Quick Answer
To build a workforce planning model, start with your current roster and map every position by role, department, salary, and employment type. Add planned hires with start dates and ramp periods. Calculate fully loaded costs including employer NI, pension, and benefits. Link headcount to capacity assumptions — each salesperson generates X pipeline — so the model connects people plans to financial outcomes and identifies when hiring is needed.
Workforce planning connects your people strategy to your financial plan. It ensures you have the right number of people, with the right skills, at the right time — and that you understand the cost implications.
1. Current state baseline. Export your current employee roster with role, department, entity, salary, employment type, and start date. This is your starting point.
2. Planned changes. Model all planned changes: - New hires: role, department, target start date, salary range - Leavers: known resignations and planned redundancies - Internal moves: promotions, transfers, role changes - Salary changes: merit increases, market adjustments
3. Fully loaded cost calculation. For each position, calculate: - Base salary (pro-rated for start month) - Employer NI (13.8% above secondary threshold) - Pension (minimum 3% employer contribution) - Benefits (health insurance, life cover, training) - Equipment (laptop, software licences) - Recruitment cost (for new hires only)
4. Capacity and output linkage. Connect headcount to business output: - Sales: reps x quota attainment = revenue capacity - Engineering: developers x velocity = feature output - Support: agents x tickets per agent = support capacity - This reveals when you need to hire to support growth targets
5. Attrition modelling. Budget for expected turnover. If annual attrition is 15%, model the impact on team capacity and the cost of backfilling. Include the gap period between a leaver's last day and the backfill's productive start.
6. Ramp period modelling. New hires do not reach full productivity on day one. Model a ramp period: 25% productivity in month one, 50% in month two, 100% from month three. This affects both cost efficiency and capacity planning.
The workforce planning model should feed directly into your P&L. Salaries and employer costs populate the personnel cost lines. Headcount drives other costs that scale with team size (office space, software licences, travel). Revenue capacity planning informs the revenue forecast.
Model different headcount scenarios: - Base: planned hiring as budgeted - Accelerated: bring hires forward by one quarter - Freeze: no new hires for 6 months - Reduction: model specific redundancy scenarios
Each scenario shows the P&L, cash, and capacity impact.
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FAQ
Yes. Contractors have different cost structures (no employer NI, pension, or benefits), different engagement terms (day rates, project-based), and different planning horizons. Separate them in your model for accurate cost reporting and tax compliance.
Use salary survey data (Robert Half, Glassdoor, Levels.fyi) to set salary bands by role and level. Compare your current salaries against market benchmarks to identify retention risks and budget for market adjustments.
Plan in detail for 12 months (specific roles, salaries, start dates). Extend to 24-36 months at a higher level (headcount by department, average cost assumptions). The longer-range plan informs strategic decisions about office space, team structure, and capability building.
Use a probability-weighted approach. If a hire is 50% likely to happen in Q2, model half the cost. Or create scenarios: one with all planned hires, one with only confirmed hires. The gap shows the financial impact of hiring uncertainty.
Yes. Grove FP has a dedicated workforce planning module that models individual positions with automatic employer cost calculations. Costs flow directly into the P&L by department and entity, with full monthly phasing based on start dates and ramp periods.
Grove FP gives UK finance teams a modern platform for budgeting, forecasting, and reporting — so you can focus on the decisions that matter.
Budgeting, forecasting, and workforce planning in one platform. No credit card required.