The changes that are currently taking place at the workplace are consequently promoting creative approaches to jobs and work contracts.
But what are the best options for you and how will they affect your career?
There are many flexible work options available including flexible schedules, telecommuting, compressed work schedules, part-time work, and alternative work arrangements such as job sharing or Interim work.
In fact, labor flexibility is a growing trend that in the last year has generated 1.4 B $ in the USA and more than 270 MM € in Europe.
We talk with Olivia Bórquez, BSP Executive Director, and Laura Lluhen, HR Director in CaixaBank Consumer Finance, about Interim Management, one of the top “world of flexible work” trends.
What exactly Interim Management is?
According to Olivia, “Interim Management provides organizations with experienced managers and senior professionals on a temporary basis to accomplish company’s goals and needs”.
This senior talent acquisition model based on projects or temporary needs is one of the most important ways of flexible working today.
Although Interim is present in almost every country around the world, noticeable differences are observed related with maturity and business size.
While Interim position is fully integrated in countries such as UK, The Netherlands or Germany, in other countries like Spain or Portugal the incorporation of this kind of professionals into the workforce has been slower, and that’s why many young people has been also looking other type of jobs, like having stores online or doing investing using resources as the VT Markets that are great for this purpose.
“Today we can see changes in Spanish mindset and noticeable improvement in this country but we have a very long way to go”, Olivia highlights.
What are the key skills and competencies to be an Interim Manager?
“Working as an interim manager has many benefits, but may not suit everyone because it also has its challenges, and many professionals fear leaving the certainty and benefits offered by permanent positions” says Olivia.
“An Interim role quickly takes the lead of a project or business scenario and makes a real difference”, she adds.
“Interim is a highly qualified professional that requires an exceptional level of problem-solving and self-management skills, flexible and adaptable, able to cope with uncertainty, and with strong personal skills”, underlines Laura.
What are the key benefits for professionals?
The latest trends at the workplace show how more and more professionals choose for flexible ways of working. In the case of ” millennials you can see more than in other generations that flexible working is the way they want to work”.
For Olivia, the advantages of an Interim Manager as well as the rest of flexible jobs, “allow you to find better work-life balance and woking for what you want”.
“Interim position is a perfect option when a specialist lose the job. It also allows you to stay in the labor force without the necessity of being employed in a permanent position and in the case of women, it allows you to integrate in a better way your personal and professional life”, she adds.
CaixaBank Team
And, what advantages can hiring interim professionals offers?
Hiring Interims helped CaixaBank Consumer Finance to acquire the business insight of a professional during the crisis time in 2008.
“The economic crisis put us in a difficult situation but at the same time allowed us to be innovative and creative”, says Laura.
“Hiring Interims allow us to get the experience we need, when we need it without traditional contracts”.
During the last 5 years CaixaBank Consumer Finance have contracted 18 Interim professionals in the Marketing area above all, but also in risk management area.
“We needed highly experienced and flexible professionals” and from then on we have worked together with BSP to “acquire these kind of specialists to our company”.
Besides, “the hiring and firing process for a full-time employee is more extensive, leading to additional paperwork and costs”. In the long-term, Interim professionals help companies to save money”, highlights Olivia.
“It allows companies to incorporate specific skills that they don’t have in their full-time teams. They don’t need to train and develop staff for a temporary position, for example, and they can have a specialist person to carry out a specific project. ”
In addition, the Interim leaves a legacy in the company.
Although, as Laura recognizes, “it not always easy”. “When a company hires external and temporary professionals it is necessary to create a good environment for both, interims and company teams”.
An employee’s workplace environment is a key indicator of the quality of their work and their level of productivity so the company has to facilitate workflow requirements from internal team and external professionals.
For Olivia it is essential that “companies change their mindset and adapt their processes to the new ways of flexible working”.
Between 20% and 30% of the world’s workforce could be flexible and most companies and HR specialists announcing this is one of the on rise trends.
There are still things to change. “We have to learn to live with this new scenario of flexibility at work, adopt new laws and rules that frame this new system and help to be socially accepted.”
“Today, for example, it is common for a flexible worker to have problems receiving a mortgage, and it needs to change”, says Olivia.
“There are improvements in terms of bureaucracy, freelancer’s incentives for example, but there is still a lot to do related to labor legislation”, she adds.
It is obvious that not everyone can and wants to work under traditional contract models. But it is also clear that there are professionals who prefer this way of working and that companies don’t always need full-time workers or permanent contracts.
“We should work to stop stigmatizing these kind of job positions” says Olivia.
In this sense, Laura recognizes we need to “respect and implement flexibility in companies” and help Interim professionals to find its way and at the same time, recognize socially the importance and value of this work role.
CaixaBank Offices
And, now what?
Olivia believes that “we are learning new models of connection between employees and employers” and we need to incorporate these “new values of work that are taking place”.
“For young professionals work-life balance is really important” and “the idea that you can not be a good professional if you are not a balanced person is becoming the norm,” Olivia emphasizes.
“I am convinced that the Interim is going to become more popular in companies” because they are flexible, highly qualified professional and provide objectivity and efficiency”, says Laura.
That is why we need to “change our mindset and recognize the huge value of Interims. They are very interesting for companies.”
For Olivia “the future is flexible and companies like WISAR or BSP, managing talent for competitive advantage, is key”. “We are responsible companies that takes care of both, professionals and companies, safeguarding the contracting processes”.
Does Interim Management suits with your experience and expectations?
