Supertemps

With the current economic situation in the UK many people are looking at  a new way of working that gives them more flexibility and doesn’t involve being in a corporate with fixed times and a way of working.

 There is now a new breed of temp, one that is not desperate to hold onto the corporate ladder, but instead chooses to jump off it in order to further their careers. These so called “supertemps” are top-level managers who have realised that they are often better off, both financially and emotionally, working for various companies on a project-based or temporary basis.

 “The number-one reason these high achievers decide to leave their corporate careers behind is for career satisfaction,” says Jody Miller, co-founder and CEO of Business Talent Group (BTG), an agency that specializes in pairing up companies with independent business professionals. “They want to choose what type of work they do and for whom. Ultimately they want to be in control of their own life,” she adds.

There are many examples of people who have done this especially in their 50’s and as they come up to near retirement ages. Tony Evans, a 58-year-old chief executive from York, in the United Kingdom, was ahead of the curve when he decided to “decouple himself from the corporate treadmill” and go at it alone in 1994. He says, “I got to the point where I wanted to do the things that I liked, not just be part of the corporate bureaucracy”. He set up an interim management services business 3 Graces and he hasn’t looked back since.

 “I find working as an interim manager incredibly freeing,” says Evans. “There is a different level of honesty that you can have with your client when you work as an independent, one which they simply don’t get from a permanent employee.”

Evans has worked all over the world helping to rescue businesses that are going through a difficult time. “I only get to play when things are complicated, but that’s how I like it,” he says. A recent survey by the institute of management showed that 22% of prospective interims cite the end of employment as a trigger for making the move, but a whopping 70% give professional and lifestyle choices as the principal driver. Recent research by McKinsey found that 58% of U.S. companies are expecting to use more temporary arrangements on all levels in the years ahead. According to consultancy firm Booz Allen Hamilton, the UK market for interim managers is one of the best developed, accounting for as much as $1.8 billion in revenue in 2009; and across Europe, annual growth in the market for interim executives has been over 20%.

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