By Stu at SJI Creative
What is fractional work?
To borrow a phrase from Laszlo Cravensworth in What We Do in the Shadows: Fractional work is hot, fractional work is in, I want some fractional work, fractional work it’s gonna be. (Except I don’t actually want fractional work, but that would ruin the joke.)
So, what is this term? Fractional work is frustratingly difficult to define; the term appears to have emerged in the last few years in the professional space, but it wasn’t invented by the corporate world.
Fractional posts in academia have existed for some time, and fractional ownership of property and even private jets have been around for decades.
Fractional work in the corporate world, however, has mostly lifted elements from the former. That is, a high level of responsibility with part-time hours and part-time pay.
According to a 2025 article in The Business Times, no one can quite agree on a fixed definition. It isn’t working part-time, except when it is, it’s not consulting, except when it is, and it’s not the same as an interim position – except when someone is hired fractionally on an interim basis, in which case – it is. The definition is fluid and changes across regions and industries. Which, in my mind, creates additional questions that will be explored below.
Is fractional work a good idea?
Once again there isn’t a clear cut answer as to whether or not fractional work is good or not. Speaking to a close confidant who has experience of a fractional posting in an academic setting, they are largely hated – all the work of a full-time post with none of the accolades and less pay. A fractional post in a corporate sense could offer flexibility to both the hiring party and the employee, especially in a startup context – but the opportunities within that particular space are limited.
Causes of instability in the executive job market are myriad and far too numerous to feasibly discuss here, but one element worth consideration might be a side effect of an oversupply of Business School graduates. (MBAs) causing a shift in the executive job market. It could certainly be a factor; there’s been plenty of writing over the past two years decrying the overproduction of MBA grads by business schools, with the qualification’s value becoming increasingly diluted. The MBA isn’t the only qualification to suffer; thus, the bachelor’s degree, once itself a key to a gilded career, has also lost a great deal of value. Add this to the increase in the service sector in the developing world and the rise of white-collar automation, and we might be amid a perfect storm.
The knowledge economy is constantly changing; the rise of fractional positions is perhaps more than just a linguistic trend; it may well be a symptom of a broader shift in market conditions.
If, dear reader, you are offered a fractional post, I urge you to consider the following: whom does it serve? Is working in such a manner going to be a boon to you? Is it going to provide the flexibility you need? Or is it going to enable your employer to pay you less than they would if they offered you a full-time position, but still demand a similar level of responsibility from you? Ultimately, a job offer is a sales pitch, but who benefits? As the adage goes, always read the fine print.
Is fractional work just a rebrand of already existing types of work?
Any regular readers of my work for Your Career Story will likely know me as a firm sceptic of corporate jargon and the LinkedIn subculture (emphasis on the ‘cult’) and as someone who was taught about issue framing and reframing by a former home secretary; this smacks of that to me. In fact, a specialist fractional recruitment website admits as much in one of their own blog posts.
It would seem that for whatever reason, the executive space is being infected with the same disease as the entry level job market – the parasitic growth that is the ‘gig’ economy – to reiterate, whether that points to sheer overcrowding in the space, the increase in automation reducing the requirement for executive roles, or some other shenanigans born of a desire to pay people less while they do more – remains to be seen.
But, and I must stress this is an opinion, albeit one backed up with hours of reading and listening to HR podcasts, it feels like a rebrand so the six-figure salary crowd can avoid the embarrassment of admitting to their peers that they’re no longer securely employed. There may be cases where that isn’t true and a ‘fractional’ role may be preferable – but I’d imagine those people would rather just take a traditional part-time position as an external consultant or non-executive director. Those positions are usually reserved for people with significant experience in senior management, of course, not freshly minted MBA graduates.
One thing worth noting is that all the outlets extolling the apparent virtues of fractional positions have a commercial or editorial incentive to do so. Which I’m sure has no bearing on anything at all. From business publications like Forbes, Fortune, and Business Insider to podcasts like HR Heretics, and even a fractional recruiting agency. This calls back to my earlier point about who is being best served by this method of working. If you choose to engage with it, more power to you. But if a fractional position is foisted upon you in some way, buyer beware.
It’s regrettable, but the proverbial waters are so muddy around this topic that it’s hard to grasp what it means for the potential employee; much of the power lies with the employer, which historically hasn’t been a brilliant power dynamic. Lest we forget the heady history of the late 19th and 20th centuries, when corporate interest ran amok. I’m not suggesting that fractional work is equivalent to company towns and scrip – but I am leery of buzzwords and anything that further empowers the powerful.
Your choices may depend on a veritable plethora of individual circumstances, your location, and the stage you’re at in your career. Your need to work may outstrip other concerns, which would, of course, perhaps lead you to take a position with less than desirable conditions, beyond just its fractional nature. The opposite is also true; the idea may appeal for just as many reasons. Hopefully, the choice is yours.
