Fractional Leadership: A Tactical Rebrand or a Genuine Work Revolution?

Fractional Leadership: A Tactical Rebrand or a Genuine Work Revolution?

The term ‘fractional leader’ is making waves with both businesses and experienced professionals. Is it just a more eloquent way of describing ‘part-time’? Or does it represent a genuine trend towards a rethink of traditional employment models which are no longer agile enough in our technology-enabled world?

The fractional leadership model is being positioned as an ideal solution for small to medium-sized organisations keen to access specialised skills for less cost than hiring an experienced leader full-time. In larger businesses in the private sector, there seems to be a lingering stigma around working less than full-time hours in a leadership role. Any flexibility around hours is often negotiated on an individual basis. For many years it was rare for someone in a leadership role to highlight publicly that they were working anything less than full-time hours, which makes it hard to get a sense of the scale of part-time working at that level. What is clear is that very few senior roles are advertised on a reduced-hours basis; however the demand for these roles is high.

Reduced-hours roles advertised versus volume of ‘fractional’ talent

Why might we need to think more flexibly about leadership roles

• According to the latest research from Cranfield School of Management, in FTSE 250 companies the number of women in executive directorships has fallen by more than 10% since 2022. The report highlights that the mid-career talent pipeline for women is still very vulnerable.

• DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2025 indicates that 40% of stressed-out leaders have considered leaving leadership roles to improve their wellbeing

• Increasing caring responsibilities: the highest percentage of unpaid carers (providing informal care to others on top of their paid work) in the UK are aged between 55 to 59 years; this often coincides with the peak of an individual’s career

• Recent research from Bain & Company shows that 87% of companies are now using generative AI; one of the drivers for this is enhanced efficiency and productivity, which should provide an opportunity to rethink roles at all levels

Incorporating more flexibility into organisational structures at a senior level would provide access to a much broader pool of experienced, motivated talent. Are the roles themselves structured in a way that can accommodate more flexibility? What needs to change?

“The biggest challenge around non full-time roles at leadership level is organisational culture. Many leaders are already working more hours than they are contracted to do. We need to get good at harnessing AI – the goal should be reducing workload throughout the organisation to enable leaders to find more time in their contracted hours for strategic work rather than fire-fighting.” 

Tiger de Souza, Executive Director People & Culture, Samaritans

Some experimentation around working practices is already happening. In 2022 61 companies in the UK across a range of sectors and locations undertook the 4 Day Week trial. The main difference to other forms of reduced-hours working was that participants received the same full-time compensation whilst working four rather than five days. Overall it was deemed to be a success, with a 71% decrease in employee burnout, a reported 55% increase in work ability, a 35% increase in average revenue and a 57% decrease in attrition rate. 200 new companies are now implementing that model.  

What is a fractional leader?

“A Fractional is a part-time, fully embedded leader”

John Arms, a vocal advocate of all things fractional, defines a fractional leader as an individual who:

1. Occupies a leadership role
2. Is a permanent team member
3. Fills their seat in a fraction of the time thought necessary

Fractional leaders will often be working with up to three organisations at the same time. This provides significant opportunity for building industry insight and learning from different company practices which can then be amplified across all the organisations.

The recommended framework for fractional leaders is:

Another term that is gaining traction is ‘fractional twinning’, highlighting the supportive nature of this approach where senior leaders are providing targeted skills and services on a flexible basis to the existing members of an organisation’s C-suite.

Given this is a fairly new concept, there is still some fluidity around how the term fractional is being applied. The main divergence is the level of commitment expected; many see fractional as applicable to any project-based or temporary employment.

Another version of part-time working at leadership level is the model of job sharing, where two or more people split a full-time role between them. The key difference here from the fractional model is that the organisation is still filling a full-time role, even if multiple people are undertaking it.

Where are fractional leaders most common?

Fractional leaders are most commonly found in start-ups and scale-ups – it is a bit of a win-win situation from both the business and individual perspective:

Business

• Gains access to critical leadership skills when they most need it, with more flexibility to allow leadership to evolve as organisational needs change

• Lower cost implications – they are not having to pay a full-time executive salary at a stage when they are cash-poor. Fractional leaders are self-employed, which means businesses shoulder only a fraction of the liability and risk typically involved in employing executives

• Generally faster onboarding period due to the more focused nature of the role, and the circumvention of having to wait for talent on long notice periods

• Talent development – fractional leaders can coach or mentor others in the organisation

Individual

• A job suitable to their level of experience but without the rigid expectations around full-time+ hours that typically go hand in hand with leadership positions

• Being able to remain in existing salary band even if they are actively choosing to work less hours

• The opportunity for variety – fractional leaders typically work for up to three different organisations at the same time

Functional focus

Fractional leaders typically have deep expertise in a functional area, as well as broader leadership experience. The below list includes functions where the most evidence of fractional leadership roles has been found:

• Marketing

• Operations

• Sales/Business Development

• Finance

• Product Development

• IT/Technology

• HR

• Legal (General Counsels)

It is easy to see how an injection of deep functional expertise can benefit organisations; the leadership element is a little more nuanced. Not everyone is on board with the idea that a leadership role can be effective on a fractional basis. In a recent Forbes article Can Even A Fraction of Value Come From A Fractional Leader, it is argued that the concept of a fractional executive ‘fundamentally misunderstands executive leadership’ (January 2025) as it provides less opportunity for deep relationship building and being seen as a ‘dependable presence’.

Is Fractional the Future?

It’s clear from our work with multiple organisations across multiple sectors that each company is unique, with its own leadership structure and workforce challenges. In the past five years we’ve seen significant change across the vast majority of our client base driven mainly by economic conditions, political and cultural sentiment and the rise of AI. Some organisations are trying to monitor the activity of their workforce more than ever before, others are trying to devolve decision-making to enable speedier, more informed action at a local level.

When to consider Fractional?

It seems likely that most leadership roles will continue to require the commitment and presence that a full-time leadership role brings, at least in the foreseeable future. However, as we dive headfirst into the age of generative AI some longstanding working practices will inevitably evolve, coming as it does alongside what the World Economic Forum calls the demographic transition, as people live longer whilst global fertility rates continue to decline. It could be that the rise of fractional gives the reduced-hours leadership that is already happening a stronger, more visible credibility. Or this could be the start of a shift to more sustainable working practices that benefit both employer and employee. As with any flexible working, there is a balance to be maintained between organisational and individual needs. But with the right parameters in place, making space for fractional leadership could provide the talent advantage your organisation needs.

We’d like to thank Tiger de Souza, Executive Director People & Culture, Samaritans and Toni Cairns, Fractional Chief People Officer (toni-cairns) for their input to this article.