Interim Management - Strategy or Emergency Solution?

Interim managers are increasingly being brought on board not only as firefighters or stopgaps. Although the external expertise has its price, it is worth weighing up the valuable contributions that interim management can bring.

In 2019, more than 10,000 interim managers were employed in Germany for the first time. One reason is personnel shortages, another is the desire to promote projects with external expertise. However, temporary managers are much less widespread in Germany than in other European countries such as France or the Netherlands, according to the "European Interim Management Study 2020"  by personnel consultancy Robert Walters. The greatest demand in this country was therefore in the area of ​​change management, where freelancers and interim managers are used primarily for projects related to digitization and regulations.

Meanwhile, the new mobile working in Corona times may have given some specialists and managers a taste for more autonomy. This is exactly what 85 percent of German interim managers particularly value about their work, as the study showed. "As our working world is becoming more and more flexible, we see a clear trend towards interim management. People already working as interim managers do not want to switch to permanent positions (anymore): only six percent of the interim managers surveyed could imagine this. Interim management is becoming more established and more than a future working model, "explains Robert Walters' Regional Managing Manager Rob Vermaak, who is responsible for Benelux and Germany.

Interim managers enjoy greater freedom

But the desire for more autonomy alone does not make life as a freelancer attractive. Above all, executives decide to work as interim managers to offer their specialist knowledge in different companies and different sectors for a limited period of time - with the opportunity to express their point of view freely, to organize their working hours themselves, and to carry out the assignment independently. Interim Manager Robert Knemeyer formulates it in the book chapter "Lückenbüßer aus passion" by Manfred Faber et al. So: “Basically if you don't have to use tactics, you are more factual. That makes some things easier and faster. But that's also what is expected of me. I can push topics forward and sometimes make myself unpopular. ”

On a European average, 75 percent of interim managers' project assignments last less than twelve months, according to the study, for which more than 2,000 interim managers in seven European countries were surveyed in January 2020 and the European interim management market was analyzed in summer 2020. In Germany, interim managers are most often used to bridge a managerial position (47 percent). This is followed by projects in the area of restructuring and crisis management (19 percent) and the redesign/implementation of new systems and technologies (13 percent).

The desire for autonomy and higher income

An important aspect for temporary specialists is undoubtedly the payment. On average, the daily rate is only a top criterion for accepting orders for twelve percent of respondents in Europe, but at the same time, for example, income is a significant motivating factor for 78 percent of German interim managers, according to the study.

All the more gratifying for freelance managers that the daily rates have increased steadily in recent years. The study by Robert Walters now gives a detailed overview of which daily rate ranges in Europe are called for temporary managers in important areas and for various positions. The rough summary for Germany looks like this:

Fast results as a goal

When comparing the interim management daily rates with the monthly salaries of permanent employees, some companies suddenly lose interest. Manfred Faber et al. however, point out in their article that there are various other employer costs for interim managers. "In the end, there is a slight increase in a fair comparison, some studies even speak of a cost-neutral comparison result. And these costs are not incurred additionally with a bridging, because the job holder is not or only briefly in case of illness, pregnancy or sabbatical continued to be paid by the employer, "says.

If, on the other hand, interim managers are hired for special projects, an extra budget is usually available anyway. For example when it comes to developing new business models in the course of digitization. Medium-sized companies, in particular, find it difficult here, which is why interim management that brings in technical know-how and new ideas can be extremely helpful. According to interim manager Ralf H. Komor, the difference between a classic consultant and an interim sales manager, for example, is that the goal is fast results. "A qualified interim sales manager develops new approaches, supports employees, and gets sales going," writes Komor in his specialist article "New impulses from interim sales managers"

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