cost to small businesses to offer employees health insurance has risen 11.7 percent annually since 2000, according to the federation. Since the mid-1980s, the rising cost is the biggest challenge for small businesses, it said.

Edie Clark, spokeswoman for the National Association of Professional Employers Organizations, said employee leasing companies have evolved from the organizational entities they started out as.

Clark said the difference between employee leasing and human resource organizations is that employee lessors function as the employer in three key areas: payroll, risk management and benefits.

With complicated labor regulations, Clark said many PEO clients are those who recognize they need professional assistance in managing their workforce.

Moreover, it gives the employer more leverage when seeking affordable, competitive benefits to offer staff, she said.

The industry is regulated in Nevada by the state's Division of Industrial Standards.

Matt Richards, director of operations for Las Vegas-based AdvanStaff, said his employee leasing company has experienced a growth of 25 to 35 percent every year since 1991.

He attributed that growth to the ongoing difficulty in small businesses attaining affordable benefits and the increasing regulatory burdens companies have to comply with.

His company, which specializes in Nevada businesses, services clients with four to 650 employees.