The Hindu Business Line : The age of the super temps

It is normal to see interim managers paid higher salaries than their permanently employed counterparts because they bring specialised skills and are expected to achieve their desired outcome in a time-bound manner.

Flexible working at the senior management level or `super temping' is a trend gaining speed

According to Krishnan, life has just become perfect. An IIT and IIM graduate, Krishnan took the decision to leave the full-time workforce, as a CIO, a couple of years ago and has been working in a flexible mode. His role generally involves filling in for a contracted period of time when there is a senior level exit or when an experienced head is needed. He is currently between assignments and sees no real need to consider a leap back into the lifestyle of a permanent executive.

Scarce resources

With executive resources becoming scarce in the booming Indian economy, the option of super temps is fast gaining ground. "Having worked in a role that demanded large amount time away from family and minimal time for my spiritual quest, I decided to look towards a flexible option. It also had the added advantage of facing new problems, issues and ever changing people and businesses."

Internationally, senior level temping is called `interim management' and is one of the subsets of temping or flexi staffing. Though the concept of temping is relatively new in the Indian subcontinent, the business model is at least six decades old in the US and European Markets. The flexi-staffing business made its entry during World War II when most of the men were at the war front and the factories were manned by women who took these assignments as temporary jobs. Temping is often mentioned as a baby of the War.

Rapidly growing industry

From a modest beginning, the temping industry has emerged as a large industry dominated by global organisations with thousands of offices and millions of temporary workers on their rolls. The late Peter F. Drucker in an article mentioned the fact that the US alone accounts for 10 million temporary workers and this workforce is rapidly growing.

Flexible working as a career concept for senior managers has been around for a little while. However, the Indian marketplace is still evolving in comparison to other countries like the US and the UK. It is normal to see interim managers paid higher salaries than their permanently employed counterparts because they bring specialised skills and are expected to achieve their desired outcome in a time-bound manner.

The increasing demand for temping at senior levels is being driven by the myriad needs of talent at that level. The reasons could stretch from a desire to have time to oneself, to a need to experience continuous challenges or as a means to avoid the areas of their career that has left them disenchanted.

As a recruitment firm entrenched in the flexi business, our consultants encounter and facilitate many such instances/ interactions.

Turnaround artists

To effectively search for candidates for specific roles, HR consultants need to know the areas of the job the manager thrived in. An overriding motive that one comes across is the manager's orientation towards short-term achievements. Companies are looking at identifying the right person who can effect decisions in the senior management role, getting him onboard, performing a turnaround in a focused area and leaving the company with no strings attached. Perfecting the art of detached engagement.

Take the example of Ruchi Sharma. A senior medical officer, working with a leading automobile manufacturing company, with 10 years of work experience under her belt, she had, until recently, a practice of her own. Long queues of patients and stretched working hours used to leave her drained. In December 2005, Sharma finally decided to stop her practice. March this year saw a confident Sharma strut through the glass doors of an MNC, where she works as a medical consultant six hours a day, four days a week.

While the job will last only as long as the company requires her service, Sharma gains more than the eye can see. Apart from working with a respected brand, she earns a comfortable income and gets ample time to pursue her interests in painting and pottery.

Branding one's CV

Flexible working also helps professionals with the right kind of experience, but with the `not-so right' kind of pedigree to add well-known brand names to their resume. Take the example of an MNC in the networking business in India.

This organisation has extremely stringent hiring norms like an engineering degree from one of the top five colleges in India and an 80 per cent score in all exams right from Standard 10, thus making it difficult to recruit relevant talent in the Indian market. The organisation has circumvented this by taking its senior managers on a flexible mode, thereby ensuring an ideal win-win situation all around.

This could also hold true for international MNCs setting up shop in India. Take the example of a leading Japanese energy-consulting firm. This organisation used the flexible staffing route at the senior level to begin its entry into India.

R2I - Return 2 India

For experts who are mulling their options of settling down in life and moving in with their near and dear ones, flexi staffing is a tempting deal. This could mean short-term assignments while giving the executive a chance to experience the Indian market and his ability to fit it.

While flexible staffing at a senior executive level may only be catching on in India, what we see now is the tip of the iceberg.

Wave of hiring

With an increase in FDI into sectors such as retail, infrastructure and so on, we've begun seeing a wave of hiring for companies that are on the lookout for smart head honchos who can lead the way, but for a while.

While this may mean an upsurge in temping at senior levels, with exciting options opening up for young professionals, the role incumbent might have to weigh various challenges that come along.

These could include adjusting to a new culture, handling levels of scepticism in the company he is joining, relocating for a short stint, absence of the security of a "salaried" job, leaving behind the security of working in a known environment and so on. But as they say in recruitment — these are indeed thriving grounds for the fittest in flexibility.

(The writer is Chief Operating Officer, Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd)

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