FTE Headcount Planner

Build a headcount plan around the work each team needs to complete. Enter annual volume and current staffing. The workbook calculates required FTE using productive hours, identifies staffing gaps, and separates additional hiring from attrition replacement in your hiring plan and budget.

A working model with the structure in place

Set your working-time assumptions: hours per week, working weeks, holidays, PTO, sick days, hours per day, and on-task utilization. Then enter each team's annual volume, hours per unit, and current staffing. The workbook calculates productive hours per FTE, about 1,627 in the worked example, followed by required FTE, the staffing gap, and hires needed for each team and in total. The one-page Summary rounds staffing needs to whole people, separates the open staffing gap from attrition replacement, and calculates the cost at current and full staffing using a fully loaded cost per FTE. The Benchmark tab includes working-time and turnover figures from BLS and the IRS. It opens with a worked example so you can see how the calculations work.

Account for productive hours and replacement hiring

Start with the hours employees can spend on their primary work. A 2,080-hour paid year includes time off, meetings, training, and administrative work, leaving fewer productive hours for the team's workload. Then account for both types of hiring: additional positions to close the staffing gap and replacements for employees who leave. Attrition replacement is needed regardless of the gap, so a team that needs more people and is also losing employees must plan for both. Total hires can exceed the net staffing gap. Calculating each team's demand separately, rather than using one blended ratio, helps you see where to add people first.

Built for

• HR and talent leaders building annual headcount plans with calculations they can present to finance.
• Finance and operations partners evaluating hiring requests against workload, required FTE, and the budget at current and full staffing.
• Owners and department heads assessing team capacity and using workload figures to support staffing requests.

For daily or shift staffing that requires a relief factor, see the Shift Staffing Planner. To compare overtime with a new hire for one known staffing gap, see the Overtime vs New Hire Planner.

Before you buy

What format is it, and can I edit it?

You receive one Excel workbook that also works in Google Sheets. The download is five files: the workbook, a Start Here, the one-page Quick Reference, the product license, and a short guide to using it in Google Sheets. Every input and formula is editable. Insert rows to add teams, and duplicate the file to plan a division separately. Your download link appears immediately after checkout, and the same link is emailed on your receipt.

What does the paid workbook do that a free calculator does not?

The workbook brings every team's staffing needs and budget into one plan. Enter your fully loaded cost per FTE to calculate costs at current staffing, costs at full staffing, and the additional spending needed to staff the work fully. Open formulas let you adjust assumptions as demand changes and share the Summary with leadership. The browser calculator sizes one team. This workbook plans staffing across teams and includes the budget.

How do I estimate annual volume and hours per unit?

Use the unit that best represents the team's work: tickets, orders, cases, accounts, or hours of demand. Annual volume is the number of units handled in a year. Hours per unit is the average time one unit takes, which you can estimate from a sample of recent work or with help from a team lead. If a team has no countable unit, enter its demand directly in hours and set hours per unit to one.

What is the refund policy?

Digital products are covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee. To request a refund, email support@truestephr.com or reply to your receipt within 30 days of purchase. Questions? Email support@truestephr.com.

These are planning estimates, and the working-time assumptions drive them. Set them to your operation, keep the annual volumes honest, and treat the output as a directional figure for sizing headcount.

How the download works

Your files arrive as a single ZIP download, best opened on a computer. Save it, extract it (right-click and select Extract All on Windows, or double-click on a Mac), then open the Start Here file first. PDFs open in any reader, and editable files work in Microsoft Excel or free equivalents, including LibreOffice and Google Sheets. No other software is needed. Step-by-step help for every device is at truestephr.com/pages/download-help.

Scope

This planning and analysis model produces estimates based entirely on the inputs and assumptions you enter. Use those estimates to support decisions, rather than as accounting, tax, or legal conclusions. Check the assumptions against your own data. Have qualified counsel review decisions involving pay, headcount, or separation against applicable law before acting. General information, not legal, tax, or financial advice.