Employee headcount tracking, sometimes referred to as an employee census, is one of the most deceptively simple practices in the HR world. 

While counting the number of people employed within an organization may seem like a simple task, the various hoops and specifications that go into headcount tracking make it one of the most tedious and complicated HR processes. 

Employee headcount tracking can be broadly defined as the number of people an organization employs globally. Most census and tracking reports will, however, include much more than just the number of the people within their organization. 

You can expect a typical employee headcount to include: 

• The number of people employed within an organization
• Whether an employee is a full-time, part-time, or inactive worker
• Their salary
• Personal demographics like race and sex
• Tax status
• Job title
• Veteran status

Below we’ll get into why employee headcount tracking is so important and some employee headcount tracking best practices you can start following today. 

Why employee headcount tracking is important

Employee headcount tracking is about more than just having an organized and optimized list of your employees. It’s about making sure you’re managing your employees, employee benefits, employee taxes, and other regulatory practices within the bounds of the law. 

Some of the most important reasons for headcount tracking include:

• There are legal obligations and regulatory hiring practices that employers need to follow regarding employee benefits, taxes, 401(k) plans, and exemption requirements, among others. By tracking the status of their employees, their salaries, benefits, tax status, and more, employers can ensure that all their employees’ taxes and benefits are being processed and distributed appropriately. 
• The number of employees an organization has in their company at a given time will also influence the nature of their benefits. Under the Affordable Care Act, businesses with over 50 full-time employees are required to provide health care to 95% of their employees. Headcount tracking allows regulatory agencies to make sure businesses are providing the required benefits. 
• Headcount tracking is also important for yearly projections, predictions, and planning needs when it comes to how to allocate resources and create business strategies. Headcount tracking sheds light on hiring needs and the allocation of funds to certain departments for the upcoming fiscal year.

In order to prepare for their upcoming fiscal year, abide by legal and federal obligations, and store worker data efficiently and consistently, employees need to have a comprehensive headcount strategy. 

Best practices for headcount tracking

To make sure that all your numbers are consistent and your departments are in sync with one-another, it’s important to establish and abide by some headcount tracking best practices. 

The complications of headcount reporting aren’t going anywhere, but having a common headcount tracking language that all your departments can refer to will lead to a smoother tracking and reporting process. 

Some best practices that will enable your headcount tracking process include:

• Establishing and defining a universal worker – Some of the biggest headcount tracking and reporting problems occur when different departments have different definitions of full-time, part-time, and temporary workers. When you have a universal definition for workers, you avoid running into data and number inconsistencies between departments. 
• Universal headcount definition – Once you’ve defined the various types of workers within your organization, it’s important to have an established procedure for the counting process. The way that you’re reporting your employees’ statuses should line up across departments. 
• Automated headcount reporting – To ensure the smoothest, most efficient, and most dynamic head counting processes, businesses should be reporting and tracking their employees’ statuses several times a year, not just once or twice a year. This avoids the problem of having too much to enumerate, store, and process within your systems. 

You can avoid several of the issues of employee headcount reporting and tracking by defining a common language and engaging in the practice of headcount reporting several times a year. 

Crosschq and employee headcounts

Before you can count, track, and report on your employees, you’ve first got to hire them. Having a robust hiring and reference checking solution, like Crosschq, will help you screen, onboard, and source the best talent out there.

To learn more about how to streamline your recruiting process and reach out to quality applicants, request a free Crosschq custom demo.