Workforce Capacity Planner
Compares workforce demand against available capacity by department and time period. Identifies staffing gaps and surpluses, then generates hiring or reallocation recommendations based on the delta between demand and supply.
HR - Workforce Capacity Planner.xlsx
Excel (.xlsx) — No macros — Works in Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice
What This Spreadsheet Solves
- No visibility into whether teams are over- or under-staffed
- Demand planning and headcount planning happen in separate silos
- Cannot quantify how many additional hires are needed per department
- Surplus capacity goes unnoticed and undeployed
- No data to support reallocation decisions between teams
Who This Is For
- HR directors aligning workforce to business demand
- Operations leaders balancing team capacity
- Resource managers in professional services firms
- Executives reviewing workforce utilization
Inputs
- textDepartment / Team
- #Available FTEs
- #Productive Hours per FTE per Month
- #Demand (Hours Required per Month)
- $Average Cost per FTE
Outputs
- Capacity in hours (FTEs * productive hours)
- Demand vs. supply gap (hours and FTEs)
- Utilization rate per department
- Recommended action (hire, reallocate, or maintain)
- Cost of closing the gap
- Surplus capacity available for reallocation
How Calculations Work
Available capacity is FTEs multiplied by productive hours per FTE. The gap is Demand minus Capacity. A positive gap means understaffing; negative means surplus. FTE gap is the hours gap divided by productive hours per FTE. Utilization rate is Demand / Capacity. Recommendations are triggered by configurable thresholds: hire when utilization exceeds 90%, reallocate when below 70%, maintain when in between.
Example Use Case
Scenario: Customer support: 8 FTEs, 140 productive hours/month each, demand 1,300 hours/month. Engineering: 15 FTEs, 150 hours/month each, demand 1,900 hours/month.
Result: Support: 1,120 hours capacity, 180-hour gap, utilization 116%, need 1.3 FTEs. Engineering: 2,250 hours capacity, 350-hour surplus, utilization 84%, maintain. Recommendation: hire 2 support FTEs ($130,000 annual cost), reallocate 2 engineering FTEs if cross-trained.
What You Get — 5 Sheets
Technical Details
Frequently Asked Questions
What are productive hours per FTE?
Total working hours minus meetings, admin, PTO, and other non-productive time. Typically 130-160 hours/month depending on role and company.
How do I estimate demand in hours?
Use workload data: ticket volume times handle time, project plans, or historical output data. If you only have headcount demand, multiply by productive hours.
What utilization rate is healthy?
75-85% is typical. Above 90% signals burnout risk and understaffing. Below 70% suggests surplus capacity.
Can I plan multiple months ahead?
Yes. Add month columns on the INPUT sheet with projected demand. The LOGIC sheet will compute gaps for each period.
How does the reallocation recommendation work?
Departments below the utilization threshold with surplus hours are flagged as potential sources. The model matches surplus capacity to deficit departments, but cross-training feasibility must be assessed manually.
Download Workforce Capacity Planner
Ready to use immediately. Enter your data in the INPUT sheet, see results in OUTPUT.