"Organizations are increasingly externalizing work activities, but vary as to where and how they do so. Using a US employer survey, we examine within- and between-organization differences in the use of employment intermediaries such as temporary help agencies and contract companies, in whether external workers from these intermediaries supplement on-payroll employees or exclusively perform activities, and in the exercise of supervisory control over external workers. Organizations use workers from employment intermediaries more often in work activities separable from the core workflow. External workers tend to supplement regular workers engaged in more central activities and exclusively perform more peripheral ones; employers are more apt to supervise external workers for more central activities. Small, private sector employers are more likely to use employment intermediaries. When large organizations do use external workers, they tend to use them in a supplementary rather than exclusive way, and to exercise supervisory control over them."

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