Headcount Plan Sheet

About this template

When to use it

A headcount plan by team and role: what the org chart approves, who is actually in post, the gap between the two, and the hires that close it. Three sheets — Dashboard, Input data, Usage guide — and only Input data takes typing.

What the dashboard holds

Everything on the Dashboard is a formula. “Key metrics — summed automatically from the ‘Input data’ sheet” holds B7:E7 — Rows entered, Planned hires total, Planned hires average, Planned hires max — reading column H. Under it, Summary by job family (rows 12–15) splits the plan across the four families in column B, and Total headcount by quarter (rows 19–22) is hand-typed for Q1 to Q4 with a total in B23 and an average in B24.

Filling order

1. Rows 2–21 of Input data take No., Team / Role, Job family, Rank, Approved HC, Current HC, Vacancies, Planned hires, HC after hiring, Target month in columns A–J.
2. Write the team and the role in one cell, as the samples do with “Service Development Team / Backend”, so one line is one plannable position group.
3. Keep Job family to Sales, Development, Admin, Production — those four strings are the criteria behind B12:B15.
4. Fill only Approved HC and Current HC. Approved HC is the headcount signed off on the org chart; Current HC is the people in post at the as-of date. Columns G and I follow on their own.
5. Column H must hold plain numbers, including 0 where nothing is planned.
6. Target month is the month you want the new hire to start, not the date the offer is signed. Rows with no plan read No hiring.

How the formulas calculate

• Key metrics: =COUNT(‘Input data’!$H$2:$H$21), SUM, =IFERROR(AVERAGE(…),0), =IFERROR(MAX(…),0).
• Each family row pairs =COUNTIF(‘Input data’!$C$2:$C$21,$B12) with SUMIF and AVERAGEIF over column H, and a share of =IFERROR(C12/COUNT(‘Input data’!$H$2:$H$21),0) — a share of the row count, not of the people.
• Vacancies is =E2-F2 and HC after hiring is =F2+H2, so a plan that does not close the gap is visible on the same line.
• Under the quarterly table, =SUM(C19:C22) and =AVERAGE(C19:C22) return 253 and 63.25.
• Nothing on the Dashboard totals Approved HC or Current HC. Add =SUM(‘Input data’!$E$2:$E$21) in a spare cell if you want that number on the front page.

Examples

• Row 4 — 3 · Service Development Team / Backend · Development · Senior · 10 · 7 · 3 · 3 · 10 · 2026-08: the plan closes the gap exactly.
• Row 3 — Sales Team 2 is fully staffed at 6 of 6, so Vacancies is 0, Planned hires is 0 and Target month reads No hiring.
• Across the eight sample rows, Approved HC is 69 against a Current HC of 57 and 12 planned hires — which is why the quarterly trend runs 57, 61, 66, 69.

Common mistakes

• Leaving Planned hires empty rather than typing 0, so the row drops out of Rows entered.
• Putting a hiring-decision date in Target month, which makes the quarterly trend land a month or two early.
• Typing over columns G and I, which are formulas on every row.
• Letting a row carry a vacancy for more than three months without revisiting the approved figure — note 8 of the Usage guide makes that the review trigger.