Unlocking the Power of Fractional HR Project Management: A Flexible Solution

In today's ever-changing business landscape, managing staff costs is crucial. The need for HR to be flexible, agile, and cost-effective is key to its success. Often viewed as a necessary expense, the HR function is typically lean. In small businesses, you might find yourself as the sole HR Manager.

This is where fractional HR project management becomes essential. It helps you deliver more without permanently increasing your headcount and overheads. HR is frequently assigned projects, with the expectation that they can fit these tasks into their already packed schedules. However, not all HR professionals are trained project managers or have the time to dedicate to planning a project.

What this usually means is they end up starting the project without a full plan. This means it feels chaotic because you're trying to plan and deliver the project at the same time.

What is Fractional HR Project Management and How Can It Solve This Problem?

Fractional HR project management involves outsourcing parts of the HR service to experienced professionals who work part-time, as contractors, or on a temporary basis. They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience in their specialism without the cost of hiring a full-time HR team member. This can be particularly beneficial when you have an HR project, specific training to design or deliver, or a new system to implement. You may need support in creating new organisation structures, processes, setting up a new HR or Payroll system and training people to use it.

These types of projects tend to be short-term, ranging from a couple of months to 12 months. An experienced person can often complete them in less than full-time hours. This flexibility is advantageous when you have a limited budget or no approved additional headcount to bring in the expertise needed for project success.

Benefits of Fractional HR for HR Projects

1. Expertise at a Fraction of the Cost

Hiring an HR Project Manager or Training Professional as a consultant allows you to access top talent without incurring a recruitment costs, a large salary, benefits package, or IT costs. If you have organisational design, training, or short-term HR projects, this flexibility means you can adjust the duration of their engagement without the hassle of redundancy or terminating an employment contract when the project concludes.

2. Flexibility

While this type of support is ideal for project work, it can also be used for one-off tasks. Here are some examples of ad hoc tasks you could use fractional support for:

• Getting the project team up and running quickly with a kick off session

• Creating a project scope and business case

• Supporting your team in creating the project plan, which they can then deliver

• Setting up your project documents, e.g., putting the plan into MS Planner/Monday.com or similar, and creating a risks and issues log

• Training your team on project management tools and techniques

• Collaborating with your team to create a change impact assessment

• Creating your communications plan

• Dedicated project management

• Delivering a lessons-learned session

  
  

This means your budget can stretch further. You will need to identify where you have expertise in-house and where your budget is best spent on additional resources.

3. Scalability

Using contractors as fractional HR project support allows you to scale up and down quickly and easily. You avoid tricky conversations regarding the end of temporary contracts or potential redundancies, as well as the lengthy recruitment process. An experienced contractor can seamlessly join a project team and quickly understand what needs to be done. Their time to deliver is much shorter than an employee who will usually need to complete their induction and have a wider remit.

4. Managing Risk

When delivering HR projects alongside your regular duties, it can be challenging to manage and mitigate risks effectively. Having dedicated support means you can address most issues early and often before they arise. You will have someone on hand to quickly problem-solve if unexpected challenges occur.

5. Fresh Perspective

A fractional HR project management professional often comes with experience from various organisations, bringing new ideas and sharing best practices. Their insights can help you view a challenging project differently or identify improvements to existing processes. They may introduce knowledge of different technologies or tools that could save time and effort.

What Problems Can Fractional HR Solve?

Overload

If your HR team is overwhelmed with daily functions, they will struggle to deliver a project on top of their already busy schedules.

Business Change / Transition

When your company undergoes changes, such as mergers, restructuring, or system updates, you may need specialist change management or project management support.

Temporary Gaps in Skill / Knowledge

If you have a capable HR team but they lack experience in managing a redundancy programme, you may need to bring in someone to support them while they learn. This approach safeguards your project while allowing your team to upskill.

A Limited Budget

You might not have the budget for full-time support. Fractional project support allows you to bring in additional resources without the need for recruitment.

No Time to Recruit

If your project needs to be delivered ASAP, you may not have time to recruit. Having a fractional project manager on your preferred supplier list means you can engage them when needed.

Conclusion

Building relationships with fractional HR suppliers and contractors is a powerful strategy. Being prepared for when you might need them is essential. You may not have a project today, but when you do, you don’t want to waste time searching for someone.

By establishing these relationships in advance, you enhance your team's agility to deliver demanding projects within tight timelines. It’s a different approach to thinking about your HR resourcing. If this concept interests you, get in touch. We’d love to explore how a fractional approach to your projects, change management, and training could benefit you.

(c) Snow Limits Consulting Limited

The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this blog are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this blog. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this blog. Snow Limits Consulting Limited disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this blog.