The real cost of a full-time executive (it's not just salary)
The headline salary is only part of what a senior hire actually costs. Here's the full picture — and why fractional often wins.
When businesses compare a full-time executive to a fractional one, they usually compare the salary. But salary is only the visible part of the cost.
A full-time director earning, say, £100,000 actually costs considerably more once you add employer's National Insurance, pension contributions, bonus, benefits, equipment, and the recruitment fee to hire them (often 20-30% of salary). Then there's the biggest hidden cost of all: the risk of a wrong hire, which can run to six figures in wasted salary and lost momentum.
And a full-time salary is a fixed cost. You pay it whether this month needs twenty days of that person's time or two. For many growing businesses, the honest answer is that they need senior expertise some of the time, not all of it.
A fractional arrangement flips this. You pay for the days you use, at an agreed rate, with no on-costs, no recruitment fee, and no long-term commitment. If your needs change, you scale up, down or stop.
That's why the comparison isn't 'cheaper person' versus 'better person' — it's the same seniority, sized to what you actually need. For the right situation, fractional isn't the budget option; it's the smart one.
Executive-level expertise without executive-level overhead.
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