Latest research shows that more than eight out of 10 interim managers believe their organisations are failing to measure the return on investment (ROI).

HR consultancy Chiumento led the research which reveals that, despite the findings, confidence is strong with almost two-thirds of interims believing their number of assignments will increase this year. Accordingly, 53% of believe the market is buoyant while 22% think it is set to grow further. Just 5% believe it will decline.

A further reason for buoyancy in the interim market, said the report, is that 64% of interims believe that organisations are now so lean that they’ve lost key skills and talent. Despite this, 78% of interims say that organisations are still not doing enough to harness the skills and knowledge of the interim, a rise of 5% on 2007.

Graham Bird, director of interim management at Chiumento, commented: “With the use of interims becoming more commonplace, it is concerning that organisations are still failing to leverage the full skills and experience of interim managers, and are also still failing to measure the return on their investment. With a third of HR interims and half of finance interims commanding between £551 and £700 a day, this does not make business sense.”

Chiumento recommends measuring ROI by taking the following steps:

• Ensure there is a clear business case for using an interim manager.




• Discuss and agree objectives with the interim prior to the assignment starting which will allow clients to monitor performance against these objectives.




• Have an end of assignment evaluation and allow time at the end of the assignment to ensure knowledge is transferred from the interim to the client.

Bird added: “It may be difficult for clients to plan and measure ROI when an interim is brought in to deal with a crisis. However, when interims are used strategically, organisations are in a better position to measure the benefits of this type of solution.”