As organisations move through 2026, many leadership teams are reassessing long-held assumptions about how work gets done and how capability is accessed. What once felt like a straightforward decision, hiring permanently as the business grows, is proving far less clear-cut.

Permanent hiring is no longer the default solution it once was. Rising employment costs, longer hiring timelines, increasing regulatory complexity, and heightened scrutiny from investors and boards are forcing businesses to think differently about how they access skilled resource.

Rather than asking “Who should we hire?”, more organisations are now asking a broader, more strategic question:

“What mix of capability do we need to execute our plans, and how should it be resourced?”

This shift is placing fractional support alongside employed roles and contractors as a core component of modern workforce strategy.

The Forces Reshaping Leadership and Hiring Decisions

Several structural pressures are converging, changing how organisations think about resourcing across finance, HR, and operational functions.

➡️ Hiring timelines have lengthened significantly.

Skilled roles routinely take months to fill, particularly where experience, sector knowledge, and leadership capability are non-negotiable. For many businesses, the cost of waiting is becoming as material as the cost of hiring itself.

➡️ Employment costs extend far beyond salary.

Employer taxes, benefits, recruitment fees, onboarding, systems, and internal management overhead mean the true cost of a hire is often materially higher than anticipated. These costs are fixed from day one, regardless of how quickly the role delivers value.

➡️ Operational complexity continues to increase.

Finance and HR functions are carrying more responsibility than ever. Reporting, compliance, workforce strategy, governance, and stakeholder management have all expanded significantly, increasing the overall burden on teams. In many organisations, this growth in expectation has outpaced internal capacity.

➡️ Leadership bandwidth is under pressure.

Existing leadership teams are being asked to do more with less, often making strategic decisions reactively while managing stretched teams and incomplete information.

These are not short-term market fluctuations. They reflect a more permanent shift in the operating environment businesses are having to navigate in 2026.

Why the Traditional “Hire-First” Model Is Under Strain

Permanent hiring still has a place. But for many organisations, treating it as the default response to every capability gap is introducing unnecessary risk.

Hiring permanently assumes a level of certainty around growth, workload, and organisational structure that many businesses simply do not have. Locking in cost before requirements are fully defined can limit flexibility and slow decision-making later in the year.

As a result, many organisations are moving away from single-model thinking and towards a blended workforce approach. In practice, this often includes a mix of:

Permanent employees

Used for core, long-term roles where continuity, cultural integration, and sustained ownership are essential. Best suited to stable workloads and clearly defined responsibilities.

Fractional support

Provides senior capability, oversight, and specialist expertise on a flexible basis. Ideal where experience and judgement are required without full-time capacity, or where needs evolve over time.

Outsourced services

Applied where scale, consistency, and efficiency matter more than internal ownership. Commonly used for repeatable, process-driven activities that benefit from standardisation.

Contractors and interim resources

Brought in for delivery-focused or time-bound work, often to address short-term gaps, specific projects, or temporary increases in workload.

Fractional support sits uniquely within this mix. It allows organisations to access experienced Finance and HR capability without committing to full-time headcount, while retaining flexibility as priorities evolve. In practice, it has become a core mechanism for accessing senior leadership, bridging capability gaps, and sustaining delivery when speed, judgement, and flexibility matter most.

Where Fractional Support Delivers the Most Value

Fractional support is most effective where organisations require senior judgement, leadership, and control, but where full-time headcount would introduce unnecessary cost, risk, or rigidity.

It is commonly used when:

The business is scaling, restructuring, or navigating change

Senior Finance or HR leadership is needed to guide decisions, stabilise delivery, and set direction, without committing to permanent structure too early.

Governance and compliance demands have outgrown internal capacity

Oversight of reporting, risk, and regulatory obligations is required, but building large in-house teams is neither efficient nor proportionate.

Permanent hiring is under review or delayed

Fractional leadership maintains momentum and decision quality while longer-term hiring plans are assessed or redefined.

The organisation is expanding internationally or operating across jurisdictions

Local expertise is required to manage complexity, compliance, and execution, before headcount is justified or fully proven.

In these scenarios, fractional support enables progress with control. It allows organisations to move forward, test assumptions, and maintain leadership coverage without locking in long-term cost or limiting future options.

Why This Shift Is Accelerating in 2026

What makes 2026 different is not cost pressure alone. It is the impact of getting resourcing decisions wrong.

Leadership teams are operating in an environment of sustained scrutiny from boards, investors, regulators, and employees. Decisions about structure and senior capability are no longer easily reversible. Early choices are shaping risk exposure, pace of execution, and resilience across the year.

At the same time, uncertainty remains high. Growth trajectories are uneven, compliance demands continue to expand, and hiring mistakes carry greater financial and operational consequence than they did even a few years ago.

Fractional support fits this reality. It allows organisations to access senior judgement and leadership without committing to permanent structures before requirements are fully proven. It enables progress while preserving flexibility, and it reduces the cost of changing course if priorities shift.

As a result, fractional is no longer viewed as a temporary workaround. In 2026, it is increasingly treated as a deliberate design choice within modern workforce strategy.

The Question Business Leaders Are Now Asking

For many organisations, the hiring conversation has fundamentally changed.

The question is no longer “Who should we hire next?”

It is “What capability do we need, and what is the most effective way to access it without increasing risk?”

Fractional support provides a practical answer. It allows leadership teams to secure senior capability early, maintain momentum, and retain flexibility as priorities evolve.

How Briars Supports Fractional Operating Models

At Briars, we support organisations in designing and delivering fractional Finance and HR models that align with their structure, growth ambitions, and risk profile.

Our approach combines:

Experienced, hands-on Finance and HR leaders

Practitioners who have operated at senior level and understand real-world decision-making, not just theory.

Flexible delivery models

Support that scales with the business, increasing or reducing as priorities evolve.

Integrated capability across Finance, HR, Payroll, and compliance

Ensuring continuity, governance, and depth beyond a single individual.

Clear structure and oversight

Practical guidance on scope, sequencing, governance, and execution so fractional support delivers measurable value.

This ensures fractional support is implemented as part of a coherent workforce operating model, not as a short-term workaround.

As organisations move through 2026, the focus is shifting from hiring faster to designing smarter workforce strategies. Fractional support, done properly, is becoming a core part of that design.

Considering fractional support as part of your workforce strategy?

We help organisations determine where fractional, permanent, or blended models make the most commercial sense.

Speak to Briars to assess whether fractional support is right for your business.

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