Headcount reporting, under control
Stop Reconciling Headcount:
Run a People Ops Close
Board week is when a lot of companies discover their people data isn’t real.
The CFO asks for headcount by function, planned starts, comp rollups, and open roles. HR pulls one number. Finance pulls another. Recruiting has a third. Everyone spends the next 48 hours reconciling—and leadership makes decisions in the fog.
This isn’t a “reporting problem.” It’s an operating system problem.
Why headcount goes sideways
Headcount breaks when “who works here” is spread across payroll, an HRIS, a recruiting tool, and a handful of trackers. Titles drift. Departments aren’t standardized. Manager changes live in Slack. Offers get approved in DMs. Then you ask the system for truth and it gives you… versions.
And the cost isn’t just embarrassment. When leaders can’t trust headcount and comp data, forecasting weakens, hiring slows, and managers become the escalation path for basic people operations.
The fix: run a People Ops close (like finance does)
A People Ops close is a short monthly ritual that produces one clean, executive‑usable set of answers. Not a deck. Not a fire drill. A repeatable cadence.
It’s three moves:
First, you define the truth: what counts as headcount, how you label functions, how you handle contractors, start dates, and transfers. No debate during board week.
Second, you lock the workflow: changes happen in one place, through one approver path. No shadow updates, no “just this once” edits.
Third, you publish a simple monthly output leaders can trust: headcount by function, planned vs. actual starts, open roles, and cost rollups. Same format, same day each month.
When that cadence exists, reporting stops being a scramble and becomes a system.
The Outcome You Want
Leadership gets reliable answers quickly. Meetings move from reconciling numbers to choosing actions. Managers stop routing every change through Ops. Payroll runs without heroics because upstream data doesn’t drift all month.
The best part: you don’t need perfection to start. You need ownership, standards, and a cadence that holds.
We build the systems behind great people.
People Street is the People Ops Operating System for scaling teams: we implement or stabilize your HRIS, then run managed people ops with a documented cadence—so payroll, onboarding, benefits, and reporting stay clean as you grow.
If your board is asking for headcount and comp reporting—and you don’t trust the numbers—we should talk.
Not a PEO. Not unlimited admin. Not legal counsel.
