How Executive Interim Management and Interim Management can become a key solution in this Covid-19 context, and later?
As organisations begin to emerge from crisis management to business continuity, industries are likely to find internal capacity is limited in the key areas they require to ensure they rapidly get back to business as usual.
Business Continuity Led Through Interim Specialists
This may lead companies to look to appoint strategic advisors or subject matter experts on a short-term basis in order to drive and manage increased workload in business-critical functions. For example, in areas such as workforce planning, financial modelling or legal counsel.
Through hiring project specific, interim resources, our partners are able to focus on utilising their existing workforce to get back to the new normal and become profitable once again, whilst not neglecting key strategic challenges that have arisen from the Covid 19 crisis.
In this period, digital capacity within organisations has been mobilised at lightning speed and will likely go further. As organisations build capacity and seek investment in technologies to enable more remote working, we expect to see a spike in requirements for interims with experience of digital transformation and innovation.
For example, many companies have had to quickly onboard new joiners since March 2020. It can show us the agility we can have when we need skills at work and virtually. Nevertheless, some organisations need to progress on this topic.
The environment we are working in now is unchartered territory, especially for CEOs, and organisations may consider hiring Interim expertise at C-suite level, to help navigate the senior leadership of an organisation through the crisis and beyond.
Deep level expertise in fields such as crisis management, remote workforces or employee’s engagement can take the pressure off the C-level leadership team in these tough times. Empowering organisations to make the strategic decisions based on expert analysis.
Not only will these Subject Matter Experts allow for business as usual to resume at a quicker pace, but they will also force organisations to tackle head on issues magnified by Covid-19 head on. Solidifying the long-term success of a business.
This specific context has highlighted inefficiency in few companies, like no possibility to allow each colleague to work remotely, a real lack of communication, or an invisible management. In using Interim Managers or Executive Interim Managers, some companies could fill these gaps and give extra capacity to their current teams. Hiring individuals who have the skillset to complete business critical projects and specific tasks will become the norm as sign off for permanent hires becomes more difficult.
Interim Management is a need for companies and a wish from candidates.
In the last 20 years, Interim Management has been growing in Europe. Created in the 70’s in The Netherlands this service was used by industrial and supply chain companies. Progressively, this offer was adapted to all kinds of businesses, and all kinds of departments (Finance, HR, logistic, IT, sales…). As proof, we can speak about interim managers: in the 90’s and the 2000’s, many Interim Managers worked with this contract not by choice. It was because of their senior experience, and without possibility to find a permanent contract regarding their age. Currently, we can see a new situation. Many people, with 10- or 15-years’ experience want to choose their projects, their job and their contracts; and this, to assist a company for a short-term period. This a real trend we can see in the UK, Netherlands, France, Germany and Belgium for example.
When Interim Managers might be used?
Several business scenarios demand high-level, experienced management that can be engaged quickly, efficiently and without long-term obligation. That is where Interim Managers excel. Whilst there are numerous scenarios in which Interim Managers can be used, there are some that are common to many businesses, for example:
The common theme present in all these scenarios is the immediate and short-term need for a skillset that is not currently available within the organisation. This is often a quality solution for a business transition with reactivity and impartiality.
The Benefits of Interim Management
There are several factors that make the Interim Management model an increasingly popular and cost-effective solution to short-term business needs.
SPEED
An Interim Manager can be sourced and start work within a very short timeframe, with typically five working days between brief and interviews, which is essential in many scenarios.
EXPERTISE
Interim Managers often add value through the addition of skills above and beyond the job specification.
OBJECTIVITY
As an independent operator, an Interim Manager can provide an honest and objective perspective, without agenda.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Interim Managers provide their services priced at a daily rate of payment. This means the cost of hire is easily calculable. Rates are often set on the understanding of measurable goals and objectives being achieved, not just on the basis of attendance. The money an Interim Manager saves a business versus the cost of hire can often provide an extremely lucrative ROI figure.
FLEXIBLE RESOURCE
Interim Managers work through their own Limited Company, which avoids the legal obligations of taking on a permanent employee - redundancy, holiday pay, pensions, statutory sick pay, and benefits to cite some examples.
Do you need high-quality cover for a temporary project delivered at short notice?
Our network of high calibre, fully vetted candidates and our invested advisers mean that we support our partners with the highest level of reactivity.
All our candidates will be rigorously assessed to make sure they’ve got the right skillset for your business.
With our Badenoch + Clark team in Luxembourg (and our 40 branches in Europe), we will assist companies in permanent recruitment for senior, senior management, top management and executive search positions; and we will develop ourselves as a specialist in the provision of Interim Management resources and skills. We will capitalise on our many years of experience in Interim Management in the Netherlands, France, UK, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Germany and the Nordics.
These short-term positions are often referred to as assignments and vary in length dependent on an organisation’s needs. Assignments can last anything from a couple of weeks through to 18-24 months.