Contractors may be interested to learn that interim managers working in financial services have been enjoying lucrative pay rates over the last six months.

Latest figures from Russam GMS revealed that interims working in banking, insurance and financial services have been commanding salaries of £737 a day; up from £694 in June last year when the company last conducted its survey.

It obviously pays to be an interim with a wealth of experience under your belt. Those in their 50s are most in demand and command the best rates of pay.

However, women appear to be losing out. They receive an average 13.5% less than their male counterparts, but this could be because they tend to work in charities or the public sector, areas where pay rates are traditionally lower. Only 8% of women interims work in the highly paid financial services sector.

The average daily rate for an interim now stands at £621, but those in the not-for-profit sector are only likely to receive around £477 a day. Public sector interims have seen their pay fall by between 7% and 9% over the last six months, with those in local government receiving £510 and those in central government £609 a day.

Only 13% of assignments now cover instances like maternity leave. The majority of firms want interims with specialist skills to undertake strategic projects or to lead change management programmes. 20% of interims said that part of their role involved coaching and mentoring existing teams.

Russam GMS chairman, Charles Russam, explained that interims are still used to fill gaps but they are increasingly working with CEOs to modernise and progress companies.

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Umbrella contractors may be interested to learn that the standard of leadership in UK organisations is in the spotlight following the publication of research from the CIPD and talent management consultancy, DDI.

Only 38% of both HR professionals and UK leaders said the leadership development programmes in their organisation were highly effective. 24% of HR professionals said their programmes were ineffective, as did 20% of leaders.

The research also identified the key leadership skills that will be necessary to make sure organisations are successful in the next three years. Just under 70% of leaders said driving change management was key, 34% cited making difficult decisions and 32% said executing organisation strategy would be the most important leadership skill.

Despite the fact that a lot of people think the quality of leadership in their organisation is not up to scratch, almost 80% of senior reward professionals expect executive pay to increase next year.

PwC surveyed FTSE 350 companies and discovered that amongst the companies expecting to increase salaries, 65% will only increase the base rate, while 30% will improve the benefits package as well. Salary increase rates will be broadly the same as this year at between 2% and 4%.

13% of the surveyed companies do not expect to increase salaries next year and 85% do not expect to see bonuses increase.

Sean O’Hare, one of PwC’s reward partners, said that even salary increases in line with the rate of inflation could be controversial. But companies will need to see whether the market improves before making a final decision. Shareholders are likely to resist pay rises that are not aligned to share price and company performance, he added.

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Only 25% of temporary workers in London saw a decrease in the number of freelancers and umbrella company contractors in the companies they worked with last year.

Results from a survey by Poolia also showed that 33% of respondents saw their earning capacity increase in 2010 through a combination of increased working hours or commanding higher hourly rates. Another 40% said there had been no change in their rates.

Interestingly, the survey also found that 60% of the respondents intend to study towards a professional qualification this year.

Gavin Warner, the operations director at Poolia, said clients seem likely to maintain their level of temporary workers this year, especially in banking, financial services and retail. Anyone with the requisite skills and experience who is prepared to be flexible in their work structure should be well placed to secure some great short-term opportunities.

The story is a bit different for interim managers who saw a decrease in demand of 8% in the second half of last year. Despite this, average daily pay rates increased from £592 to £613 for a full-time interim manager during the period. Part-time interim managers also saw their pay increase from £568 to £601.

XpertHR predicts that private sector organisations will prioritise recruitment this year. This does not just mean hiring more staff but improving their recruitment procedures as well.

Employment relations editor, Noelle Murphy, said public sector HR departments will be prioritising redundancies, cost cutting and change management whilst in the private sector; the focus will be on organisational and leadership development.

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Umbrella company contractors will be pleased to hear that the first two quarters of this year saw a 9% increase in the use of interim managers, according to the latest Ipsos MORI survey findings, and 52% of all interim assignments were in the private sector.

This is an about turn as up until recently the public sector had been leading the way when it came to using interim managers.

The chairman of the Interim Management Association, Paul Botting, said it was hardly surprising that the number of private sector interim assignments had overtaken those in the public sector as the imminent spending review has obviously made public sector bodies more cautious about their expenditure.

Botting pointed out that the changing nature of the assignments carried out by interim managers in the public sector was very interesting. There has been a significant increase in the number of change management interim assignments in the sector, up from 16% to 26%, which shows that there is now a definite willingness for deep-rooted reform in the way public services are delivered. This will no doubt please the REC who has been calling for reform for some time now.

In the private sector, there was a large decrease in the number of assignments in banking and finance whilst retail, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and business services all increased their use of interim managers.

Botting summed up the results of the survey by saying they clearly demonstrate that experienced senior executives are required to lead change management in business critical operations in both sectors.

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According to new data released from the British Chambers of Commerce, contractors across many UK industries may be in for some good news: the BCC predicts that British GDP will rise by 1.7 per cent this year and 2.2 per cent the following year.

Director general of the BCC David Frost commented that there was a real and present need for policies and regulations designed to aid in economic recovery efforts in order to maximise the UK’s economic rebalancing.

Hays has substantiated the BCC’s data, saying that so far, the year’s second half has been met with 8 per cent increases in net fees for the company, in addition to its profit margin rising by 23 per cent against the first half of 2010. At 58 per cent, over half of its net fees came from placement business for contractors, while permanent placements were at 42 per cent.

A spokesperson for Hays remarked that there have been improvements to nine out of ten UK employment markets, stressing that the recession did not impact contractors nearly as badly as some other economic downturns, especially in light of Hays losing only 9 per cent of its contractor workforce during the recession as compared to its permanent staff drop of 19 per cent.

Professionals in the change management industry, however, are still scarce, according to Badenoch & Clark’s recent August figures.

Professional services managing director for the firm, Lynne Hardman, commented that there had been a great increase in demand for the specialists due to the spate of recent bank restructurings.

In related news, August also saw record figures in regards to demands for new accountants with a 17 per cent uptick, reported the Reed Job Index.

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IMS Executive Ltd recently conducted a survey of 2,000 public sector Interim Executives, including those from umbrella companies, to find out how willing they would be to reduce their daily rates.

They discovered that many had already cut their rates to the bone but of those who charge between £500 and £900, 53% would think about a cut of between 10% and 24%. Of those interims and freelancers who charge at the lower end, a few would contemplate a reduction of up to 40% if it meant they could remain working.

The most highly specialised interims argued against any sort of rate cut saying it would be short-sighted. They believe that they have a proven track record of implementing change management projects that have saved millions of pounds for the government.

Tony Shearing, the Sales and Marketing Director for IMS executive Ltd pointed out that it made economic sense to take on short-term skilled interims who have skills and experience that are rarely seen amongst permanent staff. Since the employer is not responsible for Interims’ NICs, pension contributions, holiday or redundancy pay, they are also cheaper than regular employees.

Only a third of all public sector change projects manage to meet all of their objectives, on budget and on time, Shearing points out. But government departments still often make the mistake of seconding permanent staff into those roles in the mistaken belief that it will cut costs.

Clients should think about which candidate can provide the best value for money rather than how little an experienced interim will be prepared to accept. The best justify the client’s investment by delivering the desired results.

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