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Labour market focus: the UK's interim management sector

It’s labour market focus week on Bdaily. Here, Jason Atkinson, chairman of the Interim Management Association (IMA) and managing director of Russam Interim, looks at the world of interim management.

An interim manager is a top-level independent executive or project manager. An expert in their field. A high level performer with a track record of quantifiable achievement. A possessor of drive and energy. A perceptive individual capable of adapting to new environments and delivering results. Available immediately.

Interim managers are experienced executives with specialist skills and a track record of achievement. They are hired by businesses on a project basis to solve problems.

Today, increasing numbers of business leaders are seeing interim managers as a more cost-effective solution than management consultants, or recruiting additional senior members of staff. Where resources are lean, organisations cannot afford to hire the wrong people. Interims can be parachuted into an organisation for eight to 12 months – to deliver results quickly before moving on to their next assignment.

According to the IMA’s latest Ipsos MORI survey[1], we have seen a rise in the number of assignments started, in progress and completed by professionals on short-term contracts[2].

Programme or project management work is the most popular occupation for interim managers - accounting for 40 per cent of assignments in the last quarter of 2012.

The private sector accounts for an increasing number of assignments. In Q4, 2012, 72 per cent of interim managers were operating in the private sector and only 28 per cent in the public sector – the biggest disparity since the survey began in 2006.

The survey results are very encouraging and indicate that 2013 may well be the year that restores the interim management industry to double-digit growth figures - to the levels before major cuts took place in the public sector.

However, as a sector, we continue to monitor the Government’s tightening of the rules on off payroll appointments in the public sector.

I am all for naming and shaming those who do deliberately avoid tax, but this is not what interim management stands for. The IMA has continued to reinforce the message that this could risk the removal of highly skilled and flexible senior executives - those who have a track record of delivering results and driving change.

Forcing them on to the payroll could not only damage the productivity of organisations who rely on the skills of contractors, but it could also seriously undermine the competitiveness of the UK’s flexible labour market. The IMA’s quarterly IPSOS Mori survey indicates that the interim management industry is worth £1.5 billion. It is essential for organisations (public and private sector) to have access to this talent, as we work towards economic recovery.

At the IMA, we recognise the need for consistency and quality of interim service. In 2012, we launched the IMA Approved campaign, which focused on raising the bar in our sector. All IMA members adhere to a rigorous code of practice and appoint only the best interim managers for each role. Look out for the IMA-approved tick-mark when appointing an interim provider.

For more from Labour Market Week, check out; Focus on STEM subjects will drive innovation; overcoming the UK skills gap; why recruiters need to search for the x-factor; recruitment among growing industries; Bdaily meets the labour market advisor; Adzuna’s market perceptions; the ripple affect: the need to invest in skills; the growing number of unemployed over 50s; have we got the right skills; and Bdaily meets recruit Lawrence Mallinson.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Interim Management Association .