Flexible workers: your adaptable employees

What function do flexible workers such as interim managers serve?

Picture this: you have already built your team of permanent employees and are happy with the way they are performing. However, as we all know, the only constant in business is change. And how you deal with this change will affect your team and your company’s performance.

Interim managers serve many different functions for an employer, dependent on your needs and operational objectives.

As Nicolai Mikkelsen, Executive Director, Michael Page Switzerland, explains, “Flexible workers like interim managers can bring new skills to your team or help build up or deepen existing skill sets. They allow time for you to evaluate the skills you need to take your team to the next level, or simply the next delivery.” he says. “And vitally, they are a way for you to manage your businesses ever evolving needs and priorities as you only pay for what you use.”

Are flexible workers appropriate for you?

The general view on flexible workers is that they are great to help cover sickness, maternity leave or general absence. However, there are many further reasons why flexible workers can add value to your team. For example, how would you cope with a key customer moving a delivery deadline?

Nicolai Mikkelsen believes that all businesses can benefit from using flexibility in their workforce, as he explains. “Of course, you could reassign existing members of your team to cover the workload, but what would happen to their workload as they help to cover the absence,” he asks. “The skills and experience a quality flexible worker can add to your team is definitively measurable – in terms of team stress, meeting deadlines, cost-effectiveness and upskilling, amongst others.”

What profile do you need?

Flexible workers give employers like you the scope to test out new technical and soft skills in the framework of your team, to better understand how to further drive productivity.

“If the flexible worker proves to be a good match, and the skills they have add value to the company, that employee can then potentially become a ‘temp-to-perm’ hire as the term is known,” explains Nicolai Mikkelsen. “Alternatively, the flexible employees’ contract can simply run out leaving both parties able to find something or someone more suitable,“ he concludes.

Start-ups and NGOs also have great use for interim managers as flexible workers as they can help to expand teams without adding expensive permanent employees when, for example, the company is waiting for further funding rounds or an input of capital.

When should your company use flexible workers?

The overall role of flexible workers in any business has in general hugely expanded. As Nicolai Mikkelsen explains, the roles and responsibilities of a flexible worker like an interim manager has changed in recent years. “Initially they performed lower paying positions, such as assistants or general admin employees. Now flexible workers do accounting, marketing, IT engineering, management roles – the list is almost as endless as the permanent roles that exist,“ he says.

The only real question is when will you use the flexible workforce to help you deliver on your objectives?
Below we detail some specific times when our clients have asked us to help them find flexible employees to help their business:

Leave

illness, maternity, sabbatical, etc.

Project implementation

ERP, discipline specific, reorganisation, outsourcing, M&A, startup, legislation, etc.

Peak

Transition  period

otherwise known as a ‘wait and see’ period

Can temporary employees boost morale?

What is another benefit of using flexible workers, that might at first not seem obvious? They can be a huge boost to your team’s morale. For example, if you are approaching an important delivery for a key customer and your existing team needs to work overtime or even perhaps at the weekend. They might also need to take on extra roles and responsibilities.

As Nicolai Mikklesen explains, “This can all add to existing stress and to the potential for exhaustion and even in the worst cases, burn-out. Flexible workers can really help teams of all shapes and sizes and skill sets here. They can be the extra capacity you need to meet that deadline,“ he concludes.

Use our checklist questions to be flexible worker ready

• In which situations do you use interim?
• How many interim employees do you hire a year?
• What is the percentage of interim employees in your business?
• Which departments use the most interim in your business?
• What are the main reasons in using interim employees in your organisation?
• What is the average duration of a interim assignment in your company?
• Do you need specific skill sets or profiles to complete the project?

Download our success stories to see how Michael Page has helped our clients reach their objectives in Switzerland using interim managers.

Free download available here.