So, What Exactly is a Fractional Consultant?

By Deena Englander @ 2025-06-23T16:03 (+11)

Have you come across the term “Fractional COO” recently? I get the question pretty often – what exactly does that mean? So here’s a short post to explain a little bit about what fractional truly means, why it’s helpful to you, and what to look for in a fractional consultant. I’ll use a COO as an example throughout this simply because that’s what I personally have the most experience with.

 What it Means:

Hiring someone fractional means that instead of hiring a full-time employee, like a full-time COO, you get to hire some for only a fraction of the time. For example, if you’re part of a 6-person organization, chances are that you need a strong Operations Manager with a representative salary, and don’t need a full-time COO. When you hire a fractional COO, say, for 8 hours a week, you get access to a COO working directly with your business at a fraction of the cost.

There are many types of consultants out there – fractional COOs, CFOs, CMOs, HR, social media, bookkeepers, virtual assistants, controllers etc. You’re hiring a consultant to become embedded in your organization on a part-time (or fractional) basis.

 Why it’s Helpful:

When your organization is smaller (and sometimes when it’s bigger, too), the amount of time you need a specialized employee form isn’t usually a full-time job. You also likely won’t have the salary to pay the cost of a high performing staff member. Good COOs aren’t cheap. Hiring fractional means that you get access to quality talent at a lower cost. It’s a win-win from both sides! In my experience, my most embedded job was about 15 hours a week, and it cost the organization less than half of what a full-time COO would cost them. You’ll find that fractional employees are usually very efficient – so you get more output, higher quality, and keep your costs down. Additionally, it reduces your staffing liability as an organization – it’s easier to terminate a consulting contract than an employee.

*It's usually not helpful when you’re employing them for more than 20 hours a week – at that point, you’re probably better off paying an employee internally.

**If you engage with a contractor, make sure you’re paying them properly – just because someone works for you on a part-time basis doesn’t make them automatically a 1099. The IRS looks for other factors, like if they have other clients, and how much you control their work.

What to Look For:

Not all consultants out there are good. In fact, there are many that I’ve met and worked with that I would strongly recommend you stay away from. I’d estimate that less than a quarter of consultants out there are actually helpful (my rating is based on their ability to understand the org’s true issues and provide effective change and leadership in a skilled manner).  So you do want to make sure to vet your consultants properly. I know, this is frustrating – here I am telling you all the reasons fractional is good, but now I’m telling you that there’s a 75% chance that whomever you engage with won’t be helpful. So, let’s focus on how you can minimize that chance so that you’ll have a productive engagement:

I hope this provides a little more insight into what it means to work with a fractional consultant and helps you on your path towards organizational excellence.

Please reach out if you have any questions!