When the manager is on assignment – an article by Romain Buob for Le Temps
20.03.2026
In French-speaking Switzerland, the recruitment of interim managers is becoming more professional to meet companies’ challenges. Operational continuity, strategic transformations or team stabilization; these particular profiles address underestimated needs.
The number of temporary workers is gradually increasing in Switzerland. Who are they, what needs of the job market do they meet, and are they freer or more precarious? To shed light on this, Le Temps is dedicating a series of articles to temporary work.
Operating behind the scenes of major economic players, Nicolas Soussan could be described as a “serial manager.” After spending nearly ten years within Migros’ online platform, he is approached by his network to join Conforama Switzerland. His mission is then to develop its e-commerce while digitizing the brand to optimize its logistics flows, before stepping down. A temporary assignment, intended as such both by the furniture group and by Nicolas Soussan. “These are the kinds of transitional assignments that I am most passionate about. Implementing change. Then finding a new mission.”
This is what is known as interim management. Often associated with lower hierarchical positions, temporary work also concerns executive roles. Moreover, this management dynamic is no longer the preserve of multinationals. “SMEs, NGOs and also public institutions now call on temporary executives,” explains Marine Moncozet, Director at Michael Page Switzerland. “While demand is growing, interim management remains quite occasional. Abroad, for several years now, we have observed a high level of specialization, with firms positioned by sector or very specific areas of expertise. The French-speaking Swiss market is now evolving in the same direction but is still in a structuring phase.”
Romain Buob, CEO of the HR consulting and services group Grant Alexander Switzerland, also observes that “the needs of companies, the aspirations of senior profiles as well as economic factors are converging towards a growing need for interim management.”
In 2023, Nicolas Soussan’s network contacts him again, this time to support RTS in preparing its move to the Ecublens premises. Another interim management role that will continue with a second phase starting in 2024. Still temporary, this follow-up assignment consists in organizing the company’s logistics ahead of the transfer of activities to the new site and then moving into the operational phase.
An urgent or strategic handover
From the companies’ perspective, three main situations stand out regarding the need for interim leadership. First, there is the temporary management of a department when a company is in the process of recruiting for a strategic position. “Recruiting an executive can take more than six months. To ensure operational continuity and avoid any managerial disruption, the rapid integration of an interim executive then becomes essential,” specifies Marine Moncozet.