I regularly speak with clients who sometimes feel a bit discouraged by yet another leave request or sabbatical request. A new generation has entered the workforce with its own perspective on the role of work in their lives. This, combined with the fact that in our practice we place more women than men on average, suggests that the number of requests is more likely to increase rather than decrease. However, maybe this doesn’t have to be a risk but rather an opportunity—provided your organization prepares well.

In many cases, a leave or sabbatical means bringing in an external professional, which comes with additional costs. While these costs are, of course, an element that cannot be ignored, it would be too narrow to focus on them alone. Interim staffing can also be seen as a strategic investment for the longer term:

• Prevention: An experienced interim professional brings stability and relieves the team. As a result, they contribute to well-being and job satisfaction, reducing the risk of additional absences due to increased workload.
• Outside-in: An interim professional often brings valuable knowledge and insights from their experience with other organizations, which your team can benefit from.
• Complementarity: It is an opportunity to bring in specific knowledge or expertise and, where possible, embed it within your own team.
• Network: By engaging interim professionals, you build a network that allows you to scale up or down easily when needed. Additionally, the more familiar an interim professional is with the company, the team, and the way of working, the more flexibly you can deploy them in the future. Onboarding is no longer necessary, making even on-demand deployment a viable option.

At Interim Solutions, we work with a network of independent professionals who are so experienced that they only require onboarding. When selecting suitable interim professionals, we look beyond knowledge and skills to ensure optimal added value—we also consider specific industry experience or expertise in a particular theme.