Employee relations,
a driver of competitiveness
for the company.

An Interim HR Director is an experienced human resources director who steps into a company for a temporary engagement of defined duration.

External to the organisation, they advise the company's leadership, negotiate collective agreements, attend Works Council (CSE) meetings and may pilot the HR teams day-to-day.

The value added: immediately operational expertise, a neutral perspective free from internal political dynamics, and an engagement focused on precise objectives within a defined timeframe.

Three complementary approaches:

• Interim HR Director: takes operational leadership of the HR function to drive a transformation (restructuring, collective redundancy plan, carve-out, integration) or to ensure continuity of a vacant role. Advises, negotiates and executes.
• Cover interim (management relais): a category of interim management dedicated to the temporary replacement of an absent HR Director (maternity leave, extended absence, role transition). The aim is continuity, not transformation.
• HR consulting firm: delivers a diagnosis and recommendations without engaging in execution. The company then applies the recommendations.

An Interim HR Director can step into either of the first two configurations depending on the context of the engagement.

The main contexts:

• Restructurings and collective redundancy plans (PSE): strategy definition, preparation, negotiation, operational rollout;
• Capital operations: carve-out, post-merger integration, joint venture, LBO, site closure;
• Sensitive negotiation: complex annual mandatory negotiations (NAO), workforce planning agreement (GEPP), collective litigation, strained social dialogue;
• Operational reinforcement: activity peak, strategic HR project (HRIS, HR policy redesign), crisis management;
• Temporary cover (cover interim): maternity leave, extended absence, transition between two incumbent HR Directors.

According to the France Transition H2 2025 barometer (industry federation), an interim management engagement lasts on average 7.5 months. Most engagements fall between 5 and 12 months.

Targeted urgency contexts can run from a few weeks to 3 months; conversely, a complex restructuring or a long cover may extend up to 18 months. The duration is set in the initial contract and may be adjusted as the project evolves.

Billing is based on a Daily Rate (TJM — Tarif Journalier Moyen) negotiated at the outset, depending on the complexity of the subject, the duration and the scope.

A direct engagement, with no intermediary, allows for a competitive daily rate without the commission of an Interim Management Firm.

The total cost remains lower than that of a permanent hire over the same period.

Very quickly. Following an initial scoping conversation and the signature of the service agreement, the engagement typically starts between 48 hours and 2 weeks.

This responsiveness is one of the key advantages of interim management over a traditional hire (which takes 3 to 6 months). An immersion phase of 10 to 15 days — meetings with the Executive Committee, employee representative bodies (IRP), HR teams and external advisors — enables a swift entry into operations.

The engagement is structured in four stages:

1. Scoping: initial conversation to understand context, objectives and constraints (scope, duration, deliverables, daily rate); signature of the service agreement.
2. Immersion and diagnostic: first days dedicated to meetings with the Executive Committee, employee representative bodies (IRP), HR teams and external advisors, and to the state-of-play assessment.
3. Operational delivery: execution of the plan agreed with leadership, negotiations, advisory to the leadership, decision-making, regular reporting to the Executive Committee.
4. Closure and handover: knowledge transfer to the successor (incumbent or newly recruited HR Director), end-of-engagement review.