by: Evan Metzger
Ten years ago, clairvoyant business advisors were still making the case for the Chief Human Resources Officer. A seat at the C-suite table was still a novelty of recent memory for many business leaders. Today, however, talent has become recognized as the most important driver of value creation for businesses, and the CHRO title is the third fastest-growing C-suite role. While not all organizations may have the size or resources to support a C-level HR leader, few question their importance.
Organizations without the need or resources for a full-time CHRO can still benefit from their insights and leadership by engaging an interim CHRO. Today, 89% of CEOs believing CHROs should play a central role in driving long-term profitable growth, and there’s data to back this belief up. Knowing when and how to hire an interim CHRO has never been more important.
In the following, we will discuss why interim CHROs add more value than ever to businesses, when to hire an interim CHRO, and how to hire and onboard a top interim CHRO. In addition, we will explain the difference between an interim and a fractional CHRO. But first, let’s start what the basics and explain what an Interim CHRO does.
What is an Interim CHRO?
An interim Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) is a strategic, temporary deployment of executive talent, serving as a non-permanent yet fully empowered C-suite leader who assumes responsibility for an organization’s human capital management during periods of transition or transformation. This role, also known as an interim Chief People Officer, functions as a sophisticated bridge between permanent leadership appointments while simultaneously driving forward critical organizational initiatives. To put it simply—they have all the horsepower of a permanent CHRO but with the flexibility of a limited appointment.
A typical interim CHRO’s duties will include:
- Strategic Workforce Planning: Implementing comprehensive talent strategies aligned with organizational objectives
- Organizational Architecture: Designing and optimizing organizational structures for maximum operational efficiency
- Change Management: Facilitating strategic transformations while maintaining operational continuity
- Risk Mitigation: Managing compliance and governance frameworks in human capital operations
- Cultural Evolution: Guiding organizational culture development during transitional periods
In recent years, permanent and interim CHROs have become highly valued by Private Equity business leaders. Most PE and portfolio leaders now recognize talent management as a key driver of value creation, with 69% stating it’s more important than organic growth or operating efficiency. This is why top-performing firms don’t just attract talent – they actively build it through strategic initiatives like retreats, summits, and networking events that facilitate best practice sharing.
Interim CHROs add value by focusing on potential rather than just achievements when hiring. They seek adaptable, curious workers who are more adaptable to changes in the business environment and contribute to cross-pollination of ideas and innovation across the organization. This approach has become particularly vital as PE firms face extended hold periods, higher interest rates, and a concomitant drive to find new value-creation levers.
Why Interim CHROs Are Growing in Popularity
Several factors are driving the increasing demand for interim CHROs:
Workforce Evolution
The rise of remote work and the influx of younger generations into the workforce have created new challenges that CEOs need expert partners to navigate. An interim CHRO can help organizations adapt their policies and practices to these demographic and operational shifts.
AI and Technology Integration
The emergence of AI and other transformative technologies is reshaping how organizations manage their workforce. Rather than diminishing the CHRO’s importance, AI is actually enhancing it. CHROs are increasingly vital in helping organizations navigate the human aspects of technological transformation in two ways:
First, as AI tools, agents and models are incorporated into the workplace, their performance and impact on the business will need to be reviewed. As CHROs have a wealth of experience designing and conducting performance reviews, some see them as having an important role reviewing AIs contribution to the business.
Second, AI will continue to transform the workforce. While much of this will have a positive impact on the efficiency and productivity of your human capital, there will be inevitable disruptions. Interim CHROs can ensure that company culture and values are maintained during these AI-fueled transitions.
When to Hire an Interim CHRO
Now let’s discuss when you should hire an interim CHRO. In our experience at ECA, these are the five most common scenarios that companies seek an interim CHRO:
1. Significant Restructuring: Organizations undergoing fundamental structural transformation often require human capital expertise to keep the ship steady. Merging two business units? Integrating teams unused to working together? An interim CHRO brings specialized change management capabilities that keep operations moving while overseeing a transformative organizational architecture.
2. Specific HR initiative: When organizations face discrete, high-impact human capital challenges—such as comprehensive compensation restructuring or cultural transformation programs—an interim CHRO offers specialized expertise and dedicated focus. These leaders bring concentrated experience in executing complex HR initiatives, allowing for rapid deployment of sophisticated solutions while maintaining strategic alignment with broader organizational objectives. For a short-term initiative, this is a cost-effective solution as your organization gains top talent for a fraction of the price.
3. Departure of your permanent CHRO: Unexpected leadership transition is one of the most common reasons for seeking an interim CHRO. An interim CHRO provides essential continuity in strategic HR operations while enabling organizations to conduct thorough permanent leadership searches, ensuring optimal long-term talent acquisition without compromising immediate operational effectiveness.
4. Rapid Growth: During periods of accelerated growth, companies require sophisticated human capital strategies to support sustainable scaling. Your current HR leadership may have the handle on hiring a dozen employees a year, but what if you’re facing the need for two, three, or even four times as much? Interim CHROs bring specialized expertise in rapid-growth environments, implementing comprehensive talent acquisition frameworks to help you meet your needs during these heady periods of rapid growth.
5. New Systems: Switching to remote work? Implementing new reporting systems? Introducing significant shifts in the systems and technology you use requires a sophisticated approach to ensuring your current workforce can make the best use of them. Interim CHROs with deep technical expertise can navigate complex system transitions while maintaining operational continuity, ensuring successful integration of new technologies within existing organizational frameworks. As mentioned above, the importance of interim CHROs for these kinds of transitions will only increase as companies increasingly adopt AI tools, models and agents.
Fractional vs. Interim CHRO: Understanding the Difference
An interim CHRO is a CHRO hired for a short-term engagement, usually for less than one year and averaging 3-6 months. This is different from a fractional CHRO, who is hired on a permanent or long-term basis but for a limited number of hours a week.
In this sense, a fractional CHRO is essentially a part-time CHRO who works a set number of hours or days a week. Fractional CHROs often split their time between different companies, making it a lucrative career option for experienced CHROs seeking a more flexible schedule. Like other fractional leadership, they can also be hired by a Private Equity firm to split their time between a number of portfolio companies.
Choosing between a permanent, interim and fractional CHRO depends on the scope of work and the alacrity with which you intend to complete the search. For example, the fractional CHRO talent pool is elastic in ways that the interim and permanent CHRO talent pools are not. These differences are summarized in this table:
Interim CHROs—like their permanent analogs—are fully engaged on each project, making it harder to attract top talent. This is where an executive search firm can make your life much easier by identifying interim CHROs currently in the market and ready to start on your timeline.
How to Hire an Interim CHRO
At ECA (one of the fastest executive search firms in the U.S.), we’ve perfected a method for hiring top interim executives effectively and efficiently. This methodology is based on the principles developed by our founder, Atta Tarki, and explained in his book, Evidence-Based Recruiting: How to Build a Company of Star Performers Through Systematic and Repeatable Hiring Practices. Follow these steps to ensure an efficient and accurate search for your next interim CHRO:
1. Define clear objectives and scope of work. Outline specific HR challenges you need help with, such as talent acquisition strategy, compensation restructuring, or cultural transformation initiatives. Also set the desired time commitment and engagement model. Clarity on the weekly or monthly hours needed will help you eliminate candidates who cannot meet your scheduling requirements. Put this information in a detailed job description.
2. Source candidates through networks, platforms, or a search firm. Leverage platforms specializing in interim executives, professional HR networks, or specialized executive search firms. Focus on candidates with experience in your industry and company stage. While you can find interim CHRO services on professional platforms, for a more tailored experience, consider using a top executive search firm given the strategic importance of this role.
3. Conduct thorough interviews focusing on relevant experience. Pay special attention to candidates’ track records in implementing HR transformations and managing organizational change. Structure your interviews to assess their ability to identify people-related challenges, develop strategic solutions, and drive cultural initiatives. Keep the interview process efficient to maintain candidate engagement. We recommend limiting the number of interviews to improve the candidates’ experience with your company. Panel interviews are a great way to ensure that the candidate speaks with all relevant stakeholders while reducing the number of distinct interviews.
4. Check references and past performance. Connect with CEOs and other executives who have worked with the candidate in previous interim or full-time CHRO roles. Speak with team members they’ve managed to understand their leadership style, ability to drive organizational change, and success in building strong HR functions and company culture.
5. Set clear expectations and success metrics. Define specific HR KPIs and milestones for the first 30, 60, and 90 days. These might include implementing new HR systems, improving employee engagement scores, reducing time-to-hire, or developing new compensation structures. Having concrete objectives will help you evaluate the interim CHRO’s impact and ROI.
Onboarding Your Interim CHRO
Define the Scope and Objectives of the Role
- Scope: Create a comprehensive document outlining specific responsibilities, deliverables, and areas of authority. Include both regular HR operations and strategic people initiatives the CHRO will oversee. This information can either be in the contract or in a supplemental letter to the employee.
- Performance Metrics: Establish KPIs tied to human capital objectives, such as employee engagement scores, retention rates, time-to-hire, diversity metrics, or cultural transformation targets. Include both leading and lagging indicators.
- Engagement Terms: Clearly define working arrangements, including time commitments, availability expectations, and response times for urgent HR matters. Specify which meetings and decision-making processes require the CHRO’s presence. Establishing this in the first week is important as your interim CHRO will need to ensure their availability during critical workforce events and strategic planning sessions.
- Exit and Modification Clauses: Include well-defined termination conditions, notice periods, and procedures for adjusting scope or time commitment as organizational needs evolve. Some interim CHROs are hired to achieve a specific outcome—such as a successful cultural transformation or HR systems implementation. This information needs to be clearly conveyed at the beginning of the engagement.
Integration Protocols
- Communication Structure: A top interim CHRO will establish clear channels of communication of their own volition—weekly check-in schedules, reporting formats, and escalation procedures for critical people issues. The CEO or other stakeholders to whom the interim CHRO reports should also establish these check-ins as necessary.
- Stakeholder Management: Create a stakeholder map identifying key relationships the CHRO needs to build and maintain. Include department heads, employee resource groups, external HR vendors, and board members if applicable.
- Authority Matrix: Develop a clear decision-making framework specifying the CHRO’s autonomy levels across different HR areas. Document which decisions require CEO approval versus independent action, particularly regarding compensation, hiring, and policy changes.
- Access and Security: Establish appropriate system access levels to HRIS, payroll, and other HR platforms. Empower them with data. Your organization probably already has a lot of—more than you might be aware of. Some organizations now have a “People Analytics Lead” or similar role. Make sure you connect your interim CHRO to this person immediately to help them succeed at your organization.
- Team Integration: Plan how to introduce and position the interim CHRO to your organization, including their role, authority, and how they fit into the existing HR team structure. This is particularly important for maintaining HR team morale and effectiveness.
Knowledge Transfer Process
- Documentation Access: Organize and share relevant HR documentation, including current policies, employee handbooks, compensation structures, and ongoing people initiatives. Often, this can be done before the official start date so that the CHRO can hit the ground running on Day One.
- Key Relationships: Schedule introductory meetings with critical team members, department heads, and employee representatives to facilitate relationship building and understanding of workforce dynamics. For important stakeholders, a one-on-one intro meeting is usually more effective than a group meeting.
- Historical Context: Brief the CHRO on past organizational challenges, employee relations issues, and cultural nuances that might impact their effectiveness. You might consider enlisting an HR team member to prepare slides—there’s no reason to hold off on making this a formal, recurring report to keep the interim CHRO up to date.
Conclusion
As organizations navigate increasingly complex workforce challenges, the role of CHRO continues to grow in importance. Whether interim or permanent, today’s CHROs must be strategic partners who can leverage data, embrace technology, and drive organizational transformation. By understanding when and how to bring in an interim CHRO, organizations can better position themselves for success in today’s dynamic business environment.
Remember that the key to success with an interim CHRO lies in clear expectations, proper empowerment, and strong support for data-driven decision-making. When these elements align, an interim CHRO can provide tremendous value in helping organizations navigate change and build stronger, more resilient workforces.
Want to find out more? Learn about ECA’s interim CHRO and other interim services here.
