Interim bosses leap in favour for businesses
THE USE of interim managers, senior workers parachuted into firms on short-term contracts, has surged to its highest level in the private sector since 2007, according to a new survey.
The private sector now accounts for more than two-thirds of all interim assignments, some 67 per cent, with the majority of these in the banking and financial sector, according to a poll from the Interim Management Association.
IMA chairman Jason Atkinson said: “The industry is going through a lot of change, and clearly interim managers are more sought after than ever in the private sector.”
Interim managers are normally board level professionals who come into businesses for short assignments. Since 2006, their use by companies has surged 93 per cent due to ongoing caution by firms around hiring new workers.
The survey also found a dip in the number of new assignments for workers in the third quarter last year, falling 13 per cent.
“This was the time of the Olympics, when people took holidays and were forced to work shorter days,” Atkinson said.