Budgeting & Forecasting | Workforce Planning

Headcount and cost, planned together.

Plan roles by team with start dates, fully-loaded cost and ramp. Vacancies and backfills are tracked, personnel cost flows straight into the budget and the 13-week cash forecast, and approved hires reconcile against actual payroll as people join.

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What the system does

Capability, input, output.

Capability	Input	Output
Role-level headcount plan	Team, title, start date, salary band	Planned headcount roster by department and month
Fully-loaded cost	Base salary, employer taxes, benefits, equity	Total cost of workforce line in the budget
Ramp modelling	Hire date and productivity ramp curve	Cost phased to reflect real contribution timeline
Vacancy and backfill tracking	Open roles, departures, replacements	Live headcount gap vs plan, by team
Budget and cash integration	Approved headcount plan	Personnel cost in operating budget and 13-week cash forecast
Actuals reconciliation	Payroll actuals as people join	Variance between planned and actual people cost, by role

Role-level headcount plan

Input

Team, title, start date, salary band

Output

Planned headcount roster by department and month
Fully-loaded cost

Input

Base salary, employer taxes, benefits, equity

Output

Total cost of workforce line in the budget
Ramp modelling

Input

Hire date and productivity ramp curve

Output

Cost phased to reflect real contribution timeline
Vacancy and backfill tracking

Input

Open roles, departures, replacements

Output

Live headcount gap vs plan, by team
Budget and cash integration

Input

Approved headcount plan

Output

Personnel cost in operating budget and 13-week cash forecast
Actuals reconciliation

Input

Payroll actuals as people join

Output

Variance between planned and actual people cost, by role

Standards + connections

A headcount plan wired to the budget, the cash model and payroll.

Personnel cost is built once in the headcount plan and flows automatically into the operating budget and the cash forecast. There is no separate payroll model to keep in step with the books.

Regulations we work within

Fully-loaded cost accounting

Salary, employer taxes, benefits and equity are modelled together so the plan reflects true cost, not just base pay.
Role-level audit trail

Every hire, backfill and departure is logged with dates and approvals, so the headcount history supports audit and board review.
Payroll reconciliation

Planned cost reconciles to actual payroll as people join, giving finance a clear variance between the plan and what was spent.

Connects to

Payroll Actuals reconcile against the headcount plan as pay runs land
Operating Budget Personnel cost flows into the budget the moment roles are approved
Cash Flow Forecast Salary and employer cost land on the 13-week cash runway
Approval Workflows New hires and backfills route through your review chain before cost is committed

Workforce Planning FAQ

What buyers ask.

What does fully-loaded cost include?

Base salary, employer-side taxes and statutory contributions, benefits such as health and retirement, and any equity or variable pay. The model sums these so the number in the budget reflects what hiring that role actually costs, not just the offer letter figure. You configure each component once and it applies across the plan.

How does ramp affect the cost model?

A new hire rarely operates at full cost from day one. Ramp lets you phase cost and productivity over the first months after a start date, so the budget is not overstated in early months. The ramp curve is configurable per role type and the phased cost flows through to the cash forecast automatically.

Can we model a hiring freeze or a pull-forward?

Yes. You can run what-if scenarios on the headcount plan, such as delaying all open roles by a quarter or pulling a cohort forward to meet a product deadline, and see the cost and cash impact immediately against the baseline. Promoting a scenario to the working plan updates the budget and forecast in the same step.

How does the headcount plan connect to actual payroll?

As people join and payroll runs, actuals are matched back to planned roles. Finance sees the variance between what was budgeted per role and what payroll actually recorded, by team and by month. There is no manual tie-out between a headcount spreadsheet and a payroll export.

Related features

Build a headcount plan that feeds the budget automatically.

Add roles, set start dates and fully-loaded cost, and personnel spend lands in the operating budget and the cash forecast without a separate model or a manual export.