Fractional work has skyrocketed across professions in recent years. In 2024, according to Harvard Business Review, 110,000 professionals identified themselves on LinkedIn as a “fractional leader,” up from just 2,000 two years earlier.
This rise in fractional leadership has multiple drivers, including post-pandemic acceptance of remote and flexible work. To better understand the trend and how HR leaders can pivot to fractional work, we checked in with four members of Lattice’s Certified Fractional HR People Leader Program. They explained what fractional HR is, why it’s so popular, how HR professionals can get started, and what companies need to know.
What Is Fractional HR?
Fractional HR professionals are embedded advisors who work alongside people team members to guide strategy and support leaders as they build out long-term HR systems and practices. Common services include helping employers optimize organizational design, performance enablement, compliance, and culture strategy.
Fractional HR professionals typically work on a part-time, contractual basis. They often juggle multiple clients, providing organizations with seasoned HR expertise that they might not have on staff.
And, unlike traditional HR consultants, who provide more hands-on support by actually executing tasks such as rewriting an employee handbook, fractional HR professionals are more advisory, said Melissa Theiss, founder and principal of Fledge, an HR consulting firm. “In most cases, [fractional HR is] guiding others on how to do the work.”
Why Is Fractional HR on the Rise?
The growth in fractional HR comes as many HR professionals consider leaving their traditional roles. According to Lattice’s 2026 State of People Strategy Report, more than 40% of HR employees have considered a career change this year. Among those contemplating departure, 49% have explored fractional work, and 24% of those who considered leaving HR have already started fractional consulting.
Burnout is driving many to seek alternatives, according to Lattice’s survey data. The shift from full-time to fractional HR roles is most common among white-collar and US-based professionals. Those who make the move are seeking work-life flexibility, autonomy, and diversified income streams — all benefits the fractional HR leaders interviewed have found.
Merna Gundy, CEO of MVG HR Solutions, for example, was working full-time when she gave birth to triplets and needed a more flexible work environment. So she started her own fractional HR practice. “It’s been amazing since then,” Gundy said. “I’ve built really great relationships with leaders who are repeat customers.”
For Jennifer Beattie, founder of Culture on Camera, switching from a full-time corporate gig to fractional HR work has helped ease burnout as she works on cutting-edge processes and new technologies to support her clients. “It's funny because I'm working so much more now than I was in a full-time capacity, but I am so energized because I'm living out my passion,” Beattie said. “That is definitely something that has helped me with my burnout.”
It's a way for [businesses] to get help and assistance in an embedded fashion, but at a fraction of the cost.
Theiss, who still works in a full-time HR role, is supplementing her income with her fractional work. “I can pay my mortgage down a lot faster by working 10 additional hours a week,” she noted.
Employer demand is also behind the trend. As startups and small businesses scale, they need expert HR guidance, but don’t always have the resources to bring on a CHRO or other full-time hire just yet. So they outsource HR tasks and initiatives to fill in the gaps. “It's a way for small businesses, and even larger companies, to get help and assistance in an embedded fashion, but at a fraction of the cost,” Beattie said.
What It Takes to Be a Successful Fractional HR Professional
While the fractional HR model allows for flexibility and variety, success requires more than just HR expertise, fractional HR veterans say. Anybody considering this path must also bring strong business skills, including how to hire and fire a client and set a profitable rate. “You have to be able to run your own small business well,” Theiss said.
Organizational skills are critical as you manage multiple clients’ different business needs and projects. “You might be with one client Monday and Wednesday and another client Tuesdays, and your other clients can book as needed,” Theiss noted. “You need to be able to really quickly reorient yourself.”
Beyond those technical skills, successful fractional HR professionals also need personal characteristics like these to thrive in the space:
- Resilience: Constant rejection drives some fractional professionals back to full-time, in-house HR roles, said Menaka Chang, founder of MC Advisory. Sales and prospecting work required to build a business isn’t for everyone, and professionals must adapt quickly to shifting economic conditions and different leadership styles, Chang added.
- Comfort with chaos: Beattie’s typical engagement with a new client often involves untangling a jumbled mess of previous do-it-yourself attempts to build a better talent management operation. Fractional leaders must enjoy turning disorder into structured systems, she added.
- Risk tolerance: The entrepreneurial nature of fractional work means embracing daily uncertainty and variability as clients come and go. “There's a big misconception that it is easy,” Beattie said. “It is the hardest job you're going to have, and you are going to work endless hours.”
How to Get Started as a Fractional HR Professional
Breaking into fractional HR work requires strategic planning and realistic expectations. Fractional HR practitioners recommended these five steps to launching a practice.
1. Start small.
Several years into her fractional HR practice, Chang still relies on her LinkedIn page to showcase her expertise. When getting started, don’t waste your time or money on an elaborate website, Chang recommends. All you need is a professional email, a solid contract, and a spreadsheet or scheduling tool. “Focus on finding clients, doing great work, and building trust,” she said.
2. Pick a niche or ideal client type.
Trying to serve every client or industry can undermine your credibility, Chang said. She initially pursued any opportunity, but has learned to specialize. “I am a generalist, but I'm a generalist for startups,” she noted. “For me, that's what's turned into my niche.”
As you build your business, Chang advises identifying what kind of work you enjoy most and who is in your network. “I’m a huge fan of making sure that I am staying connected to people that I’ve enjoyed working with,” she noted. “In the future, they could either be a client or connect me to someone.”
3. Rely on the right tools.
Comprehensive HR platforms like Lattice can help to differentiate your practice. “They are such a wonderful entry point for small businesses,” Beattie said of Lattice.
Lattice is also a critical tool for the startups Theiss works with, helping to put HR best practices into action. “What Lattice really benefits customers with is just being able to give nudges and act towards the right type of behavior," she said.
4. Consider your pricing model.
Fractional HR leaders say pricing models can vary, based on a project’s scope. Depending on the need, an hourly rate or retainer may be the right call. “If the project scope is pretty clear, I'll aim to do a retainer,” Chang said. But when clients aren’t sure what they need, and additional issues could emerge during discovery, hourly billing will provide more flexibility.
5. Treat it like a real business.
Fractional work doesn’t have to be just a part-time gig. According to the 2025 State of Fractional survey, conducted by Frak, a conference for fractional executives, 51% of fractional professionals earn more than $100,000 a year. “Don’t just work in your business, work on your business,” Chang advised. “This is not a side hustle, so treat it like I am a founder.”
What Employers Should Know About Hiring Fractional HR
As more companies rely on fractional HR support, understanding when and how to engage these professionals is key to achieving the best results. To determine whether hiring fractional HR is the right move, employers should ask themselves these three questions.
1. Does hiring fractional HR make sense for my business?
Two scenarios often warrant fractional support, Theiss said. Companies with 30 to 50 employees, for example, may not be ready for a full-time HR leader or can only afford a junior HR hire for the role, but still need strategic guidance to build foundational HR policies and processes. A fractional professional can serve as a guide or mentor.
In other cases, organizations facing rapid growth may need support from an HR leader who has navigated that path before. A fractional HR professional can help. “Maybe you have a head of people at 150 headcount, but you're going to raise a Series C, and your leader has never seen that next size, stage, and scale,” Theiss explained. “They don't know how to prepare for what's coming around the corner, so you hire someone who's seen that next size, stage, and scale.”
Fractional HR professionals also can bring relief to small business owners drowning in people management paperwork, Beattie added. “Whenever a business owner is trying to do the DIY approach and getting overwhelmed, we are here to help, and it is not as expensive as they think.”
2. Who is the right fractional partner for my needs?
Instead of simply searching for any fractional HR consultant or contractor, start by defining your specific needs and HR challenges, and find fractional HR services with expertise in that area, Theiss said. That might include strategic HR guidance on scaling quickly, addressing flagging employee engagement, or ensuring compliance with labor laws in a new state.
From there, she advised matching a fractional HR professional’s expertise to your immediate needs rather than overpaying for senior-level experience. Companies, she said, should seek fractional support that’s appropriate for their next 12 to 24 months of growth and then transition to a different advisor as they scale into new stages.
3. Do I have buy-in across my team?
A fractional HR professional can guide organizations toward better people practices, but internal buy-in and accountability remain essential, Beattie advised. “We can put the strategy in place, we can execute as much as possible, but you do need buy-in from the business as well.”
It’s equally important for internal leaders to understand that fractional HR professionals are strategic business partners, not simply back-office support. Whatever the HR function or business goal, such as boosting employee relations, performance management, talent acquisition, company culture, or onboarding, “we can actually help the bottom line,” Beattie noted.
Yet many organizations struggle to access or implement these strategic capabilities on their own, Beattie said. That’s where partnerships between fractional HR professionals and HR technology platforms like Lattice prove valuable.
Together, they can create a “unified solution for them that is easy and seamless and repeatable and easy to navigate,” Beattie added. “It’s just a great pairing. It’s worked beautifully for my clients.”
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Join or Hire Our Fractional Partners
For fractional HR leaders ready to become strategic partners to their clients while growing their own practices and service offerings, apply now to join Beattie, Chang, Gundy, and Theiss in Lattice’s Certified Fractional HR People Leader Program.
Participants gain certification, training, referral bonuses, and a public listing in our fractional HR leaders marketplace.
