Five benefits of hiring interim professionals

If a business is going to survive and thrive, then it needs to be adaptable to changing conditions.

Given the pace at which the modern workplace is changing, thanks to social and technological trends, conventional hiring models are increasingly seen as overly rigid.

Interim professionals offer an alternative. Paid only to work for a temporary period, these workers are playing an ever-growing role in the modern workplace, with payroll and HR contract jobs being especially attractive. 

But exactly what makes an interim professional preferable to a traditional, fixed member of staff, and why might an employer consider hiring one? Here are five benefits to consider.

1) You get more flexibility

When circumstances change and opportunities arise, a quick solution needs to be called upon. If a client comes along with a need for a particular skillset, or there’s a surge in demand for a certain sort of product, then the business needs to be able to respond quickly.

With an interim professional, there’s no need for training – they’re expected to hit the ground running, and cause an immediate impact. In urgent cases, this might be a cardinal virtue.

2) You can quickly hire for a focussed skillset

Interim professionals are often brought in because they possess skills and experiences which the fixed workforce lacks. For example, if you determine that your organisation’s bookkeeping isn’t fit for purpose, then you might bring in an outsider to offer a fresh perspective and steer the company away from outdated practices.

When the interim professionals are gone, many of the measures they’ve put in place might endure, and help your staff to adhere to best practice.

3) Your staff get a valuable learning opportunity

As well as directly contributing to a business’s productivity, the hiring of an interim professional might also have indirect benefits. The practices they bring in might provide a learning opportunity for your fixed members of staff – particularly in cases where close collaboration is called for.

While it’s not a substitute for training, simply having skilled professionals come in and set an example might result in better performance from the workforce as a whole.

4) It enables you to budget more easily

Interim professionals provide a means of cutting costs during lean periods, and taking maximum advantage when the going is good. Cutting staff in response to falling demand can be stressful and costly – but if a portion of your workforce is employed on a temporary basis, you’ll be able to quickly upsize or downsize when the economic circumstances dictate.

5) You can fill gaps in leadership

When a senior management position suddenly becomes vacant, then the urge to rush into a hiring decision can become pressing. For as long as there’s a gap, there’s a shortfall in decision-making power.

These are precisely the circumstances which might make a business rush into a hiring decision. A temporary replacement allows the business to tick over during this transition period and grant the time necessary to make the right hiring decision in the long-term.

Photo by CoWomen