Although vital, hiring a full-time HR, People + Culture team is expensive. Enter Fractional leadership - a flexible solution that offers you the expertise you need, without breaking the bank.
Read on to discover how Fractional People Pros can make a difference to your business.
Intro to fractional hiring
In a previous article, we explored the ins and outs of leveraging Fractional Leaders.
As a quick recap – hiring a fractional leader offers the chance for you to secure a senior, executive-level expert for a fraction of the time and a fraction of the price but with a multiplier on impact.
Instead of committing to a permanent hire, or having a contractor deliver a set project, Fractional Leaders embed themselves into your team and are on hand to focus on the things that will have the biggest impact, such as defining strategy and creating practices that stand the test of time.
The best part? As you only pay for the expertise you need, you can have the best talent, without the shackles of scaling burn!
But how does this play out in your People strategy?
Your people are the heartbeat of your company. And while you’ll know your business and your mission better than anyone, as you grow, you need everyone to be singing from the same hymn sheet.
From candidate attraction and onboarding to your team’s professional development, a people pro can be your competitive advantage. Like a plant with a trellis, a dedicated People + Culture strategy can help keep your business on course and get you to where you need to be.
From cost-effectiveness to specialised, on-hand expertise, Fractional experts offer a wealth of benefits to your business. Now, let's delve deeper into why enlisting a Fractional People + Culture expert can be a gamechanger for your business.
The importance of investing in your People + Culture
As your company evolves, so do the needs of your team.
It's not just the traditional “HR” tasks; it's about crafting an environment where employees are not just content but thriving. Why? Well quite simply, happy, healthy and high performing individuals when complemented by the right culture (remember that culture is a tool to help you achieve your goals) leads to high-performance of your business.
A strong culture not only attracts top talent, but prioritises the wellbeing, development, and engagement of your employees. By doing so, you're not just investing in the here and now, but laying the foundations for your future success. Talk about win-win.
Why is investing in People + Culture so crucial?
Hiring + Onboarding
It might be tempting to wing it, but unfortunately, a spray-and-pray approach just isn’t going to build the best team. People Pros develop the strategy you need to find, attract, and onboard the best talent on the market, for your business. From crafting a compelling Employer Value Proposition (EVP) + Employer Brand, to implementing an effective onboarding process, your business relies on your ability to hire the right people at the right time.
Employee retention
It's more than just finding the right people – it's making sure that they are happy, healthy, and enabled to perform at their best. Investing in retaining top talent can notably reduce overall recruitment costs, including advertising and temporary cover, as well as the hidden costs of a lack of productivity within the team.
Performance enablement
Ensuring that your team feels enabled to perform at their best is crucial. From clear goals, to access to tools, great communications, and strong developmental feedback – enabling performance through clarity and understanding what’s expected from them is critical.
Learning + Development
An expert people pro can design and deliver learning programmes to ensure that your employees have the skills to adapt to whatever comes their way. But it's about more than just filling skills gaps. L&D directly impacts productivity, customer satisfaction, and employee retention. You know what they say about building from a position of strength. Why wait until you desperately need a higher-skilled team? Get ahead and invest in a dedicated training budget, implement a mentoring programme, and facilitate ongoing performance discussions to foster a happy + high-performing team. And don’t forget that capable and confident managers are your number one lever for performance!
A first-class culture
We believe that thriving people build thriving businesses, and a positive company culture is fundamental to success. It sets the tone for how employees work together, it makes them loyal, proud, and engaged. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again… Culture is not an ethereal concept; it is a tool to help you achieve your goals and mitigate your challenges!
Employee wellbeing
Dedicated HR, People + Culture expertise is vital for ensuring the wellbeing of your team. Healthy, happy employees are more engaged, creative, and resilient, and a positive work environment is linked to sustainable business success. This includes supporting employees with their mental health, which is crucial for avoiding burnout, especially in a performance-driven culture. The ability of your team to be able to innovate and work at pace is built upon well individuals!
Strategic planning
A strong People strategy should be intertwined with your business strategy. They are not disparate strategies! Your business strategy and your people strategy goes together hand in glove!
When it comes to strategic planning, People Pros can offer insights into workforce trends, DE&I initiatives, skills gaps, and succession planning. Their expertise helps your business anticipate and address future challenges effectively. And when using a Fractional Leader - they’ve been there before so they’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Their expertise is crucial to strategic planning!
Why you should consider a Fractional People + Culture Leader
The biggest impact you can make on your business is getting the very best people expertise, exactly when you need it.
The reality is that a full-time hire won’t be working at their maximum. They’ll either have downtime where they’re picking up more routine tasks that more junior, and ultimately, cheaper hire could do, or they’ll be wrapped up in the day-to-day running of things rather than being able to focus on the longer term.
A Fractional hire is focused purely on impact. This means rather than paying a People Director up to £150k a year, for 20-30% of their capability, you can pay £60k a year, for what you actually need them to do.
The benefits of working with a Fractional People + Culture Pro include:
- Cost-effectiveness
Engaging a Fractional leader allows you to get the support you need, without committing to full-time HR team members until you need them. Simply put, this approach enables you to make the most of every pound in your budget. But it’s not a case of looking for bargains, this is you getting top-tier talent for the best value and having them doing things that will make the biggest impact to your business.
- Flexibility and scalability
Whether it’s for specific projects, periods of rapid growth, or in preparation for an investment drive, a Fractional leader is a flexible solution. Scalable by nature, you can adjust the level of support you receive and ensure you’re only paying for what you need.
- Access to specialist expertise
As you scale, the cost of a full-time hire will limit the skillset you’re able to attract. This means you can end up with a middle-of-the-road hire that potentially limits your potential.
However, Fractional People Pro’s offer a solution by bringing the best experience across various areas of People + Culture, providing you with access to a wide range of specialised skills.
For example, at Foundation Partners, our team includes professional coaches, facilitators, D&I experts, People Generalists, ex-COOs, investment specialists and more.
- On-demand support
Choosing Fractional Leaders not only gives you the best skills – it offers on-demand support without the delays associated with old-fashioned hiring. Fractional professionals are readily available whenever you need them, bringing their diverse experience across industries, cultures, and business models to propel your business ahead of the competition.
What it looks like in practice – working with Foundation Partners
At Foundation Partners, we help you make People + Culture your competitive advantage by integrating a C-level People Pro into your team on a Fractional basis. This ensures you always have someone on hand to advise, strategise, and realise your People goals.
Whether remote, or on-site, we’re on the team to embed great practices into your business.
How we work:
- We conduct a bespoke discovery process to understand your starting point.
- We work with you to co-design and deliver a roadmap tailored to your team, culture, and goals.
- We work alongside your leadership team to deliver both quick wins and long-term transformational projects that make a real impact.
- As you grow, we continue to be your trusted thought partner, providing ongoing support and insights on all aspects of People, Culture + Leadership.
Navigating the next phase of your business journey? At Foundation Partners, we can be your compass.
Get in touch to find out how we can help.