Barbecues and brollies...Has the UK economy got its umbrella up?

As summer disappears fast and ‘Barbecue August’ is turning into ‘Brolly August’ so what about the interim management market? Apart from the public sector which remains buoyant to say the least, the private sector is still inhibited from taking decisions, much to the frustrations of us and the interim managers themselves.
We have been busy with a number of different surveys, so instead of me predicting, let’s take a peek at what others think:
Please read the UK Employment Trends Survey that Harvey Nash has recently produced with the CBI. This survey is extremely comprehensive and provides key trends on the employment landscape, which has been significantly affected by the global recession. The survey highlights the importance of flexible working, new trends in graduate/generation Y recruitment, and the need to invest in education and training for a highly skilled workforce.
Some of you may receive the fortnightly Online Appointments Magazine (OAM) published by our sister company Harvey Nash. It went out to the 8,000 subscribers in April and again in July and here are the latest survey results...
To give a broader view of the UK, read the July survey published by the Economist...entitled ‘Global Outlook’ which gives the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest assessment of global economic conditions.
More recently, from speaking with clients, the emphasis is that they are continuing to take out costs whilst increasing operational efficiencies and looking in some instances at the revamp of product and service offerings. Interestingly, if they are hiring, they are finding it difficult to secure good calibre people, indicating that the talented people are currently staying put.  The full story will be published in our Business Review in September.
From an interim manager’s perspective we are in the process of conducting a survey across our interim manager base. Some of you may have completed it, if so thank you. This will also be published in the same edition, but what we are deducing so far is:

• Slightly fewer assignments and fewer interim managers on assignment
• Less business turnaround and backfill roles, but more corporate restructuring
• There are more 4-6 month assignments and very slightly less 12 months+ assignments
• Daily rates more or less unchanged
• Most assignments are in London and the South East

So, on to happier times in the Autumn for the private sector and in the meantime may the public sector keep us all afloat on HMS Great Britain!