Cost: day rate and services contract
Interim and Fractional run on a day-rate basis. The day rate depends on responsibility, term and travel share and is named on the first call, not on the website, because a flat figure would be too low for a complex mandate and needlessly high for a simple one. What the website gives you instead is the logic: what to compare the day rate with, what comes on top, and what a provider in between costs.
What an Interim HR Manager Costs
How the day rate is built, compared with a permanent hire and a provider. Read the page
What Fractional HR Costs
A day-rate basis counted on one or two days, compared with a part-time permanent hire. Read the page
What AI in HR costs
Licence, rollout, works council agreement: the three building blocks. Read the page
Models: interim, Fractional, permanent hire, provider
Four ways to bring HR leadership into the company, and none of them is right for everyone. Interim is full-time for a vacancy or a change programme. Fractional is one or two fixed days for an ongoing need without full-time volume. A permanent hire is the right route when the need is permanent and predictable and you want to develop a person. A provider makes sense when you want to compare several candidates side by side and accept the margin for it.
The comparisons: Interim, Fractional, or a Permanent Hire and Interim HR Manager or Provider.
Process and start
Between the first call and the first working day, interim mandates and projects usually take two weeks, Fractional models four. The first call takes 30 minutes, the proposal is one page, and the service agreement covers scope, term, volume and confidentiality. The first four weeks are a mutual trial phase. How the call runs and what to know beforehand: Free consultation. For international subsidiaries, the call usually includes a second person from headquarters, and that is welcome. The questions from HQ are typically about budget lines and reporting, and both are settled on the call.
Legal and contract
Fractional HR is not bogus self-employment (Scheinselbständigkeit, the German term for a contractor who is in substance an employee) as long as contract and lived practice meet certain criteria: several clients, freedom from direction in how the work is done, own equipment, a day rate instead of a monthly salary, no integration the way an employee is integrated. The twelve checkpoints you can review yourself, and what a status determination by the German Pension Insurance gives you: Fractional HR and Employment Status.
Roles among others Roles in corporate groups, mid-sized companies and scale-ups. More about me
All questions
What does an Interim HR Manager cost?
A day rate that depends on responsibility and term and is named on the first call, so you can compare it with the salary of a permanent hire plus recruiting costs. What an Interim HR Manager costs
What does Fractional HR cost?
A day-rate basis as with interim, counted on one or two fixed days a week. What Fractional HR costs
Interim, Fractional or a permanent hire: which fits us?
It depends on the duration and volume of the need. The comparison: Interim, Fractional or a permanent hire
Why directly with you instead of through an interim provider?
No markup, no intermediary, direct contact. In return, no candidate pool to compare. Interim HR Manager or provider
Is Fractional HR bogus self-employment under German law?
Not if contract and working relationship are set up properly. The twelve checkpoints: Fractional HR and employment status
How fast can a mandate start?
After the engagement, usually within two weeks. For Fractional models, four. Details per role on the first call.
Is there a minimum term?
Interim mandates from three months, up to eighteen. Fractional from three months with an open end and four weeks' notice. Projects have a fixed scope, the project sprint half a day.
What happens in the first four weeks if it does not fit?
The first four weeks are a mutual trial phase with a short notice period. After that the agreed notice periods apply. An orderly handover is part of the engagement in every case.
Are there costs beyond the day rate?
Travel expenses outside the Rhine-Main region, where agreed. No placement fees, no set-up charges, no software you would have to buy on top.
Do you work remotely or on site?
Both. In the Rhine-Main region regularly on site, in the major German cities hybrid with fixed presence days, across the rest of the DACH region remotely. The regional pages show what that looks like per location.
Which company size fits?
50 to 500 employees. Below that, a project sprint or a single Fractional day is usually enough. Above that, corporate interim managers with a different profile are the better fit.
Do I speak with you or with a sales team?
With me. Nick's Advisory is a sole proprietorship. There is no sales team and no pre-screening.