Interim Partners

Top NHS interim managers warn against Government plans

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:06:27 GMT

The survey of over 110 interim managers who have senior management or board level experience in the NHS, found that 76% of those polled think GP led commissioning will also fail to deliver cost savings.

Interims are senior managers and executives who are recruited on a short-term basis.

Steve Melber, Senior Consultant in Healthcare at Interim Partners, comments: “Interims who are real experts in commissioning health services are sceptical that Government proposals to put GPs in charge of commissioning will improve NHS service delivery or cut costs.”

“This is a worrying indictment, since one of the main drivers of the reforms was to improve service and cut costs by stripping out layers of management. The Government clearly has a big job to do to reassure stakeholders and the public that its reforms are an effective route to a more efficient health service.”

Under the proposed reforms:

· GPs would be handed the power, currently with strategic health authorities and primary care trusts, to procure NHS services.

· Some four-fifths of the £100billion-plus NHS budget would be handled by GPs.

Says Steve Melber: “GPs would be the first to admit that they did not train as medical professionals to become service commissioners. While some will take up the mantle, many do not have the experience or the desire to be put in charge of commissioning healthcare services for their local populations.”

“Interims working in the NHS understand where efficiencies are made and where corners cannot be cut without seriously compromising service delivery. The broad experience they gain from placements throughout the NHS, across primary and secondary care, means they really know what they’re talking about.”

Interim Partners explains that under the proposals, GPs will form consortia to procure across a wider geographical area than their usual practice boundaries.

Steve Melber comments: “GPs will be forced to spend a lot of their time grouping into consortia and building their commissioning expertise and capability. That is time they would otherwise dedicate to patient care and making sure their practices are running effectively.”

Interim Partners points out that the introduction of world class commissioning in the NHS in 2007 resulted in huge demand for interims across primary care trusts.

Steve Melber adds: “Interim managers have helped the NHS radically improve its procurement of health services before. When the transfer of commissioning budgets starts, GP consortia should look to bring in experienced and flexible interim managers to help them effectively commission healthcare services for the patients they serve.”

Public sector usage of interim managers costs less than £290m

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 14:17:43 GMT

• Only 1.4% of public payroll currently spent on interims • Interim rates lower for public sector employers • Call for Government to make greater usage of interims to deliver savings identified in Spending Review

Usage of interim managers across the whole public sector is believed to cost less than £290m* each year, just 1.4% of the total £20.5bn public sector payroll, according to analysis by Interim Partners, the leading provider of interim management solutions.

Interims are senior managers and executives who are recruited on a short-term basis.

Interim Partners points out Government spending on consultants is far higher than on interims. The public sector spends £997m on consultants each year, equivalent to 5% of the total public sector payroll and 247% more than it spends on interims.

Doug Baird, Managing Director of Interim Partners, comments: “Whilst it is popular to portray any contractors used by the public sector as evidence of excess the reality is that the use of interims is a tiny fraction of the public sector’s pay bill.”

Interim Partners points out that interim managers are very cost effective and can charge as little as half the price of a management consultant of the same level of seniority.

Says Doug Baird: “It is often overlooked that interims working in the public sector are there to implement and deliver improvements in services or reductions in costs rather than just to consult and plan.”

“The public sector simply does not make enough use of cost effective temporary staff at manager level and above.”

“Making greater use of managers on a flexible contract basis, without any of the public sector’s large pensions or redundancy costs could save the public sector hundreds of millions in payroll costs.”

Interim Partners says that as with the private sector, some interim managers in the public sector might occasionally get overpaid but this problem could be fixed by simply benchmarking the pay rates of interims more carefully.

On average daily rates for interims in the public sector at £743 are actually 2% lower than in the private sector (Q2 2010)*. Daily rates paid to interims in the public sector have also fallen substantially over recent years – down 4% from £777 in Q2 2007 to Q2 2010 – which is a major fall in real terms.

Demand for Interims to lead cost cutting programmes will continue to increase Interim Partners says that they expect continued high demand for interim efficiency experts from the public sector.

Adds Doug Baird: “The Government is finding that it is far harder to deliver cost savings without undermining frontline services than they have expected.”

“That is why there is currently so much demand for “lean manufacturing” and “six-sigma” *** experts from the private sector. Interims bring vast experience of working on cost cutting programmes developed in the private sector that will be of great use to the public sector.”

“You need that level of experience if you are going to deliver significant savings without leaving staff and customers demoralised. Cost-cutting might sound seductively easy, but the scale and complexity of the challenge faced by the public sector means that experience and private sector expertise are going to be crucial.”

“An interim leading a cost control programme will be expected to deliver savings that justify their costs hundreds of times over.”

Doug Baird says that interims undertaking cost control programmes in the public sector will look to deliver: - Costs savings early rather than in just year two or three of the programme - Redundancies in a way that retains the best performing staff with the “managing out” of some poor performers - Manage down cancellation charges on severed contracts

Doug Baird says: “Sir Philip Green recently recommended that the public sector should use more private sector expertise and interim executives are some of the most experienced private sector experts because they spent time working within so many different businesses.”

Based on Cabinet Office data on use of interims across the public sector and National Audit Office research into use interims in Central Government. Excludes local government. Ipsos MORI research conducted for the Interim Management Association * Lean manufacturing is a process pioneered by Toyota that seeks to reduce waste and simplify service delivery whereas Six Sigma seeks to eliminate errors in a process and was pioneered by Motorola

Fast-growing Interim Partners ranked third by interims out of over 200 interim providers

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 11:47:05 GMT

Interim Partners, the leading provider of interim management solutions, has been ranked as the third best interim management service provider out of more than 200 others in a survey completed by interims.

Interim Partners received a score of 3.65 out of 5.00 for its service from 105 votes, bettered only by boutique provider Pilot Interim (3.78) and public sector provider Veredus (3.86) in the survey by the Institute of Interim Management.*

Doug Baird, Managing Director of Interim Partners, comments: “In five years, we’ve gone from being outside of the top twenty to being the UK’s largest supplier of private sector interims. To achieve this kind of recognition from the interim community so quickly is a real stamp of approval.”

“Many of our largest competitors have been in the market for decades so we are delighted that so many interims have already recognised the quality of service we provide.”

Interim Partners started trading in 2003 and has been ranked in the Top 30 of the 100 fastest growing companies in the UK by the Sunday Times for two years in a row.

Says Doug Baird: “Our success has been built on forming strong relationships with interim candidates and the businesses who hire them.”

“Our consultants are driven by a passion to meet clients’ expectations and we have the flexibility to tailor our services to individual challenges. We listen to our clients and interims so that we can learn and improve our service all the time.”

Interim Partners recently launched its ground-breaking IP Connect system, which allows clients to set and update goals for interims on assignment. Interims can then measure their performance against the criteria and give feedback to the client while completing the assignment.

Doug Baird adds: “This is the first recession that our profession has gone through and despite a shortage of roles many interims have made a really strong contribution to the businesses that have hired them. Interims are increasingly recognised by a broad range of businesses for the value they deliver and the quality of service they provide.”

Fifth Annual Interim Management Survey, 2010

Decline in Retail Sector rates but Financial Sector shows recovery

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:04:37 GMT

Three years since the credit crunch started following the collapse of Northern Rock, new research reveals that the market for senior managers is weakest in the retail sector says Interim Partners, the leading provider of interim management solutions.

According to the Ipsos MORI research,* daily rates for interim managers, who work just below board level on a contract basis, fell 26% in the retail sector from £952 before the credit crunch started (Q2 2007) to £706 now (Q2 2010).

The average daily rate for interims across the private sector was £757 in Q2 2010, down 1.4% from £768 in Q2 2007.

Interim Partners points out that the market for senior managers in other sectors has fared better: • daily rates for interims in the top performing chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech sector jumped 16% over the same period from £703 to £815 • in the banking and finance sector rates dropped just 2% from £752 to £740 (see chart below for full results)

Retail management hit by fall in demand and supply glut but some specialists still sought after Simon Gough, Director of Retail and Consumer at Interim Partners, comments: “The market for senior managers in retail has been hit harder than other sectors by the credit crunch. Demand for managers fell sharply and a glut of top quality retail talent is oversupplying the handful of roles available. The two factors have put substantial downward pressure on fees.”

Interim Partners explains that the number of retail job cuts and insolvencies in the UK has led to an increase in experienced managers looking for work. Retailers that became insolvent because of the credit crunch include: Woolworths, Zavvi, Borders, MFI, and First Quench Retailing, the owners of Threshers.

Simon Gough comments: “Many retailers were forced into insolvency during the recession, including some major high street names. With so many managers chasing a handful of roles at the moment, there is an inevitable impact on rates that managers can charge.”

“On the demand side, retailers have reacted to weak consumer spending by putting almost all major management projects on hold to reduce costs. While other sectors have been kick-starting stalled management projects as the economy has recovered, on the whole it is only projects that deliver savings or that could not be put off any longer have been implemented in the retail sector.”

“Before the credit crunch the UK would regularly see new international retail brands setting up a UK presence. When international or UK retailers wanted to do a rapid roll-out it generated demand for experienced interims who could implement their plans. But that kind of work completely dried up during the credit crunch.”

Interim Partners points out that the last three years have seen very little M&A activity or private equity investment in the retail sector in the UK, further reducing demand for senior managers.

Says Simon Gough: “Deal-making can be a real driver for management shake-ups and new hires as the buyers seek to implement their new strategic plan for the business. Before the credit crunch retail was a favourite sector for private equity but since the financial crisis started there has been very little activity.”

However, Interim Partners says that demand for specialists in procurement and cost management has been consistently strong because retailers are having to squeeze supplier costs down to maintain profitable margins.

Pharmaceutical sector – drive to increase efficiency

Interim Partners says the strong market for senior managers in the pharmaceutical sector has been stoked by demand for cost management and efficiency experts.

Says Simon Gough: “As a defensive sector, pharmaceuticals have emerged from the recession practically unscathed so they can still afford to invest in high quality managers who can improve their business. They have been preparing for potential pressure from the Government on NHS spending on drugs by bringing in senior level cost-cutters to strip out any waste. They want to try to ensure that their margins hold up even if public spending cuts begin to affect them.”

“Because it is seen as a top priority at the moment these cost management experts are being hired at a much more senior level and in greater numbers than has been typical for the sector. Pharmaceutical companies are taking efficiency measures very seriously.”

Recovery in banking and financial services shores up interim rates

Andrew McIntee, Director of Financial Services at Interim Partners, says that is a testament to the recovery of the sector that rates for interim managers at banks and other financial institutions have held firm in comparison to other sectors.

Andrew McIntee comments: “The credit crunch was fundamentally a banking crisis, but now banks are posting healthier profits and are moving back to growth mode which generates increased demand for interim managers.”

“Many banks are also investing heavily in large scale integration programmes after the spate of mergers during the credit crunch. That is leading to increased appetite for interims with experience of implementing cost saving efficiencies.”

Research by Ipsos MORI for the Interim Management Association

Interim Partners appoints Liz Sinclair as Account Director

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 14:48:53 GMT

Liz Sinclair has been appointed to head up Interim Partners’ KPMG account. She will also be responsible for placing interim resources across a variety of sectors.

Liz joins the team at Interim Partners from executive search firm Tyzack, where she was the lead Consultant for the consumer division. While at Tyzack, Liz developed experience across a breadth of sectors including retail, telecoms, energy and FMCG.

Prior to her role at Tyzack, Liz spent 10 years in the marketing team at Tesco in various roles and latterly as Head of Customer Initiatives where she was responsible for customer marketing during the launch of Tesco Clubcard.

Liz gained experience in the financial services sector while at Barclays from 2002-2005 where she worked as Customer Strategy Director in the retail division.

Liz says: “I am really excited to be joining Interim Partners at such a key stage of its development. Its growth is an amazing success story and I’m looking forward to contributing to the next chapter. More and more businesses are becoming users of the kind of top drawer interim management talent that Interim Partners supplies and I’m excited to be moving into this rapidly expanding market.”

Doug Baird, Managing Director of Interim Partners says: “We’re expecting to see continued growth in demand for interims and we think that Liz’s broad expertise will be invaluable in capitalising on that. Liz has an incredible range of experience and knows from the inside some of the sectors she will be recruiting into. We are delighted to welcome Liz to the team as an important part of our continuing growth.”

Banking sector drives surge in demand for interim executives

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:08:36 GMT

Interim Partners’ recent analysis of the interim management marketplace shows the number of new assignments jumped by 24% during the period Q4 2009-Q1 2010. The rise was driven largely by surging demand from the banking sector where the number of assignments has grown by 44% over the last quarter.

The big increase in demand for interims from the financial services sector means they accounted for 43% of all new requirements from the private sector in Q1 2010, up from just 29% in the previous quarter.

Doug Baird, Managing Director, says: “It is amazing to see that nearly half the requests for interims from the private sector are now coming from the financial services sector. It has been a radical turnaround.”

“The banking crisis led to a huge wave of takeovers and mergers that presented interims with an unprecedented workload. To get two financial institutions properly integrated can take years. There are huge financial implications, running to hundreds of millions in terms of cost savings and increased revenues, between a well executed and a poorly executed merger. It’s fairly easy to see that hiring teams of interim managers to help get that job done properly provides excellent value for money.

“While M&A activity has been low these mega mergers in the financial services sector have soaked up a lot of the spare interim managers who have experience in integrating financial services companies. We expect demand to remain high and I don’t think it is too bold to say that pretty much all banks are looking at what they are going to do next.”

Interims working on integration projects in the financial services sector are now earning an average of £800 per day, but rates can reach £2,000. Some of the major financial institutions currently being absorbed into another organisation as a result of the financial crisis include: Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, HBOS, Dresdner Bank, Barclays Global Investors, Cheshire Building Society and Britannia Building Society.

Interim Partners’ analysis also confirms that interims who can help prepare financial services companies for new regulations introduced in response to the credit crunch, and to new capital adequacy regimes such as Solvency II and Basle III are also in high demand.

Says Doug Baird: “There has been a lot of uncertainty about what shape regulatory reform of the financial services sector would take. Now that it is becoming clearer how Solvency II and Basle III will affect the sector, financial institutions are moving forward to the next stage of planning – that means more hiring of interims. Even the best resourced insurance company is unlikely to have all the internal resources they need to deal with Solvency II.”

IP Connect – groundbreaking system for clients and candidates goes live

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:09:14 GMT

We are delighted to announce the launch of IP Connect, our new online system, which allows clients and our interim executives on assignment to manage their relationship in an efficient, secure and completely transparent way.

IP Connect puts clients in full control of assignments by providing them with an easy to use online interactive dashboard to manage all the interims they are using in just a few clicks. This makes it easier than ever before for clients to set goals and monitor progress against them. Candidates benefit too by having a shared, online facility not only to manage progress, but also to debate particular issues and widen the discussions to others, who might add valuable experience to a particular project.

Features of IP Connect include:

*Goal setting – KPIs or more narrowly focused targets can be set by the client and updated or added throughout the assignment by logging in changing in real time.

*Interim performance reports - interims measure their performance against agreed goals to monitor how close they are to conclusion. Clients can log in to view these reports to assess overall progress.

*Forum space for clients and interim managers to discuss the assignment.

*Timesheet management.

*Post assignment interim manager assessment.

Doug Baird, Managing Director, said: “IP Connect is a revolutionary system that helps us to help both our clients and interims maximise the value of the assignments we set up. It is really important for clients and interims to agree on what the results of a placement should be. IP Connect provides an accessible space where they can clearly set out these targets and assess achievement against them.”

Doug concluded: “We’re confident that IP Connect is a powerful means by which Interim Partners can add value to its client and candidate relationships. We’ve already had some very positive feedback from users and if you would like to know more then the online tutorials – either client or candidate facing – are a great introduction. As always, I am keen to hear your comments and feedback.”

IP Connect is a proprietary system of Interim Partners.

Revenue climbs to new company record at Interim Partners

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:15:54 GMT

Interim Partners has achieved its best ever six-months’ performance with fee income rising by 29% during the first six months of 2010.

Managing Director, Doug Baird said: “I am delighted that the business is continuing to grow at such an impressive rate. 29% is an excellent achievement, particularly as it comes on top of us having had a very successful 2009. Unlike many of our competitors, who suffered badly last year, we continued to grow our revenues. This led to us achieving double-digit growth for 2009, which gave us a real advantage as we entered 2010 – definitely a great platform for us having our best ever performance over a six-month period.

“I think the fantastic 29% growth result is down to our people truly understanding the sectors where they operate, and their ability to build long-term, value-adding relationships with both our clients and candidates. Demonstrating to clients that we have proven experience and sound understanding of their sectors and can benchmark candidates with others both within and outside of their sector has been key to our success. It means we can steal a march on generalists and ultimately provide the best matched interim managers.

“Our growth plans remain ambitious and we have recently appointed two new consultants who will start in September and October. We are keen to continue to attract high-calibre recruiters and are now looking for tenacious, goal-oriented people, who have already achieved success in recruitment - either within Interim Management or Executive Search. Most importantly, they will be good at building relationships, naturally inquisitive with a strong ability to influence others. The positions will be based in our London office. If you think that these qualities match your own and you would like to build a rewarding and successful career with Interim Partners please contact me - Doug Baird, Managing Director at E: [email protected] or M: 07711 828333.”

Here is a copy of our current advertisement for Interim Partners consultants.

Senior Recruitment Consultants/ Partners

Opportunity to join UK’s fastest growing interim management provider.

Exceptional package designed to attract the best

Interim Partners is the leading provider of interim management solutions to the private and public sector. We help our clients manage change by providing them with exceptional interim managers who undertake company turnarounds, major change programmes and offer short-term cover for senior executive absence. We are successful because we build exceptional relationships with our clients. Our blue chip client base is UK and international. It includes companies from the Fortune 500 and FTSE-100 through to rapidly growing SMEs. We have not survived this recession; we have grown through it, achieving double digit growth in 2009 followed by record revenues in quarters one and two of 2010. We have been ranked within the Top 30 of the 100 fastest growing companies in the UK by the Sunday Times two years in succession. Interim Partners is the only recruitment and HR business to be ranked in the Top 30 for the last two years running, 08 and 09.

We are looking for high quality, tenacious and goal orientated people who have an impressive and successful career. They may already be in recruitment - either Interim Management or Executive Search. They could be in Consulting or have experience of selling solutions to C level contacts. They will be great at building relationships, naturally inquisitive and have the ability to influence. They will have the soft skills that clearly recognise we work with talented people and need to manage their hopes and expectations. Importantly, they must understand that we are marketing the skills of our interims and that they are not a product.The positions will be based in our London office.

To find out how you could build a rewarding and successful career with Interim Partners please contact Doug Baird, Managing Director at [email protected] or 07711 828333

Leadership and Change Management Seminar

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:23:25 GMT

“Show me an Interim who is making a big impact and I will show you a recognised Leader of change”

The words of guest speaker Peter Leadbetter at Interim Partners’ recent Leadership and Change Management Seminar held on June 9th at the Institute of Directors in London.

Having returned from a challenging and worthwhile sponsored cycle tour of the Great British Battle Fields for Help for Heroes, Peter kindly lent Interim Partners some of his valuable time to share his insight into this fascinating area. A Chartered Psychologist and a Director within Ernst & Young’s People & Organisational Change team, Peter has over 18 years experience within consultancy. His work has been centred on the design and delivery of major programmes of change across a range of global clients and sectors. As a presenter with a reputation for delivering high energy, amusing and engaging presentations around a range of themes related to change, leadership, personal development and conflict resolution, Peter received great feedback from all those who attended.

The presentation and debate centred on the challenges faced by leaders of change and the tools and resource available to them with an emphasis on coaching and support. For Peter “Strong leaders of major change programmes are a key differentiator between success and failure but robust Interim Managers who build good relationships with such leaders can make a significant difference through coaching, challenging and sharing of experience” This was a point Andrew Villars, a leading professional interim within supply chain operations, returned to in the subsequent debate asking “Should interim managers ever lead change within organisations?”

After some interesting exchanges all agreed that interim managers play a critical role in facilitating change and supporting existing senior management in delivery however ownership always rests with the permanent leadership team. Peter concluded “The challenge for Interim leaders is to overcome through their evident commitment, expertise and interpersonal skills the perception that they really do not care about the change and its impact on its people when they are inevitably scheduled to leave”

The event was well received and provided a great opportunity for interims and clients to discuss these challenges. Andrew Villars added “Peter was an inspiring speaker who explored the importance of organisations utilising the skills and experience of interim managers in leading and supporting significant change programmes… often providing rapid payback with reduced timescales.”

Following such positive feedback Interim Partners are looking forward to organising an extended event with Peter in the near future. The seminar along with recent networking events in London and Leeds is part of a general drive within Interim Partners to get closer to interim managers and clients and to provide a forum for discussion and debate and hopefully some thought leadership.

Interim Partners wins highly coveted public sector supplier status

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Interim Partners is confident that gaining this accreditation will help it achieve strong growth in its revenues through increased opportunities of working with the public sector.

The award of the framework agreement recognises Interim Partners’ quality as a specialist service provider and means the Company will now play a key role in helping to source high calibre interim managers across a wide number of disciplines within the public sector.

The accreditation was awarded after a rigorous evaluation and selection process and means that public sector bodies can turn to Interim Partners for the placement of highly experienced individuals into specialist assignments at short notice.

Doug Baird, Managing Director of Interim Partners comments: “This is a substantial step forward in the development of our business. We’re delighted that the quality of our work and the value it delivers has been recognised by this accreditation. This is a great opportunity for Interim Partners to expand our delivery of interims to the public sector. Interims are increasingly vital for the public sector as a cost-effective way of managing projects, vacant periods between senior staff replacement and delivering institutional change.”

According to Interim Partners, budgetary pressures mean that the next five years should see the public sector turn increasingly to interim executives as a cost effective and flexible method to deliver senior management skills exactly where they are needed to improve productivity and performance levels.

In 2009, for the first time ever, the public sector’s use of interim executives equalled that of the private sector. And during Q2 and Q3 2009 the public sector made 49% of all interim executive appointments.

In the public sector the biggest user of interims is the health service (31% of all public sector interim assignments), followed by Local Government (29%) and Central Government (13%).

Doug Baird says: “The public sector as a whole is turning increasingly to interims as part of its efforts to help improve efficiencies and raise frontline standards. Public bodies are looking to manage costs on project work by hiring an interim to oversee project consultants and to ensure they are working efficiently to meet key milestones on budget.”

The accreditation was originally awarded by the Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA), which is now part of Buying Solutions.

Ipsos MORI research, Q3 2009.