Article
17 min read
20+ Workforce Planning Metrics to Boost Your HR Strategy
Global HR
Author
Lorelei Trisca
Last Update
April 23, 2025
Published
April 23, 2025
Table of Contents
Must-track workforce planning metrics
What are the most strategic workforce planning metrics?
What talent management metrics are also relevant for workforce planning?
How to collect and track workforce planning metrics
From metrics to decisions: How to act on what you measure
Streamline workforce planning and track key metrics with Deel
Key takeaways
- Workforce planning metrics are data points used to measure, analyze, and forecast an organization’s talent needs.
- These metrics help HR and business leaders make informed decisions about hiring, development, retention, and internal mobility to ensure the right people are in the right roles at the right time.
- Integrating workforce data into a single reporting system eliminates inconsistencies in data sets and provides accurate metrics. As a result, you can easily track key metrics, such as skills gap index, cost-per-hire, and high-performer turnover rates.
- With Deel’s unified HR platform, you’ll turn fragmented data into a single source of truth, unlocking the clarity, accuracy, and agility needed for smarter decisions and a winning workforce.
Every forward-thinking organization faces the challenge of aligning workforce supply with shifting business demand. Still, without clear, actionable data, making strategic decisions becomes guesswork. As teams grow across departments, locations, and roles, tracking crucial workforce planning metrics like headcount, skills gaps, and cost per hire isn’t just a best practice; it’s essential to uncover hidden gaps, control costs, and respond nimbly to market changes.
At Deel, we’ve partnered with thousands of companies worldwide to streamline HR and payroll in over 150 countries, so we understand the pain points caused by scattered systems and manual tracking.
This blog will break down which workforce planning metrics matter most—from skills gap index to high-performer turnover—and show you how to calculate them, interpret results, and use real-time insights to future-proof your workforce planning strategy.
Must-track workforce planning metrics
For effective workforce planning to be effective, you must understand both supply and demand. Both of these categories are non-negotiables because your talent is the only one that can deliver on your business objectives, reveal gaps, and stay responsive to change. Here are the must-know strategic workforce planning metrics you should be tracking:
Workforce supply and demand metrics
Current headcount by department/location/function
This metric shows the total number of active workers, categorized by department, geographic location, or job function.
How to calculate: Use real-time worker data from your HR system to filter by team, location, or role. If using spreadsheets, filter for active employees and use filters or pivot tables to count workers in each category.
Planned vs. actual headcount
This metric calculates the difference between the planned or budgeted headcount and the actual number of workers during a specific timeframe.
How to calculate: Take the planned headcount (within a set date range) and subtract the actual headcount for the same date range.
Example: If you planned for 100 employees but have 90, the variance is 10.
More resources
Deel Workforce Planning
Internal mobility rate
The internal mobility rate shows the percentage of employees who move into new roles or teams in your company over a predetermined timeframe.
How to calculate: Divide the number of internal transitions by the average total headcount and multiply by 100.
(Number of internal transitions ÷ Average total headcount) × 100
Example: If you have 20 employees transitioning to new roles, and your average total headcount is 200, the internal mobility rate is 10%—(20 / 200) × 100 = 10%.
% of critical roles filled
This metric calculates the percentage of critical roles (leadership or roles covering specialized expertise) that are currently filled.
How to calculate: Divide the number of filled critical roles by the total number of critical roles and then multiply by 100 to calculate this metric.
(Filled critical roles ÷ Total critical roles) × 100
Example: You identified 30 critical roles but managed to fill only 27. As a result, the % of critical roles filled is 90%.
Complementary guide
Want to dive deeper into building a workforce that’s ready for anything? Here are our practical steps on how to get started with headcount planning.
Cost metrics
Cost per hire
Cost per hire is one of the best workforce planning metrics for small businesses. It calculates the average cost to recruit and onboard new hires.
How to calculate: Divide your total recruitment costs by the number of hires in a period.
Total recruitment costs ÷ Number of hires
Example: If you spend $50,000 for 10 new hires, that’s a cost per hire of $5,000
Total workforce cost vs. budget
This metric compares what the organization actually spent on employees versus what financial resources were planned or allocated during that period.
How to calculate: Take the workforce cost you budgeted and subtract it from the actual costs (like salaries, benefits, and taxes).
Example: If your budget was $1 million, and the actual spending ended at $1.1 million, your variance is $100,000 over budget.
Cost by worker type (for contractors, FTEs, EOR)
The cost by worker type metric expresses the average cost for each workforce category, including full-time employees (FTEs), contractors, and employees of record (EOR).
How to calculate: Take the total cost associated with a category (any wages, benefits, fees, etc.) and divide it by the number of workers in that category.
Example: With a total cost for FTEs at $500,000 and 10 FTEs, the average would be $50,000 per FTE.
Geo-compensation variance
Geo-compensation variance showcases the pay difference for the same role across different geographic locations.
How to calculate: Compare the average compensation for each position by region and express it as a percentage or dollar amount difference.
(Average compensation A ÷ Average compensation B) × 100
Example: If you pay a software engineer in San Francisco $150,000 and one in Austin $120,000, you get a $30,000 difference, which translates to a 25% pay premium in San Francisco.
Complementary resource
Interested in geo-based compensation? Explore these best practices for creating a location-based compensation strategy.
Attrition and retention metrics
Voluntary vs. involuntary attrition rate
Voluntary vs. involuntary attrition rate shows the percentage of employees who leave voluntarily versus those terminated during a given timeframe.
How to calculate:
- Voluntary attrition: (Voluntary exits ÷ Average headcount) × 100
- Involuntary attrition: (Involuntary exits ÷ Average headcount) × 100
Example: With 10 voluntary exits, five involuntary exits, and an average headcount of 200, you’ve got a 5% voluntary attrition rate and 2.5% involuntary attention rate.
Tenure by role/level
This metric calculates how long workers remain in a given role or level.
How to calculate: Add up the total months/years of service for workers in a role/level and divide that by the number of employees within that category.
Total tenure (months/years) ÷ Number of employees in the role
Example: For five managers with tenures of 2, 3, 4, 1, and 5 years, the total tenure is 15 years, and the average tenure is three years.
Time-to-backfill
This metric showcases the average number of days it takes to fill a vacant role after a worker exits.
How to calculate: Divide the total days to fill vacancies by the total number of backfills in that time frame.
Example: If three roles took 30, 45, and 60 days to fill, the resulting time-to-backfill is 45 days.
High-performer turnover rate
The high-performer turnover rate is the percentage of high-performing employees (those who constantly exceed expectations, provide exceptional results, or are recognized as top talent) who leave an organization, voluntarily or involuntarily, within a defined timeframe.
How to calculate: To find the high-performer turnover rate, you first need to find the number of high performers who left during a period and the average number of high performers employed. With these numbers, divide the number of high performers who left by the average number of high performers and multiply by 100 to find the percentage of high performers who left.
(High performers who left ÷ Average number of high performers) × 100
Example: For five high-performer exits and an average number of high performers of 50, the turnover rate would be (5 ÷ 50) × 100 = 10%.
Read more
Learn how to reduce the attrition rate with 11 tested people retention strategies.
Productivity and utilization metrics
Revenue per employee
The revenue per employee metric calculates the average revenue generated per worker in a period.
How to calculate: Divide the total company revenue by the average headcount.
Billable vs. non-billable hours (for service organizations)
This metric calculates the ratio of hours worked on revenue-generating (billable) vs. internal (non-billable) tasks.
How to calculate: Count total hours worked and split them into billable and non-billable time.
Example: If an employee worked 1,000 hours, 700 of which were billable and 300 non-billable, the ratio would be 70% billable vs. 30% non-billable hours.
Span of control
The span of control shows the average number of direct reports a manager has.
How to calculate: Divide the total number of employees by the number of managers.
Example: For 100 employees and 10 managers, you’ve got 10 direct reports per manager on average.
Manager-to-IC ratio
The manager-to-IC ratio is the ratio of managers to individual contributors (ICs) in an organization/department.
How to calculate: Divide the number of managers by the number of ICs.
Example: An agency with 10 managers and 90 ICs has a manager-IC ratio 1:9 (1 manager per 9 ICs).
Planning effectiveness metrics
Forecast accuracy (headcount, skills, costs)
This metric measures the accuracy of your predicted headcount, skill needs, and costs compared to actual outcomes.
How to calculate: Divide the actual value of headcount/cost by the forecasted value, then multiply by 100.
(Actual value ÷ Forecasted value) × 100
Example: For a forecasted headcount of 100 and an actual of 95, the forecast accuracy was 95%.
Plan adherence (how closely execution matches the plan)
This metric shows how well your workforce execution (hiring, training, etc.) aligns with your original plan.
How to calculate: Divide the number of executed actions by the number of planned actions, then multiply by 100. (Executed actions ÷ Planned actions) × 100
Example: If you planned to hire 20 people and actually hired 18, you would have 90% plan adherence.
Time-to-implement workforce plan changes
The time-to-implement workforce plan changes shows the average number of days it takes to carry out workforce plan changes (e.g., hiring or restructuring).
Total days elapsed ÷ Number of changes
How to calculate: Divide the total days elapsed from decision to completion by the number of changes.
Example: When three changes take 30 days, 45 days, and 15 days, respectively, you’ve got an average time to implement workforce plan changes of 30 days.
What are the most strategic workforce planning metrics?
When considering workforce planning, each metric plays a distinct part. That’s why you’ll need to track each of them at some point. Still, three metrics stand out as the next ones you should prioritize to grasp the real value of your workforce:
Skills gap index
The skills gap index gives you all the early warning signs to identify gaps or shortages in critical skill areas. Knowing where your workforce needs to develop skills allows you to pivot and respond quickly with a focused upskilling and/or hiring plan.
High-performer turnover rate
The high-performer turnover rate focuses on your most important asset: the talent responsible for driving innovation and results. Losing top talent will not only cost you a lot to replace but can also impact your competitive advantage.
Revenue per employee
A high revenue per employee shows you’ve effectively used your workforce to increase profit. Every dollar matters. And that’s even more true when you must increase your appeal to investors.
What talent management metrics are also relevant for workforce planning?
Talent management metrics translate your people’s performance into workforce strategy inputs.
| Metric | Why it matters for workforce planning |
|---|---|
| Headcount | Tracks current workforce supply, essential for forecasting needs |
| Turnover rate (voluntary/involuntary) | Helps predict workforce gaps, especially in critical roles |
| Time to fill | Affects how quickly the organization can respond to staffing gaps |
| Internal mobility rate | Signals how well the organization leverages existing talent |
| High-potential (HiPo) identification | Supports succession plans and reduces external hiring needs |
| Succession coverage ratio | Shows how many key roles have ready replacements |
| Learning completion and skills development | Indicates progress in closing internal skill gaps |
| Diversity representation by level | Helps ensure future workforce plans support inclusive growth |
| Manager effectiveness scores | High or low scores can predict engagement, retention, or turnover |
| Absenteeism rate | Helps flag burnout or productivity challenges that may affect future staffing |
When tracked together, these metrics offer a data-backed view of talent supply, readiness, and risk, all foundational to workforce planning.
Deel Engage
How to collect and track workforce planning metrics
You’d usually need a mix of tools to collect and track workforce planning metrics. That’s because your data lives in multiple locations. Getting access to it is just the first step. For example:
- An HRIS (Human Resource Information System) pulls headcount, tenure, skills, and demographic data so you can gather supply and retention metrics
- You’ll use your ATS (applicant tracking system) to track the hiring pipeline stats, such as time to fill or cost per hire
- Global compensation solutions will show the total workforce cost and geo-compensation variance
- Talent management software captures productivity and engagement data such as revenue per employee or high-performer turnover rate.
As you’ve noticed, your data is in different systems. Things get even more complex as workers come in various types, and segmenting metrics by type can uncover subtleties that a single metric cannot reveal.
For contractors, you’ll want to look at cost by worker type and billable vs non-billable hours from your payroll or vendor management systems. With EOR hires, geo-compensation variance and the percentage of critical role positions filled are a must. Full-time employee performance is also easy to track if you look at revenue per employee, voluntary attrition rate, and span of control. As for freelancers, measure time to backfill and cost per hire.
Having fragmented data, though, is problematic. When your HRIS states you have 100 employees and payroll claims you have 105, your metrics are worthless. As a result, you’d need solutions to integrate your data sources.
For instance, you can aggregate cost per hire from the ATS with the total workforce cost from your payroll platform and cross-reference the skills gap index from performance tools. Without integrations, you’d have to rely on manual reconciliation, which can lead to all kinds of errors and delays.
From metrics to decisions: How to act on what you measure
Time to use your workforce metrics as a playbook, not just figures. Having visibility into trends, like a rising high-performer turnover rate, allows you to make focused adjustments to hiring or upskilling plans.
For example, a longer-than-expected time to backfill for critical roles might prompt you to work on building a stronger talent pipeline or reconsider reliance on contractors.
Metrics like revenue per employee also assist in making cost-benefit assessments, support confident forecasting, and demonstrate HR value as a strategic function.
Using accurate trends on metrics like forecast accuracy or plan adherence, you can predict headcount, skills, and costs with less guessing. This is useful for adapting to impending changes, like expanding into other markets or adopting new technologies.
Complementary resource
Ready to future-proof your talent strategy? Explore our guide to strategic workforce planning for practical steps to make your metrics count.
Streamline workforce planning and track key metrics with Deel
Workforce planning used to require a lot of coordination and often faced data silos or dated tools. With Deel’s streamlined data-driven approach, you can now rethink how to align talent and business strategy, manage costs, and adapt to change.
Deel’s Workforce Planning solution streamlines the workforce planning process, bringing together all key collaborators, workflows, and data in one place:
- Track, request, and approve headcount in real-time
- Define approval workflows and responsibilities
- Sync approved roles to your ATS so you can plan efficiently and grow faster
- Forecast costs with real-time data and AI insights
- Get a clear view of open and filled roles directly in your org chart for additional clarity
- Access real-time global salary insights to make a fair, competitive, international offer every time
- Use the built-in Global HRIS to connect your people data, hiring activity, and workforce planning tools in one place
Get a free Deel demo to sharpen your workforce planning and metric tracking for smarter, more agile workforce planning.
FAQs
Is the employee net promoter score (eNPS) relevant for workforce planning?
Yes. eNPS is a leading indicator of workforce risk. It measures how likely employees are to recommend their employer as a great place to work. It provides insight into overall employee engagement, morale, and loyalty, which are directly linked to turnover risk and talent stability.
Example: If the engineering function has an eNPS of -10, workforce planning teams might anticipate a spike in departures and adjust headcount plans or open hiring requisitions accordingly.
How can the employee retention rate be used for workforce planning?
Retention rate is a core workforce stability metric—essential for estimating future workforce supply.
How it supports workforce planning:
- Shows how long people stay in key roles, which helps forecast replacement needs
- Helps identify whether current workforce strategies are sustainable (e.g., can we scale sales with 60% annual attrition?)
- When segmented (e.g., by role, region, tenure), it identifies where to invest in development or hiring pipelines
Example: If first-year retention for customer success managers is only 40%, the workforce plan might shift to reduce hiring volume or redesign onboarding and training.
About the author
Lorelei Trisca is a content marketing manager passionate about everything AI and the future of work. She is always on the hunt for the latest HR trends, fresh statistics, and academic and real-life best practices. She aims to spread the word about creating better employee experiences and helping others grow in their careers.
