Interim is not Pro Rata!
Last week we emailed our interim database with the following message:
To: All Interims
From: Scott Hutchinson
Our newsletter is out next week but I thought I would write to bring your attention to the fact that there are a small number of recruitment companies and client companies trying to persuade interims to go Pro Rata - please note:
Interim is not Pro Rata!
We recently pulled out of a “preferred supplier agreement” for a well-known chilled food organisation. The reason for this was that they were insisting upon Interims being paid a salary on a “pro-rata” basis. We are completely and utterly against this method of paying interims – true interims would never consider working on a pro-rata basis and should always insist upon a daily rate plus expenses, commensurate with the role. As an interim manager you are subject to short notice periods, no holiday pay, no sickness pay, limited employment rights and periods of no work (typically three months a year) – these reasons alone are the justification of the daily rate, before we even get into the subject of your expertise.
Pro Rata has nothing to do with Interim Management – it is borderline exploitation so if you are offered Pro-Rata, don’t do it.
We received an unprecedented response to this email, below are some of the comments received (anonymous here for obvious reasons):
- Thanks for comment on pro-rata payments, you are so right.
- Thanks, I would never work on that basis.
- My congratulations to you for pulling out of the ********** agreement …….. typical of them to try and do that!!
- I fully agree. Interims doing this will devalue the market putting all our livelihoods at risk.
- Very pertinent. Where I am working they wanted me to find an Interim Warehouse Manager on a pro-rata basis as their existing Manager (£40k), which I refused to do. They have got one at less than £200 per day - as yet another example of Search Companies pretending to be Interim, and getting people to do the assignments between jobs!! AND IT IS A VERY WELL KNOW LOGISTICS SEARCH CONSULTANCY
- I totally agree and support this.
- I concur with your sentiments about why we as interims should insist on a daily rate. We are true professionals who can be called on at any time to tackle wide ranging situations and environments which may not always be easy, but we come away with positive results and great achievements. It is certainly not a career choice for the faint hearted! We more than earn our daily fee.
- It's good to see you taking a strong line against this rubbish; I certainly agree.
- Couldn't agree more!
- How many calls have I had about this very subject?? - Well done for making it clear!!
- I've taken the liberty of sending this to my interim buddies to warn them - Thank you for looking out for us.
+ Many more.
back to top