4 November 2008
Interim appointments: the pros and cons
Savvy businesses supplement in-house change teams – but beware the downsides.
Following on from our report about two hiring trends for organizations during economic turmoil, we take a look at how organizations can use interim employees to the best effect.
After all, a flexible employee base is something many organizations would like – an ability to staff up for peaks, but also to reduce headcount without redundancy costs. Are interims the answer in the current economic situation? And how can the comms function educate managers about filling vacancies in their team at this time?
Upturn in use of interims
To dig deeper into the issue, the Hub spoke to James Harkness (pictured right), founding partner of internal communication specialists HarknessKennett, about his market observations.
Although HarknessKennett entered the interim market about 5 years ago, its core business continues to be consulting.
Companies are taking advantage of flexible options
“We’re seeing an upturn in the interim business,” he says. It seems the flexibility of interims is providing what organizations want.
“It’s interesting, given the credit crunch, that clients are asking for senior people and are willing to pay a bit more,” Harkness says. Clients realize that senior people are more expensive on a daily basis, but achieve faster than a junior appointment.
Today’s sophisticated clients understand how best to use a mix of consultants and interims. “Depending on the recommendations from a consulting assignment, having an interim support a project for 6 months can make good sense,” Harkness explains. “It’s a flexible resource the client can turn up and down as they need.”
Clients realize that senior people are more expensive on a daily basis, but achieve faster than a junior appointment.
Growth of senior interim appointments
“What we’re seeing is a need for more senior people, particularly with change experience,” Harkness says. “If I go back to my own time in-house, interims were more at a craft level.
"They used to be junior appointments, recruited to help with a specific task. Now, clients are more used to bringing in interims at senior levels in a change project.”
Harkness suggests several benefits in employing senior interims to help embed organizational change. They:
- become close team members, often working from the client’s site;
- quickly understand the organization’s culture, how its processes work and what makes the senior people tick;
- bring an impartial external view; and
- retain a clear delivery focus – they're less likely to be sucked into other tasks.
Dangers and downsides
But there can be downsides. For instance, when the client lacks a clear brief. “Rather than having a project need, they may have a desk to be filled,” Harkness says. This makes it difficult to set and manage expectations on both sides.
Sometimes, an interim is so vital to the work that the placement is constantly extended. “Many placements are 3 to 6 months,” Harkness explains. “But there comes a point where there must be a jump – that the person becomes permanent or is replaced by another interim.”
The ability to form effective relationships quickly with senior people and team members is vital.
Harkness believes the danger of over-extending an interim’s placement is losing their recent external viewpoint. They may also find it harder to get things done as they're no longer a newcomer, but also aren't a fully integrated employee.
Client needs
The ability to form effective relationships quickly with senior people and team members is crucial. An interim communication professional's attitude and approach are key factors and clients want people that get straight on with the job. “They want people who aren’t shy about writing copy etc, to make things happen,” Harkness says.
“Clients want interims with 7-10 years' experience and senior in-house experience is vital.” They want experience that meets organizational needs – international exposure, for example. Clients also want sector experience and subject matter knowledge, for example health and safety or standard assessment procedure (SAP).
Managing interims
Sometimes performance-review processes work less well for interims than for permanent employees, as they often only view their employment in the short term. Also, clients need to appreciate that an interim will need a short induction period, though not necessarily as long as that of full-time employees.
Harness’s advice to clients is to create a really clear brief. “If you’re hiring a permanent person you’d have a clear brief for HR,” he says. “Sometimes clients think that’s not necessary for interims. But they need to explain the person’s interim role to colleagues.” The team needs to know why the interim has been appointed rather than an existing team member.
The team needs to know why the interim has been appointed rather than an existing team member.
Many HarknessKennett clients have themselves been interims or know interims through their network. “It’s interesting how many of our interims have previously been clients,” Harkness says. The fluidity of the role allows people to move between interim and corporate appointments. This helps them spot when to use a senior interim and how to manage their performance.
Download HarknessKennett's new ezine to read about the firm's recent projects.
Have your say
Have you noticed the upturn in the use of interims in your organization? Is this a positive trend for internal communicators? Perhaps you're an interim yourself – what are your experiences of taking on this role in an organization? Or maybe you've worked with interim employees in your organization – has this always been a positive experience?
Recommended resources:
Two hiring trends for organizations during economic turmoil
Your comms role in a decade's time
Melcrum report: Communicating during economic downturn
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