The concept of a fractional executive —someone who is responsible for a major business function such as marketing, sales, operations, finance or IT on a part-time, outsourced basis — is garnering more attention these days in technology companies.

“It’s like the perfect storm; there’s, unfortunately, a lot of people in transition,’’ said Karina Mikhli, who has been a fractional COO for eight years. This can be the case because of layoffs, people not wanting to go back to what they used to do pre-COVID, or being forced to go back to an office or work crazy hours, she says.

Mikhli, a workflow consultant and founder of Fractionals United, says that in her case, she left her full-time career in publishing “because of one too many reorgs and layoffs due to Amazon and just other shifts in the industry.”

Ben Wolf, founder and CEO of the Fractional COO firm, Wolf's Edge Integrators, believes the use of fractional executives is gaining momentum because of a confluence of two main factors. “The first is that we've crossed what I call the ‘technological event horizon,’ whereby remote work and collaboration tools have advanced enough to take away the geographical limitations when looking for the right person,’’ says Wolf, who is also the author of Fractional Leadership: Landing Executive Talent You Thought Was Out of Reach.

The second factor is the lockdowns imposed by the pandemic in 2020. “It forced everyone to think much more flexibly about how they work. It made people, both businesses and executives, think more creatively about how to succeed as leanly as possible,’’ he says.

The fractional lifestyle “is much more conducive to having balance and having options and having a say in who you work with and how you work,’’ says Mikhli. “Those of us who do it and love it are spreading the word.”

Fractional work is ideal for SMBs, all startups, all scale-ups, and “anyone financially or resource-constrained can benefit from having a fractional leader,’’ she says. These companies don’t need someone full-time but they do need the expertise. “It’s a growing trend,’’ Mikhli says, however, “too few people in too few companies are aware of [fractional executives], which is the challenge right now.”

[caption id="attachment_135321" align="alignnone" width="736"] Image source: Fractionals United[/caption]

This type of C-suite leadership “is an incredible option, especially for small- and medium-sized businesses,’’ said Beth Jannery, owner of Titan Strategic Communications, a boutique advisory firm that offers fractional chief strategy and communications officer services. It is a more affordable option for companies that would not typically focus on strategy to gain expertise in this area, she says.

The only qualification to be a fractional executive is that an individual needs to have held their role “for a decent amount of time on a full-time basis in an organization,” says Wolf. “Those who haven't done that can't truly understand what it takes to run a department within a company,’’ he said.

For example, there are marketing agencies or accountants who may bill themselves out as fractional executives, Wolf says, “but if they've never actually run finance or marketing within an organization, they won't fully get what it takes to do so successfully.”

Mikhli echoes that, stressing that fractional positions are for anyone who has served in a leadership role. “Unlike a consultant hired to do a project, even if it’s long-term and is external to a team, a fractional leader is a full leader with accountability and people who report to them and can represent the company, she says.

Depending on the scope of the engagement, the career seniority of the executive, and the level of support provided, fractional executives can command a retainer of anywhere between $2,500 to $15,000 per month, according to Wolf. “That could mean working with a CFO one day per month, having a fractional COO a day and a half every week, and everything in between.” According to ZipRecruiter the average fractional CIO makes an average salary of $135,612

The most sought-after fractional role is CFO “because that is the role that first became widely accepted on a fractional basis,’’ he says. These are mainly C-suite positions, although there are many other non-executive types of roles that people can fulfill fractionally, including controller, content marketer, and project manager, he says.

The only difference between a full-time COO and a fractional leader is the hours, Mikhli says. Even though the hours vary, depending on the function, a fractional leader works part-time.

“I tend to start off less fractional with a client and then go more fractional once I establish systems and put them in place,’’ she says. Some fractional executives do not have to be involved on a daily basis, although a fractional COO does “because we run the business.”

On average, most fractional executives will have anywhere from three to five clients at a time, Mikhli says. “I've done two to four clients at a time. One time I had six; that’s way too many,’’ she says.

Other clients don’t necessarily need to be fractional, she adds. “Many of us do consulting on the side, and that’s the benefit of being fractional--you can do different things.”

Fractional CIOs and CTOs probably need to be involved in a company on a daily basis if they are in the midst of building something new. Again, it depends on the company and its needs. Mikhi notes that on the Fractionals United site, she put together a chart that outlines the difference between fractional consulting interim and advisory roles.

The one caveat is that fractional leadership “is best done remotely,’’ Mikhli says. “I have a client now and am one of two people who are remote and everyone else is local. It’s easier to do this if everyone is remote.”

Mikhli’s longest fractional position has been between one-and-a-half and two years. “I either work myself out of a job and they don’t need me or they need someone full-time,’’ she says. “One fractional in our community who is a CFO has been with a company for 12 years.”