Fractional Employment: The New Big Thing in the Brussels Bubble?

The EU Bubble has historically seen limited uptake of interim or fractional employment models. This dynamic has been driven by both candidate expectations, and the preference of hiring organisations to ensure continuity and account for the specificity of the market. This is beginning to change, however, with the two models gaining increased traction on  both sides of the employment discussion, as organisations and senior professionals alike adapt to new realities in leadership and workforce management.

While hiring for interim roles is a fairly well-known practice, even if not traditionally used beyond highly specialized needs or specific cases, fractional employment could be understood as a kind of remodeled part-time arrangement that focuses on senior positions with well-defined scopes. And while interim roles are usually short-term and time-limited, fractional employment tends to be a longer-term engagement, without demanding an all-or-nothing commitment from a senior leader that may not want or need to be engaged on a full-time basis.

Part of this change is driven by the leaders themselves. A new generation is increasingly steering organisations in Brussels and, unlike many of their predecessors, they do not necessarily envision leading the same organisation until retirement. While much has been made of the trend away from single-employer careers from the perspective of each new generation entering the workforce, the reality is that some of those generations have already hit senior positions. What we see in practice is that market evolutions often defy such strict categorizations, and one result is that leadership transitions and moves across sectors have become more frequent, reflecting broader European trends where executives increasingly seek meaningful, flexible roles rather than linear, lifelong careers.

From the employer side, this option can be particularly attractive for NGOs and smaller associations that may not have the resources to hire full-time senior executives, but still require high-level expertise. Equally, it could serve corporates that, due to dynamic shifts in the policy and regulatory landscape, need to step up their game on a specific topic without necessarily having a need for a full-time employee. Consultancy firms are, to some extent, serving their clients in that space but fractional employment with organisations contracting senior professionals directly is on the rise internationally.

Fractional employment offers several advantages to both the organisations and the senior leaders:

• Organisations access senior corporate experience at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.
• The model facilitates cross-sectorial knowledge sharing, and helps organisations innovate by bringing on board senior-level expertise that can offer out-of-the-box perspective.
• Senior leaders maintain flexibility, contribute to causes they care about, and receive compensation aligned with their expertise and seniority.
• The model supports longer-term engagement and continuity, which is often lacking in traditional interim assignments.

The ongoing professionalisation in the EU Bubble has also shifted recruitment priorities. Organisations now place greater emphasis on leadership, soft skills, and organizational and management expertise, rather than focusing solely on technical or topical knowledge. This nuanced approach to hiring makes the recruitment process more complex and increases the demand for experienced, adaptable leaders. At the same time, it shifts the typical prospects for a career evolution in the EU Bubble: with less emphasis on specific technical knowledge, which often entails looking “in” and “down” for those with extensive track records in the field, it allows organisations to look “out” for particular leadership competences that can be fostered in a wider array of past positions and roles. This greater flexibility for organisations in turn offers the prospective leaders themselves more dynamic options to move across sectors and reach leadership roles earlier in their career.

This is to say nothing of the broader macro-economic conditions that both the candidates and the employers must operate in, which have also contributed to (re)shaping these trends in increasingly visible ways. This is particularly true in the case of interim recruitments, as the continuously accelerating pace of change in the professional world leaves little room for organisations to allow leadership gaps. Embracing a model in which a tried-and-tested professional can step in temporarily to fill a role can be an attractive solution that provides immediate peace of mind and helps hold that accelerating pace of change at bay somewhat, and as recruiters we see it gaining traction. Organisations are increasingly open to engaging interim leaders either through public affairs consultancies or by hiring experienced professionals directly for short-term assignments when going through a leadership change process.

At Mavence, we are observing growing interest among our network of senior leaders in providing fractional support. This allows them to balance professional impact with personal flexibility, while organisations benefit from targeted, high-level guidance.

While the EU Bubble market still lags in adopting fractional models, the momentum is clear. As organisations continue to professionalise and seek agility in leadership, and senior professionals look for deeper meaning and more value driven work, will fractional and interim employment options become integral components of the EU Bubble’s evolving talent landscape?

If you would like to discuss this in greater detail, are interested in fractional employment or would like to know how we could support you in accessing senior talent available for such collaboration, let me know!