East Tennessee’s staffing agency.

Where we staff

From Farragut to Gatlinburg, Halls to Alcoa, every community in our three-county service area gets the same speed and the same care.

East Tennessee is home for us. Our office has been on Chapman Highway in South Knoxville since Bill Peterson started this family company in 2012, and from there we reach across Knox, Sevier, and Blount counties without losing a step. We know the job sites off the interstate, the hotels and cabins along the Parkway, the warehouses on the I-40 and I-75 corridor, and the production floors near the airport. Honestly, we are in the people business, and putting our neighbors to work all across this region is the best part of what we do.

The East Tennessee economy

East Tennessee’s workforce demand is driven by three economic engines that run simultaneously. Tourism — Great Smoky Mountains National Park draws over 12 million visitors annually, feeding a massive hospitality and service economy across Sevier County and into Knoxville. Manufacturing and logistics — the I-40/I-75 corridor makes Knoxville and Blount County a hub for production, distribution, and warehousing, with industrial parks in Forks of the River, Eastbridge, and the Pellissippi corridor. Construction — new hotels along the Pigeon Forge Parkway, cabin developments in the mountains, residential growth in Maryville and Farragut, and commercial expansion across all three counties keep construction demand steady year-round.

The challenge is that all three engines compete for the same blue-collar workforce. When tourism peaks in summer and fall, construction sites lose workers. When a new warehouse opens near the interstate, production facilities struggle to fill third shift. Labor Exchange exists to solve that problem — a single staffing partner that covers every industry across every county, with a worker pool deep enough to fill gaps wherever they appear.

The scale out here is bigger than people expect. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park drew around twelve million visitors in 2024, and Sevier County alone saw billions of dollars in visitor spending, which is what keeps hotels, cabins, and restaurants hungry for hands nearly year-round. Blount County carries more than a hundred manufacturing plants and is home to McGhee Tyson Airport over in Alcoa, a freight and travel gateway that set a passenger record in 2025. And Knox County anchors the whole thing with the University of Tennessee, the region’s largest employer, plus a medical center, the Tennessee Valley Authority headquarters downtown, and the research and energy economy that radiates out from Oak Ridge. We do not staff those landmarks, and we would never claim them as ours, but they explain why the demand for everyday labor across these three counties never really lets up.

The corridor we cover

Picture a line from the city to the mountains. We work the whole thing.

East Tennessee really is shaped like a corridor, and once you see it that way, the way we cover three counties from one office makes sense. Start in Knoxville, the city in the middle, where the warehouses sit along the I-40 and I-75 split and the job sites follow the growth out toward Farragut and Hardin Valley. Head southwest on Alcoa Highway and you are in Maryville and Alcoa within twenty minutes, past the airport and into Blount County’s manufacturing belt. Point the other way, south down Chapman Highway from our own front door, and the road carries you toward Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg, where the whole economy turns on the mountains. Three very different worlds, but one stretch of road tying them together, and one crew that knows all three.

That geography is exactly why a single regional partner beats juggling separate agencies town by town. Workers move along this corridor. A hand who lives in Knoxville will gladly take a good assignment in Maryville or up in the Forge, and a Blount County worker will run into the city for the right job. Because we pull from one pool that knows the whole region, we are not stuck telling you we have nobody in your town. We are matching the right person to your site no matter which end of the corridor you are on. Honestly, that reach is the thing folks call us for.

Industries we staff

Five industries across three counties. The same roles, the same quality, the same speed — wherever you are in East Tennessee.

Roles we dispatch across East Tennessee

What each county leans on

Same company, three different rhythms of work.

The three counties do not need the same workers at the same time, and that is the quiet reason one regional partner works so well. In Knox County, the steady pull is warehouse and distribution along the interstate, construction chasing the city’s growth and the new South Waterfront, hospitality downtown, and a wave of events every fall. In Sevier County, it is tourism almost all year, housekeepers and housemen and laundry and banquet crews for the hotels and cabins along the Parkway, with construction always going up to add more lodging. In Blount County, the backbone is manufacturing and production, the plant floors and material handling around Maryville and Alcoa and the airport, alongside a growing residential construction market.

When those rhythms collide, that is when employers feel the squeeze. Tourism peaks in the Smokies in summer and pulls hands south, right when Knoxville construction wants every laborer it can get. A new warehouse opens near the interstate and a production plant suddenly cannot fill third shift. We sit in the middle of all of it, and because we are one company across all three counties, we can shift people toward the gap instead of leaving you stuck. One phone call covers Knox, Sevier, and Blount. That is the whole idea.

Why a local crew matters out here

We are your neighbors, not a franchise run from another state.

When a worker does not show, it is your problem in the next hour, not next week. A short housekeeping crew in Gatlinburg means rooms do not turn before check-in. A missing hand on a Maryville job site can push a deadline. A gap on a Knoxville warehouse third shift backs up the whole line. We answer those calls fast because we are right here in East Tennessee, close enough to know the difference between a name on a contract and people who actually pick up the phone. And we treat the people we place like family, including the ones the world has lost track of. That is who we are, and it is why folks keep coming back to work with us.

Being one company across all three counties helps you, too. When the season peaks in the Smokies and pulls workers off Knoxville job sites, or a new warehouse opens and a plant suddenly cannot fill a shift, you have one staffing partner who can move people to where the gap is. One phone call covers Knox, Sevier, and Blount. You are not juggling three different agencies in three different towns.

What to expect when you call us

A real person, the same day. No phone trees.

Call 865-247-4957 and you reach our crew in South Knoxville. We ask three simple things: where you are in East Tennessee, how many workers you need, and when. From there we can usually have you set up in under 15 minutes, with same-day dispatch during business hours. Every worker is a W-2 employee of ours, not a 1099 contractor, and we carry the payroll, payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and screening in one simple rate per worker. You get one invoice and the right people on site. To put someone on payroll, all it takes is two forms of ID for the I-9, the same as any new hire, and background checks or drug screening are available on request. Tell us what you need. We will get the right people to you, ready today.

Common questions

Which counties and towns do you cover?

All of Knox, Sevier, and Blount counties from one office in South Knoxville. That includes Knoxville, Farragut, Powell, and Halls in Knox County; Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg along the Parkway; and Maryville, Alcoa, and Townsend in Blount County, plus the smaller towns in between.

How fast can you get workers on site?

Same-day during business hours. We dispatch pre-screened workers straight to your location, and you get the most options when you call earlier in the day.

Are the workers your employees or mine?

They are ours. Every worker is a W-2 employee of Labor Exchange, and we cover payroll, payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and screening in one rate. You simply tell us what you need and approve the hours. Background checks and drug screening are available on request.

Do you charge more to send workers to the far end of the region?

You get one simple all-in rate per worker that already covers their pay, the payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and screening. Tell us where you are in Knox, Sevier, or Blount County and how many people you need, and we will quote you straight before anyone is dispatched. No surprise paperwork, no guessing, one invoice.

Can one order include workers across more than one county?

Yes. Plenty of employers run sites or properties in more than one town out here, and because it is one company and one pool, you can place it all through us with one phone call instead of chasing three different agencies. We will sort out who goes where.