Analysis: The rise of fractional work has seen highly skilled workers allocating time and expertise across multiple clients
A new work model is transforming the traditional nine-to-five schedule and enabling companies to access top-tier, experienced talent on a need-based basis. Fractional work involves supplying strategic and operational support on a part-time or flexible basis. Unlike consultancy roles, these positions often involve deep integration within the company.
In practice, fractional employment often involves highly skilled experts who allocate their time and expertise across multiple clients, enabling organisations to access specialised capabilities at significantly lower cost while still benefiting from meaningful, embedded support.
What's driving the rise of fractional employment?
A convergence of economic and workforce pressures is accelerating this trend. Budget pressures are reshaping how organisations approach senior talent. Economic uncertainty, tighter funding, and rising salary expectations make full-time executive hires increasingly difficult to justify, particularly in smaller firms.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Petula Martyn on how the pandemic changed the way we work
This dynamic is especially pronounced in start-ups and early-stage companies, which often need high-level strategic guidance to define strategic direction and foster growth. However, they lack the financial resources to bring on full-time executives. Fractional employment offers a solution by providing access to experienced executives at a lower cost, with scalable support that can adapt to their needs.
Remote working habits and digital tools
The broad acceptance of remote work has made fractional arrangements more feasible than ever. Geographic limits no longer apply, enabling professionals to assist multiple organisations simultaneously without the logistical constraints that previously limited part-time specialist or executive roles. This shift has normalised distributed teams and reduced the expectation that senior leaders must be physically present to be effective, again opening the doors for companies to integrate external experts into their operations with minimal disruption.
Furthermore, digital collaboration tools and online communication have become embedded in everyday workflows. Such technological advancements have made it far easier for fractional professionals to contribute meaningfully, maintain visibility, and coordinate across multiple clients simultaneously. We now have a labour environment in which multi-client work is possible, efficient, and increasingly widely accepted.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Brainstorm, how coffee badging became a new workplace trend
Such structural shifts in the labour market align with the rise of portfolio careers, in which skilled professionals intentionally diversify their work across clients or projects. Driven by a desire for autonomy, variety and workload control, many senior experts now favour fractional roles over conventional full-time positions. The increasing availability of experienced talent seeking flexible options further drives the adoption of this model.
Deloitte reports that 57 million workers are now part of the gig economy in the US, representing 36% of the workforce, and this share is projected to grow. By 2027, this alternative workforce is anticipated to make up the majority of the US labour force.
This shift reflects the pressures and preferences transforming modern work. Smaller companies are adopting fractional roles to cut costs, remote-friendly tools reduce the need for on-site staff, and experienced professionals favour portfolio careers that allow them to work with multiple clients. These factors collectively explain why alternative work models, such as fractional employment, are gaining momentum rather than slowing.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Brainstorm. are 'quiet redundancies' happening in your workplace?
Generational differences
In her examination of the growing prevalence of fractional employment, business strategist Kelly Bubolz highlights how generational differences influence workers' engagement with this model. Boomers often take on fractional roles as a gradual step towards retirement, leveraging their extensive and specialised skills. This approach helps them stay mentally engaged, work flexibly from any location and continue to provide high-value expertise without the full-time commitment.
Gen X, situated between the traditional and digital generations, serves as a bridge by applying the experience gained from Boomers while demonstrating technological fluency. They interpret expectations for younger generations, making them well-suited for fractional roles that demand strategic thinking and adaptability. Millennials and Gen Z see fractional work as a natural outcome of their digital upbringing and desire for autonomy, seeking arrangements that enable them to work more efficiently and retain greater control over how and where they contribute.
The downside of fractional work
While fractional employment is appealing, it also presents challenges that both workers and organisations must navigate carefully. Fractional workers may often juggle overlapping priorities and timelines across several clients. Without clear expectations and disciplined workflow management, tasks can collide or stall. This coordination burden can undermine the efficiency that fractional roles promise, especially when clients expect immediate availability.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Radio 1's Today, will the four day work week work in Ireland?
What about well-being? While fractional roles provide flexibility, this freedom can diminish if boundaries aren't clearly established. Fractional workers may feel pressured to respond to multiple clients at once, leading to fragmented schedules and gradual overwork. Without intentional limits on their availability and workload, the autonomy associated with fractional work can become overwhelming and unsustainable.
Unlike freelancers, fractional workers are integrated into the team. However, working across multiple organisations at once makes it more difficult to fully understand each company's culture, norms, and informal networks. This can hinder their ability to build trust or influence decisions, especially if they are not fully integrated. Such challenges may reduce their effectiveness and generate tension if teams expect them to be seamlessly integrated from the start.
While fractional employment is appealing, it also presents challenges that both workers and organisations must navigate carefully
Finally, fractional employment is not an entry-level route. It depends significantly on credibility. Workers must have a proven track record, a specific area of expertise, and a robust professional network capable of providing referrals. Without these, securing steady fractional engagements can be challenging.
Fractional employment reshapes careers and talent access, but its long-term effects depend on how workers and employers adapt to opportunities and challenges. As this model grows, the key question is: where do you see yourself in this evolving work landscape?
Follow RTÉ Brainstorm on WhatsApp and Instagram for more stories and updates
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
