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The Rise of the Interim Manager
It is now nearly two decades since Charles Handy in his book “The Age of Unreason” put forward the concept of the Shamrock organisation ---- a company with three leafs ---- a core of permanent employees, a second leaf of independent contractors and a third leaf of temporary workers. Handy postulated that this structure was emerging in response to increasing competitive pressures and discontinuities in the economic environment.
Today there can be few executives of companies both large and small who would not recognise that this paradigm has a major part to play in their strategy. Today’s Interim Managers, the successors of Handy’s “self-employed knowledge workers’, are people who are contracted to perform discrete projects or assignments at a manager or director level, and they can have a vital role to play in driving forward business objectives. Indeed as businesses are impacted by the increasing opportunities and threats of globalisation and by increasing uncertainties over short-term economic outlook, they are now giving more urgent emphasis to the structure of the workforce and the need for more flexibility such as that offered by Interim Managers.
Pharmaceutical, biotech and other life sciences companies will undoubtedly continue to face substantial change and the need for rapid response and flexibility. Operating in global markets, pharmaceutical and biotech companies are very much at the forefront of the changes driven by globalisation, with both huge opportunities and specific pressures on their business models resulting in a drive for efficiencies. It is not surprising that the sector is one of the major users of Interim Managers. So just why are Interim Managers so attractive for pharmaceutical and biotech companies, what are the opportunities for interim Pharmaceutical Physicians and what skills do you need to succeed?
Skilled and flexible resource
Pharmaceutical and biotech companies have a strong demand for people with specialist, high-level skills who are available quickly and able and willing to commit to specific short-term assignments. Whilst the term used to describe people operating on an interim basis is “Interim Manager”, many of the assignments in the sector are at Director level.
The reasons for wanting a flexible interim resource are many and varied ---- additional resources for a drug-discovery project or clinical trials, help with regulatory compliance, the launch of a new product, a start-up company or subsidiary entering a new market, organisational change, maternity leave cover or to gap-fill whilst bringing in a permanent employee, are a few examples. In all cases, the requirement is for high-level, usually specialist, skills which are available at short-notice on a temporary basis. Assignments can typically be from one month to over a year but over three-quarters are for six months or less.
Critically, Interim Managers are not “employees” of the client company. For pharmaceutical and biotech companies needing the flexibility to react rapidly to changing opportunities and pressures, this can present a great advantage for certain resourcing requirements. Whilst progress has been made in recent years in developing the flexibility of the employed workforce, there has also been a substantial increase in employment regulation that, particularly in Europe, make it difficult and costly to employ people for temporary assignments. For example, in the UK, legislation such as The Fixed-term Employees (Prevention Of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations now gives employees on fixed-term or temporary contracts virtually the same employment rights and security of employment as permanent employees. Where both the company and the worker actually want a short-term, temporary arrangement, this can be a major problem. In contrast, Interim Managers are not legally employees; they can be located quickly, do not have to extract themselves from existing employment contracts and can start a project at short notice. On the conclusion of the project the arrangement is simply terminated with no costly continuing obligations on either side.
All this translates into another great benefit for the pharmaceutical or biotech company ---- value for money. The fees charged for an Interim Manager represent excellent value when the comparative cost and flexibility are taken into account. The fees of the Interim Manager need to be compared to all the costs of taking on a permanent employee, including typically salary, bonuses, benefits, pension, employer taxes, and training costs.
Opportunities for Pharmaceutical Physicians
All this can add up to great opportunities for the Pharmaceutical Physician wanting to develop a career as an Interim Manager. The benefits can be a greater financial reward, a more flexible life-style and the fulfilment of working on a large variety of exciting and often strategically important projects.
Interim Management can offer exposure to a wide variety of company cultures, disease areas, and business and scientific challenges. The roles available for Pharmaceutical Physicians are many and varied. Some examples include Project Managers for clinical development programmes, Programme Manager for drug launches, Medical Director, Clinical Research Physician, Clinical Development Director, and Medical Affairs Directors and Managers.
Interim Management can in some circumstances offer a transition into the private sector. Since the introduction of the new NHS contract in 2003, there has been a marked reduction in the number of physicians leaving the NHS for industry. Meanwhile the demand for physicians in industry continues to grow. With Pharmaceutical Physicians in short supply, permanent recruitment can be a lengthy process. Appointing an experienced physician through an interim contract can offer speedy access to an individual with relevant expertise who is available to start work immediately.
What skills do you need
The Interim Manager will be an expert in their field with a strong track record of achievement. Most importantly, the Interim Manager must bring the right skills and knowledge to the particular assignment; the ability to get up and running immediately is paramount.
Whilst there are opportunities at more junior levels, the career Interim Manager will usually have worked at a senior level in a number of companies, often in a senior specialist role and/or as a member of the senior management team.
You must have good communication skills and be able to build rapport quickly. You will need the ability to analyse new situations quickly, come up with solutions and then deliver on time and on budget.
Of course, interim management does not suit everyone and it does presents particular challenges that you should carefully consider. It should not be seen as filling a gap while you look for a permanent position; to be successful you will really need to see this as a career choice to be “self-employed”. You will need to be comfortable with the idea of finding new assignments, moving from one workplace culture to another and also being flexible on commuting. You should also be financially stable and be able to cope with periods when you are not billing.
Confidence and confidentiality
Many companies and Interim Managers use the services of an Interim Management Provider, which, as the name suggests, is a business that specialises in finding and matching Interim Managers and Directors to specific assignments. The Interim Management Provider will use its network of contacts, together with advertising and search techniques, to identify and select suitable Interim Managers. It will then deal with the administrative arrangements, negotiating fees and payment terms and preparing contracts with the client company and with the Interim Manager. These contracts must be robust and ensure the correct employment and tax status of the Interim Manager.
All companies want appropriate contractual arrangements to cover their Interim Managers and in the Pharmaceutical sector confidentiality and the protection of intellectual property rights are another key requirement. As the Interim Manager will often be working at a senior level and gain knowledge of the company’s technology and commercial plans, it is essential that the contract arrangements deal with the protection of intellectual property and the continuing obligations on the Interim Manager to preserve confidentiality over information obtained during the course of the assignment.
The upshot is that with the right arrangements in place, interim management can provide a “win-win” situation for both the pharmaceutical company and the Interim Manager. With the winds of change continuing to blow hard on the sector, there will be many more opportunities for Pharmaceutical Physicians who find this work-style attractive to develop their careers as Interim Managers.
Nick Rossiter, Director, Barrett Webb
