Boyden Brief September 2023: The ‘F’ Word – Fractional

Introduction

In a relatively volatile and risk-free market, there appears to be a shift towards requiring the same level of experience within a smaller pay packet. As such, we wanted to explore what the interim management community felt about fractional roles and whether it would be something they would be interested in.

Fractional roles involve hiring professionals on a part-time or fractional basis to fulfill specific functions or responsibilities within an organisation. These roles are typically not full-time and are often project-based or focused on a particular area of expertise.

The potential benefits of fractional roles can include providing a more cost-effective route than hiring full-time employees with benefits, having access to specialised skills where organisations can tap into the expertise of professionals and flexibility based on changing business needs.

Although there are numerous advantages to fractional roles, we should not ignore the potential negatives compared with full time, interim management positions. Highly experienced professionals willing to work on a fractional basis may have other clients therefore the option to call upon expertise is limited to set days. Additionally, executives may not integrate seamlessly into the company's culture or processes since they work part-time or remotely. This can hinder effective communication and collaboration with the existing team.

Poll answers

As is traditional on the Boyden Brief, we asked our interim management community a series of poll questions on the topic of fractional roles which provided invaluable insight:

We asked interim managers whether they would consider taking on a fractional role and a resounding 87% said they would. This demonstrates the potential move to a portfolio career.

Interestingly, although 87% would take on a fractional role, less than half (44%) have done so in the 24 months. This may result from limited fractional roles in the market or interims holding out for a full-time interim management opportunity. It is important to note that we have seen an increase over the last 6-12 months so there may be a latent effect.

With our third poll question, we wanted to explore whether daily rates were affected, either up or down, by taking on fractional roles, as an interim manager’s utilisation rate may decrease over a financial year compared with full time. Interestingly, the response was 50/50. It would be interesting to explore what percentage increase or decrease interim managers would consider.

Before considering fractional roles, it is important to understand what interim managers would do with their increased capacity, as it can be challenging to work with several clients concurrently. 68% said they would work with other clients, 20% said they would take on NED or Chair roles and 12% said they would use it as free time.