SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

RESPONDING WITH AGILITY TO MARKET DEMANDS
Some 70 percent of respondents to the survey said they agree that using external workers allows their organization
to meet market demands and maintain efficiency that would otherwise be difficult. And more than
half see the value of the external workforce increasing in the next several years. figure 2
Nasdaq is one such company. Currently, says Rebecca Arnold, vice president and global head of talent
management, external workers compose about 20 percent of Nasdaq’s workforce. But Arnold and her colleague
Doug Kortfelt, vice president and global head of strategic sourcing and procurement, say they expect
to deploy an even higher percentage of external workers in the future.
“We’ve been growing at a rapid pace, through acquisitions or new products,” Arnold says. “Our objective is
to develop a workforce that enables the organization to identify and respond to talent needs and
organizational constraints so as to forward our business strategies in both the short and long term.”
FIGURE 2
ATTITUDES ABOUT EXTERNAL WORKERS
Please rate the extent to which you agree with each of the following statements.
(Percent somewhat/strongly agree)
BENEFITING FROM THE EXTERNAL WORKFORCE
Using external workers allows our organization to meet market demands
and maintain efficiency that otherwise would be difficult
69%
66%
Using external workers is beneficial to our organization and the external workers
Using external workers allows us to bring in expertise that
our full-time staff lacks
53%
Using external workers will be increasingly valuable to
our organization in the next two to three years
52%
39%
We would use more external workers if it were easier to manage them
HOLISTIC TALENT SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 3