Best practices for headcount planning

Effective headcount planning is critical for SaaS success. It ensures that companies can manage costs effectively, acquire the right talent, and align their staff and workforce with strategic goals. Proper headcount planning allows organizations to anticipate future needs, avoid overstaffing or understaffing, and remain competitive. 

‍However, the future holds challenges. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported modest wage increases and benefit costs in Q4 2024, and experts predict these costs will continue to rise. The available labor pool will likely shrink as the economy recovers, making talent acquisition more challenging. A multidisciplinary approach to headcount planning offers a comprehensive view of goals and allows for quick strategy adjustments if costs rise, needs change, or talent becomes scarce.

‍This article aims to provide an overview of best practices for workforce planning, explaining the importance of aligning HR and finance functions to ensure optimal workforce management. It offers actionable advice to help you implement these practices effectively.

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What is headcount planning?

Definition

Headcount planning involves analyzing your company’s current staffing levels and anticipating and planning for future needs. It impacts recruitment, employee promotion, retention and turnover policies, and training and development programs. Ultimately, workforce planning is about achieving the company's strategic objectives, meeting its tactical needs, and increasing productivity.

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Like any other planning process, strategic workforce planning has both short- and long-term implications. A short-term goal might be to hire enough employees to increase production in the next quarter, for example, so that the company can meet orders during a seasonal peak. HR managers should also monitor longer-term dynamics, such as a new set of generational needs.

📌 What's the difference between headcount planning and workforce planning?

Workforce planning encompasses the broader assessment of current and future human resource needs aligned with strategic goals. In contrast, headcount planning focuses explicitly on optimizing the number and deployment of personnel within budgetary constraints.

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Key stakeholders

Strategic workforce planning encompasses everything related to HR within the company. That said, it is necessarily a collaborative function. In other words, HR managers must work closely with other business units to ensure that plans meet the needs of all stakeholders.

Primary stakeholders in headcount planning include:

1. Human resources: Focus on talent acquisition, retention, and development.
2. Executive leadership and board of directors: Provide strategic direction, approve major initiatives, and ensure alignment with the company’s long-term goals.
3. Finance teams and departments: Ensure workforce plans align with budgetary constraints and financial forecasts.
4. Department managers: Provide insights into specific departmental needs and collaborate on planning.

For example, in optimizing administrative and clerical functions within a Primary Care Cluster, leaders collaborated with key stakeholders to develop a workforce plan. They assessed stakeholder influence (see table below) and adjusted the planning group accordingly.

A communication plan was implemented to ensure continuous engagement. This collaboration among HR, Finance, executive leadership, and department managers led to effective headcount planning aligned with organizational goals.

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Best Practices for Headcount Planning

Data-driven insights

As advocated by Varun Garg, an experienced technology leader and strategic advisor, the shift from traditional, intuition-based approaches to utilizing data-driven methodologies to optimize workforce strategies is crucial in today's fast SaaS ecosystem.

Here are actionable ways to transform workforce planning using data-driven insights:

1. Predictive analytics for forecasting: Use predictive analytics to forecast future workforce needs by analyzing historical data on turnover, skills, and performance trends.
   
   
2. Implement training programs for skills gaps: Data analysis helps identify skills gaps within the workforce. By pinpointing areas where skills are lacking, you can develop targeted training and development initiatives to enhance workforce competitiveness.
   
   
3. Employee performance metrics: Analyzing employee performance metrics provides valuable insights into top performers' skills and qualities. This data-driven approach aids in identifying talent trends and devising focused strategies for employee retention, engagement, and career development.
   
   
4. Workforce segmentation: Segmenting the workforce based on demographic characteristics, job roles, and other criteria allows to tailor retention, engagement, and development strategies. This segmentation ensures that initiatives are relevant and impactful for diverse employee groups.
   
   
5. Informed workforce decision-making: Leveraging data to inform strategic decisions will help optimize workforce planning by aligning talent deployment with organizational priorities and adapting strategies in response to market dynamics.

As Tony DiRomualdo, Senior Research Director at The Hackett Group, and Franco Girimonte, Principal, HR Transformation at The Hackett Group, put it, leveraging data for headcount planning is really important. 

They explain how successful mature companies are equipped with:

1. Robust technology systems that generate substantial data.
2. Strong data governance.
3. An analytics team and tool stack proficient in deriving actionable insights. 

These insights are crucial for understanding talent requirements and informing strategic decisions within the business. 

Furthermore, these companies employ sophisticated analytics capabilities, including what-if scenarios and their implications, which enable them to provide valuable insights to business partners. This approach fosters collaboration across teams and ensures stakeholders have access to a unified source of data, empowering them to confidently use scenarios, models, and insights throughout the planning process.

Finally, advanced HR systems and technology help streamline the headcount planning process. In fact, these tools enhance efficiency and accuracy, as they make it easier to manage workforce data and projections. Furthermore, automation will significantly reduce manual errors and streamline the planning process. 

📌 TL;DR: Adopting data-driven methodologies transforms workforce planning by enabling informed decisions, identifying talent trends, and optimizing strategies. Successful companies use advanced technology and analytics for strategic headcount planning, improving efficiency and collaboration through sophisticated HR systems and automation.

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Align HR and finance goals

Aligning HR and finance goals ensures that workforce strategies are financially viable and operationally sound. 

Given that total compensation packages for employees account for roughly 70% of a company’s annual budget, close collaboration between HR and finance teams is essential to balance the headcount with the company's financial health. HR refines the budget set by finance by allocating headcount based on detailed insights into workforce dynamics and costs, considering factors like historical turnover trends and recruiting expenses.

Once the budget is set, continuous monitoring by both stakeholders is essential to ensure that adjustments can be made to stay aligned with financial projections. Access to current budget forecasts and up-to-date workforce information allows HR to evaluate and compare alternative scenarios, facilitating informed decision-making in response to unexpected changes, such as shifts in workforce policies or new business acquisitions.

To achieve a common fiscal target, up-to-date budget limits from finance need to be distributed to sub-planners, and HR must review sub-plans to ensure alignment with year-end goals. 

Combining finance's budgeting expertise with HR's understanding of workforce needs will make your headcount planning really efficient.

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Regularly review and update plans

Headcount plans should be continuously monitored and updated to reflect changes in business strategy or market conditions. This ensures that the organization can remain agile and responsive.

As Sonar Talent CEO and co-founder Chris Mannion puts it: “It’s an annual process normally led by the finance team to determine how many overall heads a company would need to achieve business objectives for a given year. So [by the end of December], all of the headcount planning will likely have been done for most companies for 2023. They will assign the overall headcount and approve an increase or decrease year-over-year to ensure the business hits its revenue and profit goals for the next year.” 

Additionally, Mannion noted that some businesses run quarterly or half-yearly reviews for their headcount planning to identify areas of improvement and overachievement.

Building flexibility into headcount plans will allow your business to quickly adapt to unforeseen circumstances, such as economic shifts or sudden changes in demand.

One notable example is Meats By Linz, a family-owned food distribution company that implemented CPM software to manage its headcount plans. This enabled the company to adapt to new revenue streams during the COVID-19 pandemic. This agility allowed them to grow their e-commerce sales significantly within a short period, demonstrating the importance of flexible and responsive headcount planning.

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Link hires to outcomes

One best practice that has proven effective at Novo, as shared by their Head of Finance, Florian Gendeau, in his podcast, is linking hires directly to specific outcomes. This approach helps maintain focus and ensures that every new hire contributes meaningfully to the organization’s goals. 

Instead of hiring merely because there is a lot of work, aligning each hire with specific objectives, such as key results or strategic initiatives, is crucial. For instance, hiring 20 people in the engineering department should be tied to achieving three specific OKRs (Objectives and Key Results).

Linking hires to outcomes makes it easier to evaluate mid-year progress and make necessary adjustments. When department heads request additional headcount, you can review the initial goals and current achievements to determine if more hires are justified or if existing resources are underutilized. This method fosters a transparent relationship between finance and other departments, ensuring that hiring plans are strategically focused and aligned with the company's objectives.

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How to incorporate strategic workforce planning?

Integrating long-term strategic goals into workforce planning will help your business prepare for future demands. That is the way to meet long-term objectives! Additionally, regular skill gap analysis is essential to identifying and addressing future talent needs. 

Here's a guide on how to install a good workforce planning for your SaaS.

1. Collect comprehensive data

Begin by listing immediate, near-term, and future business strategies, financial details, and strategic objectives. This helps provide clarity on your business trajectory and resource needs. Key metrics to track include :

• Employee turnover rate
• Retention rate
• Time to fill positions
• Headcount
• Cost per hire
• Absenteeism rate
• Overtime costs
• Employee engagement (eNPS)
• Skill and competency gaps
• Internal mobility rate

Tip: Use a centralized data management system to regularly update and analyze these metrics. Implement automated data collection tools where possible to ensure data accuracy.

2. Evaluate the current situation 

Conduct an assessment of your current workforce through detailed headcount planning. Identify existing skill gaps, assess overall workforce expenditures, prioritize recruitment needs, and project these requirements across your planned timeline.

Tip: Create a detailed dashboard that visualizes workforce metrics and trends. This will help quickly identify areas needing immediate attention and allow for data-driven decision-making.

3. Craft a strategic plan 

Brainstorm approaches to address identified gaps, whether through training programs, promotions, restructuring efforts, or recruitment initiatives. Estimate the financial implications of each strategy and determine the appropriate types of employment required (e.g., full-time, part-time, contractors).

Tip: Develop a set of scenario plans to address different potential future states. 

4. Align budgets and resources

Ensure allocated budgets align with identified workforce demands. Effective communication between HR and hiring managers helps seamlessly implement the workforce plan.

Tip: Schedule regular meetings between HR, finance, and department heads to review and adjust budgets as necessary.

5. Monitor and adjust

Continuously monitor progress against established benchmarks. Modify plans as needed to stay on track and remain responsive to market shifts!

Tip: Set up a periodic review process, such as quarterly reviews, to evaluate the effectiveness of the workforce plan. Use feedback loops from employees and managers to identify areas of improvement and make timely adjustments.

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As Franco and Tony from The Hackett Group put it: "Strategic workforce planning is having the right people at the right place with the right skills at the right time with the right cost."

Effective headcount planning is vital for your SaaS success. Companies can optimize their workforce management and headcount planning by aligning HR and finance goals, using data-driven insights, regularly updating plans, incorporating strategic workforce planning, and leveraging technology.

Key takeaways from successful companies include the importance of continuous monitoring, the integration of advanced analytics, and the need for collaboration between HR and finance. All of these are crucial for effective headcount planning.

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