Headcount Planning helps you plan your workforce and hiring budget in one place before opening new positions. By bringing HR, Finance, and department leaders together in a single workflow, you can review, approve, and track hiring plans from request to hire.
This is a paid feature available within Financial Planning.
Overview
Headcount Planning is available within Finance > Financial Planning and provides a centralised space to manage workforce planning cycles.
Instead of using spreadsheets, you can create planning periods where department leaders submit workforce requests, including:
- New hires
- Backfills
- Terminations
Each request goes through an approval process, allowing HR and Finance to review hiring needs alongside projected costs before any recruitment begins.
Once a position is approved, it can be converted into a hiring process in Recruitment. This creates a connected workflow from workforce planning to hiring while keeping visibility of each position throughout its lifecycle.
Use Headcount Planning to:
- Create structured workforce planning periods
- Collect hiring requests from department leaders
- Review and approve requests before recruitment starts
- Monitor headcount and cost forecasts
- Track approved positions until they are hired
How to use
- In your sidebar, go to Workspace
- Access the Headcount planning tab
- Open or create a plan
- Owners define the request window during which planners can submit requests
- Planners add new hires, backfills and terminations
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Owners review incoming requests for:
- New hires
- Backfills
- Terminations
- Approve or reject requests individually or in bulk
- You can include a rejection reason
- Monitor live headcount and cost forecasts throughout the planning period
- Approved positions move into hiring with statuses tracked end to end. Hiring statuses include:
- Not started – The position has been approved but recruitment has not begun
- In progress – Recruitment is underway
- Hired – The position has been filled and is linked to the corresponding Job opening
If you cannot create a planning period, verify that you have the required permissions to manage Headcount Planning. If the option is unavailable, contact your organisation's administrator.
If you cannot submit a headcount request, check that the planning period is currently within its request window. Requests can only be submitted while the window is open.
If an approved position does not appear in Recruitment, confirm that the request has been fully approved. If the issue persists, contact the Support team.
Tips and best practices
- Create planning periods with clear submission deadlines to keep the planning process on schedule
- Encourage planners to include all expected workforce changes, including backfills and terminations, for more accurate forecasts
- Review projected costs before approving requests to ensure hiring plans align with available budgets
- Regularly monitor hiring statuses to compare planned positions with completed hires
- Use Headcount Planning as the single source of truth for workforce planning instead of maintaining separate spreadsheets
FAQ
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What types of workforce requests can I submit?
You can submit requests for new hires, backfills, and terminations.
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Can I approve multiple requests at the same time?
Yes. Owners can review and approve or reject requests individually or in bulk.
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Can I explain why a request was rejected?
Yes. You can include an optional rejection reason, which is shared with the planner.
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Does Headcount Planning include hiring cost forecasts?
Yes. The module provides live forecasts for both headcount and projected costs, helping HR and Finance evaluate hiring plans before approval.
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What happens after a position is approved?
Approved positions can be moved directly into Recruitment, where the hiring process can begin and the position can be tracked until it is filled.
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How can I track the progress of approved positions?
Each approved position includes a hiring status that progresses from Not started to In progress and finally Hired.
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Is Headcount Planning included in all Factorial plans?
No. Headcount Planning is a paid feature available within Financial Planning.