MeanderMeander

New course

Build a 12-18 month people and payroll forecast your CFO will actually trust.

Most teams still manage headcount with static spreadsheets and stale dashboards. HR, Finance, and the business all have different numbers. Nobody is sure how many people they really have, how many they actually need, or what that means for cash.

This course walks you through the exact system I use with PE-backed clients to build a rolling 12-18 month headcount and people-cost forecast you can update in about 90 minutes a month.

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Get early access to the lessons and the templates as soon as they are ready.

What you will build

A rolling headcount and payroll model you can defend in front of executives.

  • Keep HR, Finance, and operators aligned on one Golden Roster and forecast.
  • Translate revenue or volume plans into headcount demand that is not a wish list.
  • Layer in payroll costs so Finance can drop it straight into the P&L or board pack.
  • Lock in a 90-minute monthly update routine that survives exec questions and scenarios.
Join the preview list to get the first invite when the lessons and templates drop.

What you will be able to do

By the end, you will be able to:

  • Reconcile multiple HRIS exports into one trusted Golden Roster
  • Translate your revenue or volume plan into headcount demand by function
  • Build a rolling 12-18 month headcount forecast with simple scenarios (base, slow-hire, hiring freeze)
  • Turn that forecast into monthly people-cost by function you can drop into your P&L or board deck
  • Run a repeatable monthly headcount review that Finance and HR both trust

You will have a working model you can plug your own data into, not a theoretical framework.

Who this is for

  • CFO / VP Finance / FP&A
  • CHRO / Head of People / People Ops
  • People Analytics / HRIS / HR Ops
  • RevOps or Ops leaders pulled into headcount planning

Ideal for mid-market and growth companies (200-10,000 employees), especially PE-backed or going through M&A where headcount, structure, and demand are moving targets.

What is inside

1. Build the Golden Roster (Headcount You Can Trust)

  • Clean and standardize messy HR exports into one Golden Roster
  • Map departments, locations, employment types, and job families into a consistent structure
  • Reconcile two HRIS systems into a single view of who works where, doing what, at what cost

Outcome: One live headcount file you can refresh every month without starting from scratch.

2. Turn Strategy into Headcount Demand

  • Define work drivers for each function (ARR, accounts, orders, tickets, etc.)
  • Create rules like 1 AE per $1.5M new ARR or 1 DC operator per 1,800 orders per month
  • Build a 12-18 month demand table that answers how many FTE you actually need

Outcome: A demand-driven view of headcount, not a wish list of roles.

3. Build the Rolling Headcount Engine

  • Set up a monthly headcount waterfall: opening HC, hires, attrition, closing HC
  • Add simple scenario toggles for base, slow-hire, and freeze
  • Compare forecasted HC to required HC and highlight gaps by function and role family

Outcome: A rolling headcount forecast you can update quickly and defend in front of executives.

4. Tie It To The P&L and Exec Story

  • Layer in salary and benefits assumptions to calculate monthly people cost by function
  • Compare people cost vs budget and show over/under by month
  • Build operator and CFO views from the same model so nobody is working off a side file

Outcome: A board- and CFO-ready view of headcount and people cost that holds up under what-if questions.

What you get

  • ~90 minutes of over-the-shoulder build videos using Waypoint Logistics
  • Golden Roster template (Google Sheets and Excel)
  • Forecast template (12-18 month headcount and people-cost model)
  • Sample Waypoint HRIS exports to practice with before you plug in your own data
  • A monthly SOP checklist for the 90-minute update cycle
  • Any future minor updates to this version of the course

What you need

  • Comfort with basic spreadsheets (filters, pivot tables, simple formulas like VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, IF)
  • Ability to export headcount data from your HRIS or payroll system (CSV/XLSX)
  • A rough idea of your revenue or volume plan for the next year

No fancy BI tools or APIs required. Bring your exports and a couple of focused hours.

Want in early?

Join the preview list and we will email you the lessons, templates, and pricing the moment they are ready.

Join the preview list

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