What is Fractional Human Resources?

Experienced HR leadership when your business needs it — without needing a full-time HR executive. 

 Many growing businesses reach a point where their people challenges require experienced Human Resources leadership, but they may not need — or be ready to hire — a full-time HR Director.

That’s where Fractional HR can help.

As a fractional Human Resources consultant, Mercury HR provides ongoing, experienced HR leadership on a flexible basis. I can work with your business for a set number of hours each week or month, work onsite when needed, and serve as a trusted HR resource for owners, executives, managers and employees.

Fractional HR is more than simply handling HR administration. The goal is to help your company build the people practices, management systems and organizational structure it needs to operate effectively today and grow successfully tomorrow.

Depending on the needs of your business, fractional HR support may include:

• HR strategy and organizational planning — making sure your people, roles and structure support where the business is going.
• Employee relations and difficult employee situations — helping leaders work through performance problems, complaints, conflict and situations where the right next step isn't obvious.
• Manager coaching and development — giving managers an experienced HR sounding board and helping them become more effective leaders.
• Performance management — creating clear expectations, improving accountability and helping managers address both what employees accomplish and how they accomplish it.
• Job descriptions and organizational structure — defining roles, responsibilities and reporting relationships as the company changes and grows.
• Policies, handbooks and HR practices — reviewing and updating HR policies so they remain practical, compliant and appropriate for the business.
• Recruiting, retention and succession planning — helping the company find good people, keep the right people and prepare for important employee transitions.
• HR support for owners and executives — providing a trusted, experienced perspective when a business leader needs someone to talk through a people decision before acting.
• Employee onboarding and offboarding — preparing for a new employee's first day, helping new hires get started successfully, being available as the company's HR representative, and professionally managing employee departures.

Fractional HR can be especially valuable for a growing company that has no dedicated HR professional, has an HR coordinator who needs strategic support, recently lost an HR leader, or simply has more complex people issues than its current team has the time or experience to manage.

The objective is not to add HR bureaucracy.

It is to solve people problems, strengthen managers, build better systems and allow business leaders to get back to focusing on what the company does best.