21442 Matrix Newsletter HR Perspective May 2015
- 1. CHANGE ROLES MORE THAN BUSINESS AS USUAL? It could be combination of both if for example you simply need a Finance Director to step in quickly and carry on as before, this could be someone between two permanent roles. I consider Interim to be of greatest value where you want to leverage the Interim’s experience, newness of thinking, rapid adaptability or injection of change that they could bring. DO YOU SEE THAT THERE’S BEEN MUCH CHANGE IN THE INTERIM MARKET OVER THE LAST 8 TO 10 YEARS? Interim works better in some disciplines, such as finance and HR or as part of M&A activity where short-term skills and experience are often needed. I can also see it being of value in IT at CIO and Director level where change is always prevalent. Pure operational roles are more difficult and not so obvious such as in my market, claims, underwriting and broking – Interim is much less developed here. Key is that you can over-hire whilst you think about strategy and permanent recruitment at a level above where you actually need to hire on a permanent basis. WHAT ARE THE KEY ATTRIBUTES YOU LOOK FOR IN AN INTERIM PROVIDER? A provider must understand the need in a real sense, not just a role sense and pay particular attention to the optimal culture fit. It helps greatly if you’ve worked successfully with them before and can therefore trust their judgement of your need. If this isn’t the case, I get them to play back to me in a meaningful way what are the business challenges and culture that any Interim is going to operate within. Interim can be very costly if you don’t get right and a very public mistake – as can permanent of course but there are more stages to permanent recruitment across the business. Dating and matchmaking takes longer and this reduces the risk. With Interim, you make up your mind very quickly, a more focused approach by fewer people - so trusting your provider partner is critical. If bringing a senior person into a business at a time of change, that person must land with credibility and establish themselves really quickly. IMPORTANT PARTS OF PROCESS FROM CONTACT TO DELIVERY It is good practice to see a written brief when moving at speed, useful from both sides to check key deliverables and highlight anything needing clarity. But I wouldn’t wait for that, so get started and it can run concurrently. A gap in your organisation is often the reason for taking an Interim so it is foolhardy not to listen closely to what they learn in their early weeks. I believe in being open for evolution once person is on board ... Caroline Taplin, HR Director Ecclesiastical Insurance, discusses with Tim Blackstone the role of Interim Management within the people resourcing challenges of a changing business environment. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE MAIN REASONS FOR CONSIDERING THE USE OF AN INTERIM MANAGER FROM A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE? Resourcing in any business is a constant challenge and at levels of a business comes up all the time. Some needs are always thought of in a very permanent sense and there is time to implement the process properly but there are other times when you want to improve the momentum and get something really moving as well as occasions when you aren’t absolutely certain what the long term role will look like. With an Interim, you are able to acquire skills now, get started quickly and use the experience to work out as you go along with clarity what you really need before committing to long-term recruitment. HR DIRECTOR VIEWPOINT WITH AN INTERIM, YOU ARE ABLE TO ACQUIRE SKILLS NOW, GET STARTED QUICKLY AND USE THE EXPERIENCE TO WORK OUT AS YOU GO ALONG WITH CLARITY WHAT YOU REALLY NEED BEFORE COMMITTING TO LONG-TERM RECRUITMENT. - Caroline Tapin View from The Riverside HR Perspective Spring 2015
- 2. WAY FEES ARE CHARGED Most importantly, it’s good to be transparent and let’s face it recruitment costs! To me, it’s less about how it’s structured and more about overall cost – you can cut it any number of ways, it adds up to same thing. With Interim I like that there are no hidden costs, you are clear up-front what it’s going to cost. But I like to look at it retrospectively because when you do and compare it to the all-in cost for a permanent employee, the cost of an Interim often compares more favourably than people see when you just look at day rate versus the permanent salary – often the on-costs such as benefits, pension, holiday and sickness pay, National Insurance get passed to other budget lines so are not always transparent. At first pass, people are often not comparing like with like. If someone has not hired an Interim before, the day rate costs can appear intimidating but the recruiting manager often sees just the overhead budget cost. Nevertheless, cost is a ‘sell’ internally. Charging fees on a daily basis does mean that the financial risk is lowered, should it not work out. IS CONTINGENCY CONSIDERED A DIRTY WORD BY RECRUITERS ON THE CLIENT SIDE? No, contingency a big plus, it removes a major barrier in the Interim market. There is an issue with recruitment per se in that respect, it’s just how the permanent search market is currently structured - that part is certainly a distress purchase! But no, in the Interim market, contingency delivery is an attractive part of the proposition. CAROLINE ASKED HOW THE SKILL SETS IN INTERIM HAVE DEVELOPED OVER RECENT YEARS. Well sometimes Interim Management has been sold too broad and too deep. For example, as we discussed earlier how in some specialist areas as well as business development, it doesn’t work so effectively yet there is a growing trend for interim sales management roles especially where a PE owner is looking to shift the strategy. One major area of growth has We are here to help our Interim Managers and clients alike, so please do contact us even if you just want to consider a potential need or need advice on market trends or fees: [email protected] Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday? (or day names in any other language) Test your brain! 3 More London Riverside, London SE1 2RE Tel: +44 (0)203 283 4303 www.matrixinterim.com been in digital marketing given its relative newness, speed of change, constantly changing best practice and leading edge thinking within sectors such as retail click and collect. Change remains prerequisite for many assignments though. CAROLINE WAS CURIOUS AS TO HOW INTERIMS DEVELOP THEIR OWN SKILL SETS - AFTER ALL, YOU CAN RESELL WHAT YOU KNOW SEVERAL TIMES BUT MARKETS MOVE ON SO HOW DO INTERIMS KEEP UP WITH THIS? Some don’t keep up and as a result their value in the Interim market diminishes fairly quickly. We always encourage them to pursue their own professional development and personal networking, the best ones do this. The key is retained drive, energy and ability to stay ahead of the client in terms of expectations and never to drag out an assignment. Digital marketing and IT in general bring in a younger age profile to the Interim market and these are classic areas where, without keeping up with technological change on a personal level, you are unlikely to succeed as an Interim. CAROLINE: WHY DO INTERIM ASSIGNMENTS OCCASIONALLY NOT WORK OUT? Usually down to cultural fit despite due processes being followed – although this in itself is very rare in our experience. In recent years there has been some blurring of process with too many interviews so this may raise internal barriers but the advantage is that more people meet the Interim before they commit so cultural fit may be less of an issue in the longer term. LATERAL THINKING CHALLENGE
- 3. CHANGE ROLES MORE THAN BUSINESS AS USUAL? It could be combination of both if for example you simply need a Finance Director to step in quickly and carry on as before, this could be someone between two permanent roles. I consider Interim to be of greatest value where you want to leverage the Interim’s experience, newness of thinking, rapid adaptability or injection of change that they could bring. DO YOU SEE THAT THERE’S BEEN MUCH CHANGE IN THE INTERIM MARKET OVER THE LAST 8 TO 10 YEARS? Interim works better in some disciplines, such as finance and HR or as part of M&A activity where short-term skills and experience are often needed. I can also see it being of value in IT at CIO and Director level where change is always prevalent. Pure operational roles are more difficult and not so obvious such as in my market, claims, underwriting and broking – Interim is much less developed here. Key is that you can over-hire whilst you think about strategy and permanent recruitment at a level above where you actually need to hire on a permanent basis. WHAT ARE THE KEY ATTRIBUTES YOU LOOK FOR IN AN INTERIM PROVIDER? A provider must understand the need in a real sense, not just a role sense and pay particular attention to the optimal culture fit. It helps greatly if you’ve worked successfully with them before and can therefore trust their judgement of your need. If this isn’t the case, I get them to play back to me in a meaningful way what are the business challenges and culture that any Interim is going to operate within. Interim can be very costly if you don’t get right and a very public mistake – as can permanent of course but there are more stages to permanent recruitment across the business. Dating and matchmaking takes longer and this reduces the risk. With Interim, you make up your mind very quickly, a more focused approach by fewer people - so trusting your provider partner is critical. If bringing a senior person into a business at a time of change, that person must land with credibility and establish themselves really quickly. IMPORTANT PARTS OF PROCESS FROM CONTACT TO DELIVERY It is good practice to see a written brief when moving at speed, useful from both sides to check key deliverables and highlight anything needing clarity. But I wouldn’t wait for that, so get started and it can run concurrently. A gap in your organisation is often the reason for taking an Interim so it is foolhardy not to listen closely to what they learn in their early weeks. I believe in being open for evolution once person is on board ... Caroline Taplin, HR Director Ecclesiastical Insurance, discusses with Tim Blackstone the role of Interim Management within the people resourcing challenges of a changing business environment. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE MAIN REASONS FOR CONSIDERING THE USE OF AN INTERIM MANAGER FROM A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE? Resourcing in any business is a constant challenge and at levels of a business comes up all the time. Some needs are always thought of in a very permanent sense and there is time to implement the process properly but there are other times when you want to improve the momentum and get something really moving as well as occasions when you aren’t absolutely certain what the long term role will look like. With an Interim, you are able to acquire skills now, get started quickly and use the experience to work out as you go along with clarity what you really need before committing to long-term recruitment. HR DIRECTOR VIEWPOINT WITH AN INTERIM, YOU ARE ABLE TO ACQUIRE SKILLS NOW, GET STARTED QUICKLY AND USE THE EXPERIENCE TO WORK OUT AS YOU GO ALONG WITH CLARITY WHAT YOU REALLY NEED BEFORE COMMITTING TO LONG-TERM RECRUITMENT. - Caroline Tapin View from The Riverside HR Perspective Spring 2015
- 4. WAY FEES ARE CHARGED Most importantly, it’s good to be transparent and let’s face it recruitment costs! To me, it’s less about how it’s structured and more about overall cost – you can cut it any number of ways, it adds up to same thing. With Interim I like that there are no hidden costs, you are clear up-front what it’s going to cost. But I like to look at it retrospectively because when you do and compare it to the all-in cost for a permanent employee, the cost of an Interim often compares more favourably than people see when you just look at day rate versus the permanent salary – often the on-costs such as benefits, pension, holiday and sickness pay, National Insurance get passed to other budget lines so are not always transparent. At first pass, people are often not comparing like with like. If someone has not hired an Interim before, the day rate costs can appear intimidating but the recruiting manager often sees just the overhead budget cost. Nevertheless, cost is a ‘sell’ internally. Charging fees on a daily basis does mean that the financial risk is lowered, should it not work out. IS CONTINGENCY CONSIDERED A DIRTY WORD BY RECRUITERS ON THE CLIENT SIDE? No, contingency a big plus, it removes a major barrier in the Interim market. There is an issue with recruitment per se in that respect, it’s just how the permanent search market is currently structured - that part is certainly a distress purchase! But no, in the Interim market, contingency delivery is an attractive part of the proposition. CAROLINE ASKED HOW THE SKILL SETS IN INTERIM HAVE DEVELOPED OVER RECENT YEARS. Well sometimes Interim Management has been sold too broad and too deep. For example, as we discussed earlier how in some specialist areas as well as business development, it doesn’t work so effectively yet there is a growing trend for interim sales management roles especially where a PE owner is looking to shift the strategy. One major area of growth has We are here to help our Interim Managers and clients alike, so please do contact us even if you just want to consider a potential need or need advice on market trends or fees: [email protected] Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday? (or day names in any other language) Test your brain! 3 More London Riverside, London SE1 2RE Tel: +44 (0)203 283 4303 www.matrixinterim.com been in digital marketing given its relative newness, speed of change, constantly changing best practice and leading edge thinking within sectors such as retail click and collect. Change remains prerequisite for many assignments though. CAROLINE WAS CURIOUS AS TO HOW INTERIMS DEVELOP THEIR OWN SKILL SETS - AFTER ALL, YOU CAN RESELL WHAT YOU KNOW SEVERAL TIMES BUT MARKETS MOVE ON SO HOW DO INTERIMS KEEP UP WITH THIS? Some don’t keep up and as a result their value in the Interim market diminishes fairly quickly. We always encourage them to pursue their own professional development and personal networking, the best ones do this. The key is retained drive, energy and ability to stay ahead of the client in terms of expectations and never to drag out an assignment. Digital marketing and IT in general bring in a younger age profile to the Interim market and these are classic areas where, without keeping up with technological change on a personal level, you are unlikely to succeed as an Interim. CAROLINE: WHY DO INTERIM ASSIGNMENTS OCCASIONALLY NOT WORK OUT? Usually down to cultural fit despite due processes being followed – although this in itself is very rare in our experience. In recent years there has been some blurring of process with too many interviews so this may raise internal barriers but the advantage is that more people meet the Interim before they commit so cultural fit may be less of an issue in the longer term. LATERAL THINKING CHALLENGE