We’re assuming if you’ve landed on this blog, you’ve thought a time or two before about fractional hiring. Maybe you’re noticing you just need some help or maybe you’re wanting to not make the jump to a full-time hire just yet.
Well, we have great news for you. We have a resource that could be right up your alley — How To Reduce Labor Costs in 2023. Let’s go ahead and highlight some pain points you could face.
Here are a few of the hiring and labor issues right now:
- 38 percent of American workers say their company is understaffed.
- The average cost to replace a salaried employee is six to nine months' salary.
- Compensation for workers increased 8 percent since June 2020.
- The average cost to replace an hourly employee is $1,500.
- Wages and salaries increased 8.5 percent since June 2020.
- Benefit costs have increased 7 percent since June 2020.
What Is Fractional Employment?
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce defines fractional hiring as “the practice of hiring an employee for a ‘fraction’ of the time a normal employee would work” — meaning “an employee could be hired to work for multiple organizations throughout the week.”
When you hire a contractor or freelancer, they are usually hired for a specific project. Fractional hires are not project-based and tend to be contracted for hours that are closer to part-time work.
With fractional hires, you can gain advanced expertise and insider knowledge of industry trends — while majorly saving on recruiting and hiring costs. Since many fractional hires work with other companies, they gain knowledge from multiple industries and become experts in their respective fields.
This industry knowledge can be just what you need to grow your business.
What Are The Benefits of Fractional Hiring?
There are many benefits of hiring fractional employees for the left side of your pros and cons list. Here are just a few...
- Skip the recruiting process.
- Someone else finds your "perfect match" for you.
- Location isn't a factor.
- You have a collaborator and problem-solver as opposed to a task rabbit.
- Save time and money.
- Scale faster.
- Hand off the tasks you hate to do with confidence they'll be done right.
Why Choose a Fractional Employee Over Someone In-House?
Cost Savings. Employees are expensive with payroll taxes, benefits, health insurance, and compliance with ever-changing laws. But with a virtual assistant, you save money by only paying for what you need – nothing more, nothing less – while saving roughly 30-60 percent as compared to in-person hires.
Speed of Hire. When you need help, you likely need it now. Or – if you're being honest with yourself – yesterday. But while in-house positions can take an average of 42 days to fill, virtual jobs take roughly half the time.
Absenteeism. Virtual employment boasts a reduction in employee absenteeism of 68 percent and bonus – when employees work at home or remotely, they often take better care of themselves and in turn, are healthier, happier and more productive employees.
Productivity. As mentioned above, happy employees are productive employees. Studies show home-based workers are 13 percent more productive than their in-house counterparts, have a 50 percent lower attrition rate, and report more positive job satisfaction.
Changing Workforce. The landscape of the American workforce is changing – for the better. More than 35 percent of the workforce is remote at least part of their week with over 77 percent of employers finding they were more productive when working remotely, too.
What Should You Know Before Hiring Fractional Employees?
Before hiring your fractional employee, it’s helpful to think through your expectations for the person in this role.
What are the tasks you hate doing that you can delegate to someone else? What are the tasks you’re spending the most amount of time on when you could be doing other things to further the business? What will be a win for you after a few months?
Then, take it a step further.
Outline a job description for your fractional employee so that you can identify the specific things you want your fractional hire to accomplish.
Create training resources where you upload and share training documents on platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox and Loom.
Get virtual tools and systems access ready so that you aren’t wasting time waiting for passwords, access or approvals.
Establish communication guidelines and boundaries so that you are clear on what times of the day work best for you and when you don’t want to be disturbed.
We get that hiring fractionally may seem a bit daunting or confusing as to where to start. We’re here to help you with that.
We have a team of people ready to talk through your pain points and goals so that you can hire a fractional employee and start scaling your business today.