How Growing Companies Use Fractional HR to Scale Smarter

Fractional HR offers businesses experienced HR leadership on a part-time basis, without the cost of a full-time employee. With Fractional HR, a human resources expert is embedded in an organization and can manage all aspects of HR including compliance, employee relations, performance management, PEO or PSP providers, benefits administration, and strategic planning.

The top reasons that leaders choose Fractional HR include:

• Reducing risk. Fractional HR can help ensure compliance with employment laws and HR best practices.
• Increasing leadership capacity. With a dedicated HR professional on the team, leaders and founders can spend valuable time focusing on growth, not managing human resources issues.

1. Strategy Without the Full-Time Price Tag
Fractional HR offers the benefit of a seasoned HR leader who knows how to build scalable processes, attract top talent, and navigate tricky people issues, at a fraction of the cost.

2. Plug-and-Play Expertise
Hiring a full-time HR leader can take months. A Fractional Partner can start in weeks, bringing templates, systems, and best practices that businesses would otherwise have to build from scratch.

3. Flexibility as You Grow
HR needs aren’t static. Fractional HR adapts, whether you need a few hours a week for compliance and onboarding or a heavier lift to build performance frameworks ahead of your Series A.

Fractional HR can help with:

• Employee Relations: Conflict resolution and mediation, performance management, employee engagement initiatives, employee surveys.
• Compliance & Risk Management: HR policy development & implementation, labor law compliance, risk mitigation strategies, preventing harassment and discrimination, employee handbook and policies.
• HR strategy & planning: HR audits and assessments, strategic workforce planning, compensation & benefits analysis, organizational development.
• Talent Acquisition: Streamlined recruitment processes, effective sourcing and screening, interview guidance and support, onboarding optimization.

Funders want to invest in businesses led by effective teams who can manage exponential growth.

If you are too small for full-time HR support, you still need to show that you have the people and processes in place to scale rapidly and provide a return on investment. This is where Fractional HR is invaluable, helping to improve co-founder relations, identify and retain the right team for growth, and more.

From pitch decks to funding progress reports, an embedded Fractional HR expert can make the difference in your relationship with your funders.

With Fractional HR, an HR professional is embedded in your team on a part-time basis. While each individual engagement will vary, a typical process involves:

1. Initial Meeting to determine “fit,” and then a deep assessment of your needs and current practices and challenges.
2. Integration on the Team: A Fractional HR professional then becomes a member of your management team. They provide strategic guidance, manage the day-to-day logistics of your HR processes, and become an experienced point of contact for your employees. Fractional HR experts can work with your existing systems and technologies or can recommend new technologies based on their experience.
3. Contract conclusion: Your Fractional HR can stay with you as long as you need their help. When you are ready to hire a full-time HR leader, the Fractional HR team member can help you define the role and identify and interview top quality candidates.

The cost of Fractional HR services is typically less than a full-time HR hire, because you only pay for the level of support you need, as determined by the stage and complexity of your organization.

Fractional and outsourced HR are two ways that organizations get HR support without the cost or commitment of a full-time employee.

• Fractional HR: An HR professional becomes a part-time member of your team. They can provide a wide-range of support, from specific responsibilities to complete management and strategy for your HR department.
• Outsourced HR: An external provider of HR services, such as payroll processing, benefits administration, etc. Typically Outsourced HR is more limited in scope and may involve multiple providers.

A HR consultant is a general term for a professional who brings HR expertise to your business. HR consulting can include advisory services, Fractional HR, or special projects such as off-site leadership retreats, strategic planning sessions, benefit provider evaluations, and more.

With Fractional HR, a human resources professional becomes a dedicated single point of contact embedded in your team and manages your strategic and day-to-day HR processes.