FREESKILL v1.0UPDATED 2026-08

Headcount

Headcount connects aggregate work and role capacity to strategic demand, then compares scope, process, flexible capacity, automation, contracting, and fixed headcount using supplied evidence.

A vacant seat, an overloaded feeling, or an industry benchmark is not a role case. A useful headcount review starts with the outcome, classifies aggregate demand, establishes sustainable capacity in comparable units, and tests which recurring work and capabilities require a durable owner.

This playbook builds, compares, or audits capacity options. It uses only supplied demand, capacity, cost, revenue, and scenario inputs, and it requires human finance and people validation. It never identifies, ranks, or recommends named people for termination, layoff, reassignment, or replacement.

Start with the work and the capacity mechanism. A headcount number is an output, not the premise.

SIGNALS YOU NEED THIS

A staffing request starts with a title or benchmark instead of a measurable outcome and durable work.

Core demand, seasonal demand, current capacity, and rework are mixed into one unsupported gap.

Automation or contracting is assumed to be cheaper without comparable cost, quality, privacy, safety, continuity, or people-process evidence.

REPLACES

Vacancy-based requests, unsupported hiring targets, invented savings, and person-level employment recommendations.

PAIRS WITH

Business Goals, Organizing for Speed, 2 Pizza Team, Prioritization Formula, and Making Great Hiring Decisions.

0 of 4 steps complete

STEP 01Frame the aggregate capacity decision

State the strategic outcome, customer or beneficiary, planning horizon, constraints, human decision owner, date, and required finance and people reviewers. Remove person-level records and keep the analysis at work, capability, and role level.

OUTCOME
  Keep review completion within five business days.
SCOPE
  Aggregate review demand and analyst capacity only.
DECISION OWNER
  Operations director
DECISION DATE
  September 25
REQUIRED VALIDATION
  Finance lead and people lead

STEP 02Separate demand from sustainable capacity

Classify fixed or core, variable or scalable, and unclear demand. Use the same work definition, quality standard, unit, and period for capacity. If the inputs are incompatible, do not calculate a gap.

SUPPLIED CAPACITY
  Two analysts at 80 reviews per week each: 160 per week.
SUPPLIED CORE DEMAND
  170 reviews per week for 16 weeks: 10-review weekly core gap.
SUPPLIED SEASONAL INCREMENT
  40 additional reviews per week for a separate 16-week period.
LIMIT
  No handling time, backlog cost, quality effect, or productivity is inferred.

STEP 03Test the role and compare capacity options

Define the recurring outcome, durable work, capability need, work that stops or transfers, and success measures. Compare scope, process, shared capacity, time-bound contracting, approved automation, and fixed headcount using outcome coverage, demand fit, time to useful capacity, supplied total cost, reversibility, risk, and required approval.

COMMON OPTION SET
  - Stop or defer lower-priority work
  - Simplify process or remove rework
  - Use approved automation with human controls
  - Share or reallocate aggregate capacity through an authorized process
  - Use time-bound contracted capacity through procurement and legal review
  - Add fixed headcount through finance and people review

NO DEFAULT WINNER
  Unknown cost or risk does not receive a favorable rank.

STEP 04Validate the cost view and human gate

Calculate only from supplied compatible inputs, record exclusions, and require finance validation. Use scenarios only when their assumptions are supplied. Preserve privacy, safety, quality, continuity, reversibility, and people-process safeguards, then leave budget and employment decisions with authorized humans.

SUPPLIED ANNUAL INPUTS
  Base compensation: 90,000
  Employer costs: 22,000
  Tools: 3,000
  Recruiting and setup: 5,000
TOTAL
  120,000, subject to finance validation.
SUPPLIED SAME-PERIOD REVENUE
  2,000,000
COST PERCENTAGE
  6 percent, subject to finance validation.
EMPLOYMENT ACTION
  None. The artifact does not open, close, fill, eliminate, or reassign a role.

Download the folder into your agent's skills directory. It uses only the material you provide and makes no remote calls.

skills/headcount

headcount/
├── SKILL.md                         ← build, compare, and audit modes
├── meta.yaml                        ← version, sources, test prompts, changelog
├── LICENSE.md                       ← MIT
├── assets/
│   ├── headcount-proposal-template.md ← aggregate role case
│   ├── headcount-options-template.md ← common-criteria comparison
│   └── headcount-audit-scorecard.md ← plan-quality audit
└── references/
    ├── capacity-options.md          ← demand classes, options, and cost fields
    └── zero-based-role-test.md      ← future-work role justification

INVOKE IT LIKE THIS

"Build the headcount proposal."

Download skill v1.0 View source files

WORKS WITHClaude Code