Fractional talent as an alternative pool of resources
At the startup I work for we used to have a full time HR person. These were in the days when the expectation was that we would have explosive growth and the company would “at least double in size every few months”. Unfortunately that is not the way it played out - we are still making good progress but have much more realistic growth plans.
And over time we realised that a full time HR person was overkill for the size of company we were so it was decided to scale down the role - a real shame as he was a really good guy and good at his job.
The management team brought in a part time HR person instead who works only one or two days for us each week and the rest of the week for other companies. This works really well for us. We have reduced costs and about the right workload for that amount of time commitment.
With this in mind, I came across an article about a company called Bolster who are focused on providing management experience to startups via “fractional talent”. They can provide a part time CFO or board member so the startup gets a level of experience and skill that may have previously been out of their reach. It can also provide those involved with a level of variety and opportunity to grow. I can see why that might be attractive.
I wonder if this is a model that gain traction over time.
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