Headcount management is about how your headcount manager and HR representatives organize, assess, and adapt to any challenges throughout the headcount process. 

Headcount planning and forecast are about your strategy and preparation, headcount management is about how you execute that strategy. 

Whether you’re monitoring your current plan, developing alternative headcount templates, or reporting to your executives, headcount management will keep you on task and on target. 

How Do you Manage Headcount

With a robust headcount planning strategy, headcount management should come easily to your team leaders and HR personnel. Comprehensive headcount plans should identify your areas of weakness, develop future budgets, and make long-term goals clear. From there, headcount management is about ensuring your hiring needs and actual headcount align with your headcount plan. 

Trends That Impact Headcount Management

The past few years have been volatile in the hiring world, as with other industries. The COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation, and the onset of an economic recession have generated a lot of doubt in both domestic and international markets. 

So what do these trends look like in the recruiting world? In June 2022, Tesla cut more than 200 employees, JP Morgan let go of more than 1,000 employees, and Redfin laid off just under 500 employees. 

Inflation, rising prices, and the likelihood of a recession don't look like they’re going anywhere anytime soon, which means recruiters need to have a plan ready when these changes reach the hiring world. Headcount managers should expect volatility, mass layoffs, and saturated talent pools as laid-off employees look to get back into the workforce. 

Preparing for Future Growth in Headcount Management

So how do you prepare for future growth and volatility in headcount management? A robust headcount planning and forecasting strategy is a great start, but you need to ensure your plan takes into account the margin of unpredictability in the market. Having alternative plans based on your industry predictions will give you some wiggle room to make the necessary changes if needed. 

Below are some basic points you should be highlighting in your headcount planning strategy followed by a few ways you can prepare for changes in your industry:

• Identify your weakness and business challenges. 
• How will your customers’ needs change in light of modern economic trends?
• How will your challenges change as prices and inflation continue to increase?
• Do you have the skill set to deal with the unique challenges of a recession? 
• Do you have the right tools and resources to handle today’s modern challenges?

• Utilize KPIs and metrics to define your budget.
• What metrics are you using to assess your company and define your budget?
• What economic scenarios might change those metrics?
• How will any hiring changes you make affect those metrics?
• What are the most important metrics to maintain

• Assess your current talent and workforce: 
• How does your current workforce’s skill set match with your defined goals and challenges?
• How might your talent needs change with organizational changes you make in response to the economy? 
• How equipped is your current workforce to meet the demands of any changes in the market? 
• What kind of hiring changes will your budget allow you to make going forward?

Preparing for a Future Decrease in Headcount

Part of establishing a comprehensive headcount management and hiring plan is preparing for the worst. If you have to decrease your headcount and conduct layoffs, you want to make sure you don’t lose out on engagement, productivity, brand equity, and employee morale. 

Layoffs are difficult for everyone involved, and the ripple effect it has on your business can be crippling if you’re not prepared. One way to mitigate those negative effects is with a layoff assistance solution, like Crosschq Assist.

Crosschq Assist helps you integrate a kinder, more supportive layoff process. Rather than leaving employees high and dry during a difficult time, you can show them the care, attention, and support they deserve with Crosschq Assist.

Crosschq Assist will:

• Connect employees with recruiters and secure hiring databases.
• Help you demonstrate a culture of care and support within your company and across social media. 
• A one-on-one consultation and setup assistance. 
• Automatically connect laid-off employees’ LinkedIn accounts to global hiring pools. 

Final Thoughts: Headcount Management

Beyond an Assist feature for layoffs, Crosschq has all the hiring tools you need to headcount like a pro. 

Crosschq can enable your team to source qualified and active talent, benefit from real-time alerts and notifications, and gather accurate reference checks in less than 48 hours. Try a free custom demo today to learn more about how Crosschq can transform your headcount management strategy.