Fractional HR provides HR support (compliance, performance, culture, retention) without incurring a full-time executive salary. For most small and mid-size businesses, it's the bridge between "HR is whoever has time" and a full HR department.
Here's what a fractional HR leader does and how to tell if you need one. Weighing fractional against a full-time hire? Start with when to hire a fractional executive over a full-time employee.
What a Fractional HR Leader Does
They embed part-time, learn your specific challenges, and build solutions across the core HR functions:
- Policy and compliance: keeping your practices aligned with current labor laws.
- Strategic HR planning: aligning hiring and people strategy with business goals.
- Performance management: systems to evaluate and improve performance.
- Employee engagement: initiatives that lift morale, productivity, and retention.
The Problems It Solves
Most growing companies hit the same HR walls: no in-house expertise, trouble keeping up with changing labor laws, difficulty attracting and keeping good people, and culture or morale slipping because no one owns HR strategy.
Fractional HR addresses them with experienced help, on demand, that scales as you do, so your team can stay focused on the core business. For the strategic end of the spectrum, see how a fractional CHRO strengthens your HR strategy.
The HR X-Ray: a Clear Picture of Your HR Function
If you're not sure where your HR gaps even are, our HR X-Ray maps them.
Through 1:1 interviews, we gather 360-degree feedback, identify your short-, mid-, and long-term goals, and deliver a strategic roadmap you can run yourself or with us. It takes about 4 to 6 weeks and includes:
- An HR SWOT analysis
- An evaluation of your competitive advantage through the HR lens
- Present and future org charts
- An "HR Traffic Light" report across all HR functions
- A 12-month HR development roadmap
- A month-to-month action calendar
The investment for the HR X-Ray is $10,000.
If you can see HR gaps but don't have the internal expertise to close them, that's exactly what fractional HR is for. Talk to our Team to book a free 30-minute Scalability Audit about your HR function and whether the HR X-Ray is the right starting point.
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