You’re a founder who needs help. Perhaps a specialised set of skills. Perhaps an injection of leadership.
You whip up a job description. In some parts it writes itself: full-time, 40 hours per week.
But is this what your business actually needs?
The professional landscape of today is very different to that of, say, 2019. Between then and now we’ve seen the rise of the gig economy, the enforcement and gradual acceptance of remote and flexible work, and the great resignation.
The modern worker is different. The modern employer should be different too.
Case in point: we need to rethink full-time headcounts.
The limitations of full-time headcount
Why is full-time the default? The further you dig into that question, the more difficult it is to answer.
On a surface level it appears to make sense. Full-timers have more time to do more things. They’re committed to you and you alone.
But even these basic arguments have their flaws.
Does working five days a week make you more productive? In short, no, as proven by the world’s largest four-day working week study, in which businesses reported an average revenue increase of 35% compared to similar periods in previous years.
Are full-timers more committed? Again, no. This large meta-analysis found “little difference between full-time (FT) and part-time (PT) employees on job satisfaction, organisational commitment, intentions to leave and facets of job satisfaction.”
When we hone in on startup land, full-time employees, particularly leaders, can be a net negative – they’re pricey, inflexible, and often spend a chunk of their 40 hours on thumb-twiddling duty.
Startups are dynamic entities working within tight margins. They need flexibility, adaptability and cost-effectiveness. Full-time execs can’t offer that. Fractional leaders can.
Understanding fractional leadership
Fractional leadership is a modern solution to a modern problem. It grants your startup access to an experienced exec on a part-time basis, usually a few days or a couple dozen hours per week.
Fractional hiring is designed to offer the flexibility, adaptability and affordability that startups require. This on-demand leadership allows you to gain deep knowledge and experience at a more affordable price. You only ever pay for what you need, and on terms that suit both you and the exec.
In short, fractional hiring is as agile as the startups who use it.
Are full-timers actually more productive?
Are you more productive on Friday than Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday? As that four-day work week trial proved, probably not.
In most western nations, including Australia, the five day/40 hour work week concept has been legislated for a century or more. It was a reaction to the 16-hour shifts and six day work weeks that defined the industrial revolution.
It wasn’t based on science, but the (admittedly elegant) idea of a 24-hour day divided into eight hour blocks of work, sleep and recreation.
We now live in more enlightened times. And as it turns out, full-time, 40-hour leaders aren’t more productive – part-time leaders are.
A quality fractional executive can squeeze a week’s worth of thinking, decision-making and doing into a couple of days. With limited time comes greater prioritisation. Fractional leaders focus on the most impactful actions: all killer, no filler.
They’re scalable too – if you need to increase their hours, you can.
A headcount based on business needs
Fractional leadership doesn’t sound the death knell for full-time leadership. It’s simply another option, and one particularly suited to the realities of startup life.
Fractional execs are a strategic choice – a way to gain access to the leadership you need, to fill gaps and drive growth, while retaining both flexibility and capital.
What’s more, you can get multiple leaders – and gain access to multiple lifetimes of experiences, skills and professional networks – for the price you would otherwise pay for one.
The benefits of fractional leadership
Why fractional? The pros are compelling, particularly for startups:
- More bang for your buck: A fractional exec can cost (far) less than a full-time leader, but can be almost as impactful, and tend to be far more impactful on a per hour basis.
- Flexibility and scalability: How much leadership do you need? You choose. Need more? Tweak the agreement to get more.
- The expertise you need: Experience costs money because it’s valuable. What a founder might take months to figure out, a veteran leader will do without thinking. Fractional hiring makes expertise affordable, because you only pay for what you need.
- Honesty and objectivity: Fractional leaders can offer an unbiased view of your startup, untainted by organisational history, office politics and power dynamics.
- Less commitment, less risk: Full-time leaders can be millstones around a dynamic startup’s neck. A fractional leader is less of a commitment, allowing you to adjust, pivot or reset as required.
About to write that job description? Take a pause.
Auto-fill is pushing you to type in “full-time/40 hours”. But is that what’s best for your business?
Full-time headcount is the default. But that’s more a function of history and tradition than of need. As founders it’s tempting to follow convention because “it must be done that way for a reason”. But in the case of headcount, there’s a compelling argument to be made for hiring fractional leaders and specialists over their full-time counterparts.
Before committing to or getting budget approval for a full-timer, ask yourself: what type of hire will be better for my startup? Which will be more affordable, deliver greater ROI, and offer the flexibility, adaptability and scalability that I need?
We believe the smart money is on fractional. An ever-increasing number of startups do too.
Shepherd: on-demand talent for growth-focused startups
The shift towards flexible leadership is real. At Shepherd we’re helping to power it.
We inject startups with the fractional leadership they need: on-demand skills and experience that can turbocharge growth, wrapped up in a flexible and cost-effective package.
If you’re ready to grow, we’re ready to help.
