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part-time executive recruitment

Hire a Part-Time CHRO

Hire a Part-Time CHRO: create a continuing employed people-leadership seat with fewer hours and a clear route for decisions outside those hours.

Brief us on this role →
CHRO briefChoose a part of the brief

Part 01 / 04

Continuing seat

Define the employed CHRO responsibilities, reporting line and people team.

Hire a Part-Time CHRO: what must the role own?

Define the employed CHRO responsibilities, reporting line and people team.

Continuing seatDefine the employed CHRO responsibilities, reporting line and people team.
HoursAgree the working pattern and place recurring executive decisions within it where possible.
AuthorityState which people decisions the employee owns and which need CEO or board approval.
CoverName who handles employee issues that cannot wait for the next working day.

Role reference: Acas guidance on part-time workers. Acas explains the reduced-hours employment pattern and protection from less favourable treatment. The brief must state what happens outside the agreed working hours.

What changes when the CHRO is part-time?

Part-time describes the employee’s working hours. The CHRO still owns an ongoing people remit, and the company must make authority, access and cover workable across the reduced schedule.

part-timeChoose a part of the brief

Part 01 / 04

Employment

Define the employed part-time role and its continuing responsibilities.

How would this work in a real brief?

The hiring decision becomes clearer when the work and its boundary are written down together.

Illustrative brief · an organisation with a steady reduced-hours people leadership need

An HR operations team can manage daily work, while the organisation needs a continuing CHRO to own its people plan and advise the executive team on set days.

The employed part-time CHRO leads scheduled people-plan decisions and the organisation’s continuing people leadership remit.

The appointment owns

The employed part-time CHRO leads scheduled people-plan decisions and the organisation’s continuing people leadership remit.

Another owner retains

HR operations handles day-to-day casework; a named executive handles urgent escalations outside the CHRO’s hours.

How should you assess CHRO candidates?

Put the same work and evidence in front of each candidate before comparing answers.

The evidenceChoose a part of the brief

Part 01 / 04

Schedule

Ask how the candidate would arrange executive, manager and employee decisions within the proposed hours.

Acas recommends a consistent, fair selection process: choosing who to interview.

Does this hiring pattern fit the work?

Test the amount of the week, the expected end and the continuity needed before writing the contract.

How much of the week does the work fill?
Is this a defined assignment with an end?
For a continuing part-week role, is this an employee?

The working pattern · part-time

A part-time CHRO

An employee holds a continuing seat for fewer hours. Agree the schedule, employment terms and cover outside working hours.

Read the part-time CHRO hiring brief →

What must happen before the CHRO starts?

Agree contracted hours, terms, reporting line and continuing responsibilities.

A clear startChoose a part of the brief

Part 01 / 04

Employment

Agree contracted hours, terms, reporting line and continuing responsibilities.
  1. 1

    Employment

    Agree contracted hours, terms, reporting line and continuing responsibilities.

  2. 2

    Calendar

    Place essential leadership and people reviews in the agreed pattern.

  3. 3

    Cover

    Introduce the named owner of urgent matters outside the CHRO’s hours.

  4. 4

    Review

    Check whether decisions are reaching the right person at the right time.

A useful CHRO brief names the decision, the working pattern and the evidence before it names a candidate.

What should the brief say?

Hire a Part-Time CHRO begins with continuing seat, a stated working pattern and the evidence you will ask every candidate to show.

15 minutes · video or phone

Brief us on a CHRO

Tell us what the role must own, how it will work and when it must start.

  1. 01A brief built around the decisions and working pattern.
  2. 02A shortlist of 3–5 with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
  3. 03Five-stage vetting before a candidate reaches you.
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  1. A shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position
  2. Fractional, interim, part-time, temporary or permanent — and non-executive directors
  3. Every candidate through our five-stage vetting
  4. Your briefs and their candidates, in one room
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