# Build a headcount plan with fully loaded employee costs

A role-by-role hiring plan that converts start dates and salaries into monthly fully loaded cost.

- Topic: Finance & Accounting
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Standard
- Tags: HR & Hiring, Finance, Career, Plan, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/build-a-headcount-plan-with-fully-loaded-employee-costs

## Prompt

```text
Help me build a headcount plan and cost it on a fully loaded basis.

**Current headcount:** [PASTE: role, department, location, salary - or summary by department]
**Planned hires:** [ROLE, DEPARTMENT, LOCATION, TARGET SALARY, PLANNED START MONTH]
**Expected attrition:** [% per year or specific known leavers]
**Cost loading assumptions:** [payroll taxes %, benefits per head, bonus target %, equity, recruiting fees, equipment/software per hire]
**Salary increase timing:** [e.g. "3% merit every April"]
**Plan period:** [e.g. "FY2027, monthly"]
**Typical hiring delay:** [WEEKS from planned start to actual start - or "none"]

Rules:
- Cost new hires from their start month only, and apply the hiring delay above.
- Separate one-time costs (recruiting, equipment) from recurring costs.
- Show backfills for expected attrition separately from net new roles.

Return:
1. A monthly table by department: opening headcount, hires, leavers, closing headcount, and fully loaded cost.
2. A per-role cost summary showing how base salary becomes fully loaded cost.
3. Annual totals vs. [BUDGET, if given], with the gap.
4. The 3 levers that would most change cost (hiring timing, location mix, loading rates), with the impact of each.
5. A checklist of assumptions to confirm with HR and payroll.

Use only my figures; mark gaps as [CONFIRM WITH HR].
```

## What to fill in

- e.g. "3% merit every April"
- e.g. "FY2027, monthly"
- WEEKS from planned start to actual start - or "none"
- BUDGET, if given
- CONFIRM WITH HR

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.