All time high for interim managers

Last year saw demand for interim managers increase with the number of assignments and daily rates rising to an all time high.

That is the key finding of a study of 7,500 interim managers which found that activity levels increased by 1.3% in December and average daily interim rates stood at £580 – an increase of 4.5% on the same period in 2006.

However, according to the latest Russam GMS Interim Management Monitor, these figures are down slightly on June 2007 when rates peaked at 0.9% higher than the December figure.

In December, there was also an increase in interim activity which was up 1.3% compared with the same period in 2006, with 52% of interim managers currently working on assignments.

According to Charles Russam, chairman of Russam GMS, 2007 saw levels of interim activity increase with record daily rates being paid in many industry sectors.

He noted increased demand for Interims from the NHS, FMCG companies and central and local government where he believes that interims are now being used more frequently in place of management consultants.

However, Russam warned that this growth might not continue in 2008, as there was a slight slowdown in December.

He said this could be a result of market uncertainty but, he won’t really be able to tell if this signifies any major changes in the market until March.