Externalizing Employment: Flexible Staffing Arrangements in U.S. Organizations

Flexible staffing arrangements (such as temporary, contract, and part-time work) enable organizations to externalize administrative control or limit the duration of employment. We examine the prevalence and correlates of such arrangements using a recent large, representative survey of US establishments. We first develop a typology of flexible staffing arrangements and discuss reasons why organizations may adopt them. We then present measures of these flexible staffing arrangements and describe their distribution among US establishments. Finally, we examine hypotheses about the types of employers that are more or less likely to use the various types of flexible staffing arrangements, finding support for both cost-reduction and resource dependence perspectives. The use of flexible arrangements is more common in large establishments, in seasonal industries, and in establishments with highly female workforces.