Fractional leadership helping SMEs hire senior staff without risk
The Liberti Club’s ‘Stronger Together’ report shows Fractional leadership is helping small to medium enterprises (SMEs) hire senior staff with less risk, say leading audit, tax and business advisory firm, Blick Rothenberg.
Malli Kini, a partner at the firm, said: “The Liberti Club’s ‘Stronger Together’ report shows that Fractional leadership, where experienced C-suite directors work inside a business on a part-time basis rather than as consultants, is enabling SMEs to access the strategic finance, marketing, HR and sales capability they need without the cost and risk of a bad senior hire.”
He added: “The report estimates a bad hire at mid-manager level with a salary of £42,000 can cost a business over £132,00 when the expense of recruitment, training, onboarding and wasted salary is added.”
Malli said: “Case studies in the report show businesses achieving 100% revenue growth, preparing successfully for exit, and cutting recruitment costs by 35% ; all through fractional directors working as part of a joined-up team alongside advisory partners.”
He added: “Fractional leadership is increasingly popular with the report showing that over 142,000 senior executives describing themselves as fractional on LinkedIn in January 2025 (compared to just 2,000 in 2022).”
Malli said: “The report is a practical guide to one of the major shifts in how growing businesses build their leadership teams. For any founder or CEO navigating growth, it’s a compelling blueprint for how to build the right leadership team at the right time.”
He added: “The Liberti Club, which Blick Rothenberg has recently joined, gives members access to a curated year-round programme of regional events, regular business insights and a connected network of experts.”
Malli said: “For Blick Rothenberg, joining Liberti Club is about being part of the fast growth ecosystem in the UK rather than just sitting alongside it. The Club brings us closer to founder‑led and investor‑backed businesses at the point where leadership, structure and value really matter, and allows us to contribute practical insight alongside experienced fractional executives. It’s a platform for collaboration, knowledge exchange and high‑quality conversations with ambitious businesses and fits exactly with our mission to help clients scale sustainably and maximise value.”