Should you use an executive temporary?

In this regular column of the journal, Marilyn Kennedy discusses evolving trends and concerns in the operation and management of organizations. In this issue, she discusses the pros and cons of the use of temporary managers in the health care field. While the practice has clear benefits for both the temporary manager and the hiring organization, it is not without potential pitfalls. As with all aspects of organizational operations and behavior, the key is to approach this new way of doing business with your eyes wide open.

The fastest growing industry in the country is temporary help, according to an article in the Sept. 18, 1995 issue of Fortune magazine. Within that industry, the fastest growing niche is executive temporaries, managers who act as Paladins when needed. Many health care organizations use them. In 1990, only a handful of firms placed executive temps; today there are nearly 300. Their growing importance has been acknowledged by Kennedy Publications, Fitzwilliam, N.H., which published the first Directory of Executive Temporary Placement Firms in 1994 and is currently preparing an update. I've talked with managers who've used executive temps for special projects (they effectively function as consultants) and to cover for maternity and medical leaves. Executive temps have become an important resource for just-in-time staffing. While managers are generally enthused, they do relate occasional tales of political trauma. First the advantages.

They go quietly. Nothing has pleased senior management more, especially in layoff-battered organizations, than temps who both arrive and leave on demand. As the vice president of a Fortune 50 food company said, "I had a project that I needed done in six months. The temp agency sent me a marketing star. Not only did he do a bang-up job, he made the hard choices, reorganized the department, recommended that a couple of people be laid off, and left with a smile on his face. He never even hinted that he wanted to go full time with us. He was cheap at the price."

This certainly reflects my experience. Executives who've used executive temps to manage a department while someone was off on medical or maternity leave say they were satisfied with the individual's skills and productivity, but having someone go cheerfully was what sold them on temps as a hiring strategy. More than one manager told me that he or she didn't care how much the temp got paid because the company paid no benefits and the temp had no expectation of a full-time job.

Indeed, one of the great attractions and surprises of using temps is that many don't want full-time jobs with the organization as contract workers so often do. The temps want to wrap up the job and move to the next assignment. As several temps point out, "I'm extremely well paid, I don't have to deal with the politics, pleasing the troops, or currying favor with management. I go in, get the result, and move on."

They add yeast. A senior vice president in manufacturing offered this: "We've been through several layoffs, restructurings, and other turmoil. A temp brings new ways of thinking and a broader perspective on problems. I never doubt the temp's honesty. It's like getting a consultant who really puts your business first and whom you control. We've used a dozen different temps for a series of three-month periods wherever we could fit them in. They give our permanent employees new ideas and provide a sounding board and feedback on what's worked elsewhere or hasn't. We've gotten more than we paid for because they have been more entrepreneurial than our long-term employees and have better skills and a broader perspective than our newer ones.

They'll do the dirty work. Those who've worked as executive temps soft pedal the times they've been brought in to overhaul a department or area because top management didn't want to make - or own - the tough choices. I've found it a very important motive for hiring an executive temp. Few managers disagree that there's less long-term damage to the organization - and to top management's hold on the remaining shreds of worker loyalty - when all the anger over layoffs, firings, or a department's elimination leaves with the temp who executed them.

They bring a calming flexibility. Because the temp isn't "forever-aftering" with the organization, things that irritate employees don t bother the temp. Does the boss need constant shoring up? Not a problem. Must the CEO be listened to ad nauseum? The temp listens. Has top management changed its collective mind again? The temp will change direction in a minute. Employees who've worked closely with executive temps report they gained perspective on management's view from the outsider.

They're a cheap way to experiment. If the company cut too deeply but doesn't want to restaff an area, it's often a Hamlet-like decision. Putting a temp into a reconfigured role can help top management decide whether to staff the area permanently or outsource e service. Using a temp for a few months to "try on" the job is cheaper than using a consultant who will only analyze and offer advice. One sales vice president, unsure of whether his dissatisfaction with the marketing effort was people- or role-specific, used a temp as a marketing manager for nine months. He concluded that the company needed a marketing manager to manage outside vendors. "That experiment cost me $60,000 and was worth every penny. It caused little disruption because we called the temp an `acting.' When he left, we hired a permanent manager," he says.

They can be good role models. One CEO used an executive temp as sales manager for six months to transition the sales force from one approach to another. The CEO didn't believe a new sales manager could stand the heat of radical change and used the temp as trainer and role model. The new sales manager was able to concentrate on consolidation rather than initiating all the changes.

So far, so good, but aren't there drawbacks? You bet. Here are the ones most often mentioned.

Failure to produce a miracle. Word of mouth has been so good for temps that it's easy to forget that true stars in any industry, however employed, are rare. Most executive temporary firms are very careful to match the employer's need with the temp's skills, but how many hirers can articulate even the parameters of what needs to be done - or even a clear set of organizational goals? Organizations that have been disappointed by a lack of miracles are often those that failed to define the miracle they needed or wanted. That did not mitigate their disappointment.

Refusal to stay on. While most managers were pleased when the temp moved on, a few were very unhappy when the temp insisted on leaving at the end of the assignment. Firms that supply executive temps are quick to point out that, if they do search at all, it's a separate operation. Top management, in spite of protestations to the contrary, has often wanted to keep the temp permanently. It had expected the temp firm to persuade the temp to stay, as headhunters often help sell the client organization. They were disappointed.

Taking sides. Several executives told me they'd used temps who ended up taking employees' side against management. This occurred when top management seemed adrift, with no clear vision of what the department should do. Recruited to act decisively, the temp tried to fill the vacuum, often with an analysis or solution top management didn't like or wasn't yet ready to embrace. Both temps and managers agreed these problems were avoidable if top management articulated its needs and wants.

Fear of failure. Occasionally, a temp becomes so involved in the organization's operations that he or she will become invested to the point that he or she displays symptoms of fearing failure. For example, while managing a new product introduction that hit a series of avoidable and unavoidable snags, the temp became so concerned that the product wouldn't find enough market acceptance that he began to show all the symptoms of stress. This further alarmed his subordinates who, because they didn't know him well, couldn't decide if the introduction was in real danger or the temp was merely overreacting. Only the marketing vice president's intervention got things back on track. Still, the vice president would use another temp. As he says, "Why not? Are full-time employees less likely to stress out when events temporarily overwhelm them? Overall, the guy did a very good job for us."

Stars may be inspired to leave. Of the all drawbacks, this is the hardest to grapple with. If you're a company star and you're working flat out with little expectation of immediate promotion, the siren song of executive temping can be more than seductive. Several executives reported that stars seemed less satisfied after a temp had left, not with what he or she had done but from the desire to follow the temp out the door. Any manager who's had a temp in place for more than three months will have to make sure his or her stars' bonding to the organization isn't fraying.