FP&A & PlanningTemplatePDF + CSVFree

Headcount Planning Template

Payroll is the largest cost line for most mid-market companies, and it is usually planned less carefully than software spend. The two numbers that matter for every role are its fully loaded annual cost and what it actually costs this year given its start month. This template calculates both, tracks each requisition from approved to hired, and shows how hiring slips change the year. Pair it with our software category guides to see which tools fit your team. Once you have a shortlist, check the vendor profiles and the finance glossary for unfamiliar terms, then use our head-to-head comparisons before your first demo.

Built for: FP&A manager, CFO, Head of People, Department head

What you get

A role-level plan with start month, base salary, burden rate, and hiring status
Live formulas for annual fully loaded cost and current-year cost prorated by start month
A department roll-forward from opening to ending headcount
A hiring slip tracker that shows months lost against plan

+1 more inside

How to use it

1
Set the burden rate. Agree an employer burden rate with payroll and HR, covering payroll taxes, benefits, and retirement match. Use a separate rate for other countries or for roles where benefits are a large share of pay.
2
List every role, existing and planned. Include current employees with start month 1 and each planned hire with the month they are expected to start, not the month the requisition opens.
3
Use both cost columns. Current-year cost feeds this year's budget. Annual fully loaded cost is next year's starting run-rate. Presenting only the first understates the commitment each hire makes.
4
Track slips monthly. Update status and actual start month each month. The slip tracker shows how much of the payroll underspend is timing, which matters for the reforecast.

What's inside

Here's a preview. Unlock the free download to get all 6 sections (5 more below).

Headcount plan by role

Start month is 1-12 in the fiscal year (use 1 for anyone employed all year). Burden % is entered as a number, e.g. 22. Status: Approved (budgeted, req not opened), Open (recruiting), Hired.

Role (department)	Start month	Base salary	Burden %	Annual loaded cost	Current-year cost	Status
Controller (Finance)	1	165,000	22	201,300	201,300	Hired
Senior Accountant (Finance)	4	95,000	22	115,900	86,925	Approved

Calculated in the CSV: Annual loaded cost = Base x (1 + Burden %); Current-year cost = Base x (1 + Burden %) x (13 - Start month) / 12.

5 more sections in the full template

Plus the branded PDF and editable CSV.

Unlock the free download

Related templates

More free templates finance teams use alongside this one.

FP&A & Planning

Annual Operating Budget Template

An annual budget is only as good as the assumptions under it, and most budget files bury those assumptions in hard-coded cells. This template puts the drivers on one page, builds revenue, cost of revenue, and department opex by quarter with a full-year total, and adds the budget calendar with owners and dates, because budgets that run late are usually budgets that never had a calendar.

Get template

FP&A & Planning

Rolling Forecast Template

A rolling forecast always looks the same distance ahead, so the business is never planning against a year that is nearly over. The hard part is not the spreadsheet but the discipline: a fixed set of drivers with named owners, a short monthly or quarterly cycle, and a record of how accurate past forecasts were. This template gives you all three.

Get template

FP&A & Planning

Budget vs Actual Template

Most budget vs actual reports get the arithmetic right and the reading wrong. A $20k overspend on revenue lines is good news and a $20k overspend on cost lines is not, yet many sheets colour both the same way. This template flags favorable and unfavorable by line type, and forces a driver and an action for every material variance so the report explains the month instead of restating it.

Get template

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate the fully loaded cost of an employee?

Multiply base salary by one plus the burden rate, where burden covers employer payroll taxes, benefits, retirement contributions, and insurance. A $95,000 salary with a 22% burden rate gives $115,900 per year before variable pay and one-off hiring costs.

How do you budget for a mid-year hire?

Prorate the fully loaded cost by the months remaining in the year. With start month 4, the hire is employed for nine months, so current-year cost is the annual loaded cost times 9/12. The formula (13 - start month) / 12 assumes the hire starts on the first of the month.

What is a typical burden rate?

It varies with benefits design, location, and salary level, so use your own payroll data rather than a published figure. Build it from employer taxes, benefit premiums, retirement match, and insurance, and check it annually when benefits renew.