WA companies are turning to part-time executives to manage risk and drive growth in the post-pandemic economy.
Businesses are increasingly embracing a new form of executive leadership that involves experienced professionals working part-time across multiple organisations.
It’s an operating model that has become known as fractional leadership.
Once confined to areas such as marketing, the practice is expanding across the C-suite, with fractional chief financial, technology and legal officers becoming increasingly common in industries from banking to tech.
For small and medium-sized enterprises, a fractional approach provides access to high-level expertise without the need to pay a full-time salary.
The appeal cuts both ways, with executives saying the opportunity to work across multiple businesses gives them flexibility and autonomy: an attractive mix in the post-pandemic economy.
“There’s been a real shift in what professionals are looking for in their careers,” said Sara Daw, global chief executive and co-founder of the CFO Centre, which introduced the fractional model to Perth.
“Many of our CFOs wanted freedom, variety and control in their working lives, and there were all these SMEs that needed their skills but couldn’t afford a full-timer.”
Founded in the UK, the CFO Centre opened its Perth office in 2009, before the term ‘fractional’ was used.
Former British Airways CFO and now head of WA Leaders, Rupen Kotecha, helped bring the model to WA.
“The whole concept of having a fractional CFO for a small and mid-tier business was foreign, because they thought that was for big businesses, that they couldn’t afford it,” Mr Kotecha told Business News.
“But when they realise you only pay for a day a week, or a day a month, then it becomes clear it’s an affordable way to access the capability of a seasoned and experienced leader, just for the little time you need.
“It’s a simple concept, but it meets a real need.”
That need has only grown. According to Mr Kotecha, fractional executives are increasingly helping to bridge the so-called ‘economic desert’ by supporting businesses that have outgrown the startup phase but aren’t big enough to justify a full-time leadership hire.
“These businesses don’t know what they don’t know,” he said.
“A fractional leader can help them see around corners it’s bringing the gig economy to the C-suite.”
The CFO Centre has 11 fractional CFOs on its books servicing 20 clients in WA.
For executives such as Lee Goldsworthy, a Perth-based CTO, the move into fractional leadership was driven partly by lifestyle and partly by demand.
“I work with between four and six clients in any given month,” Mr Goldsworthy said.
“It gives me a lot of variety and I get to work on really interesting problems.
“But it also lets me prioritise my family, which wasn’t always possible in a traditional executive role.”
Mr Goldsworthy said there was more of a push than a pull for executives looking to enter the fractional leadership space.
“Fractional seems to be a response to the traditional executive role not meeting their life goals,” he said.
“They’re hunting for change, and that’s causing them to look outside the traditional C-suite model.”
But he also stressed the need for leaders to be aware of the challenges moving into the part-time space.
“Some fractionals will have months where they earn nothing, and they’ll have other months where they earn $40,000,” Mr Goldsworthy said.
“The goal is to smooth it out. Roller coasters are great if you’re at a theme park, but they’re not fun if it’s your career path.”
Mr Goldsworthy is one of the leaders listed in The Fractional Directory, an online database launched in Perth in June to help more companies connect with fractional leaders.
Originally launched in New Zealand and Singapore, the decision to bring the directory to Perth, rather than Melbourne or Sydney, reflected the nascent fractional market in WA.
“In the larger cities, the definition is very muddied,” said Michelle Allbon, who co-founded the platform.
“It’s a lot of consultants or executives who are yet to pick a lane. We deliberately went to a less-mature market because we want leaders who are distinct from the outset.”
While some might equate fractional leaders with traditional consultants, insiders say the roles differ in both function and mindset.
“While a consultant can bump in and bump out, fractional is about being embedded in a business; being part of the leadership team,” Ms Allbon said.
Looking back to where it all began, The Fractional Directory co-founder Julia Bowen said the idea began with two mothers looking to start a business.
“We both had kids, we wanted flexibility and we had years of leadership experience between us,” Ms Bowen told Business News.
“It made sense to work fractionally, but there was no central place to connect with businesses or other leaders. That’s what we set out to build.”
Within six weeks of launching in WA, the platform signed up 75 leaders and was fielding more than 200 search enquiries from businesses seeking fractional support across finance, tech, legal and strategy.
Kat Dunn, a Perth-based executive and founder of medtech startup Talk2View, is one of the leaders in the Perth database.
Ms Dunn said she unknowingly worked fractionally for years before the model was formalised. “I was doing strategic projects across a few companies, but I never really labelled it,” she said. “When I launched my startup, I
realised I could bring on a fractional chief legal officer; someone senior who knew how to navigate early
stage risks but didn’t need to be full-time.”
Ms Dunn said the experience opened her eyes to the flexibility and precision fractional leadership offered.
“It’s a smart way to de-risk a startup,” she said.
“You get the expertise when you need it, without overcapitalising in the early stages.”
The rise of fractional leadership reflects a broader reimagining of the working world.
Technological change, cost pressures and a reassessment of career goals post-pandemic are all driving professionals to rethink how, and where, they lead.
“I see it as part of the unbundling of traditional job roles,” the CFO Centre’s Sara Daw said.
“Businesses are less focused on positions and more focused on problems. They want people who can solve those problems, even if it’s just for a few days a week.”
Whether fractional leadership becomes a long-term fixture or remains a post-pandemic adjustment is still playing out.
But for now, it seems the full-time executive is no longer the only model on offer.
As Ms Bowen put it: “Fractional leadership isn’t just creating jobs; it’s reshaping the way we work.”
