Strategic workforce planning is traditionally viewed as the domain of human resources departments. Not anymore, though. Modern organizations treat strategic workforce planning as an interdepartmental responsibility. This shift has prompted controllers to step into a pivotal role.
As a financial leader within your business, you can bridge the gap between big-picture goals and workforce needs. Your mission is to ensure that human capital investment aligns with profitability and growth objectives. Here are some ways you can thrive in that role.
Cost Analysis of Workforce Expansion
Controllers bring valuable expertise to evaluate the financial implications of a growing workforce. You can help your business answer questions like the following:
- How will scaling up the marketing department impact our annual payroll costs?
- Where can we divert resources to fund a workforce expansion?
- How many people should we hire, and at what intervals?
Every stage of an employee expansion project has costs that must be carefully forecasted to prevent budget overruns. By developing detailed cost models that account for variables like salaries, benefits, and recruiting, you can help the leadership team better understand what’s fiscally viable for the business and what’s not.
Perhaps most importantly, you can help the company identify the long-term impacts of a workforce expansion, such as increased infrastructure or software costs. While these expenses are often unavoidable, they must be carefully factored into the decision process. Otherwise, an ambitious expansion can quickly put a strain on resources.
For example, suppose that your company is considering opening a new regional office. You could calculate the break-even point based on projected revenue from the additional headcount.
Scenario Planning for Workforce Needs
Workforce planning requires agility, especially in today’s unpredictable business environment. You can provide the data-driven insights necessary to model workforce scenarios and predict hiring needs under different growth assumptions.
The first step is to collaborate with HR to create headcount models that reflect potential expansions or contractions. Use historical data to identify patterns in workforce demands and help human resources personnel prepare for seasonal fluctuations or large-scale projects.
A skilled HR team excels at understanding and addressing the human capital implications of workforce planning. It’s up to you to bridge the gap between these implications and the financial impact of different scenarios, such as rapid growth or unexpected downsizing.
Optimizing Benefits and Compensation
The current talent crunch has businesses in a wide range of industries rethinking their benefits and compensation offerings. Offering higher pay or adding non-traditional perks to a benefits package can be a great way of attracting top talent and addressing your organization’s skills gaps.
However, HR must balance two needs: attracting top talent and managing costs. As a controller, you play a vital role in determining whether certain benefits or compensation proposals are realistic and fiscally responsible.
Start by benchmarking company compensation against industry standards so you can remain competitive without overspending. You want to avoid a salary bidding war while also keeping your company’s pay close to what the competition is offering.
You can further support benefits optimization by calculating the short and long-term return on investment (ROI) of different programs. For example, you may find that offering better healthcare options can attract top talent just as effectively as huge raises while helping your business save money in the long run.
Improving Workforce Utilization
Before expanding your workforce, it’s important to ensure you are deploying existing employees in the most efficient way. Underutilized talent represents a huge burden on your company’s budget. You can use analytics tools to identify and address these gaps to avoid creating a bloated workforce.
Once again, you’ll need to collaborate with HR to provide actionable insights. Use employee performance and salary data to measure employees’ productivity against their pay. This strategy helps identify both people who may be overworked and those who can take on extra responsibilities without increasing the risk of burnout.
If you discover utilization issues, collaborate with the C-suite to develop restructuring plans. For example, the company may want to cross-train employees so that an underworked team can step in and assist an overloaded one.
Supporting Strategic Initiatives
Workforce planning must align with big-picture objectives, such as launching products or entering new markets. As the controller, you can ensure these goals are financially viable and realistic.
For example, you can provide cost projections for staffing large-scale projects to ensure that organizational leaders allocate adequate resources without overstretching the budget. You and the finance team can also collaborate with HR to create hiring plans tailored to new skill requirements or changing market demands.
Help Your Business Plan for the Future
A talented and adequately staffed workforce is critical for meeting your company’s short and long-term goals. By integrating workforce planning into your financial strategies, you can position the organization for sustainable growth.
