6 Ways Recruiting Can Make FP&A Look Good
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Talent Acquisition (TA) Leaders play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between the recruitment process and financial planning and analysis (FP&A). By strategically managing and communicating key aspects of recruitment, TA leaders can significantly enhance the performance and reputation of FP&A teams. Here are six ways recruiting can make FP&A look good:
Manage Headcount Changes Proactively
Headcount changes, if not communicated clearly, can disrupt financial planning. A unified system allows Recruiting Leaders to keep FP&A in the loop with timely updates on backfill requests, approved headcount modifications, and new headcount additions. Highlighting changes to priority roles and the timing of changes ensures smooth alignment with business objectives. This proactive approach means no surprises for FP&A, who can manage the critical "variance to plan" efficiently, ultimately supporting financial stability.
Key Actions:
Backfill Requests: Ensure FP&A is aware of any backfill requests, especially if the outgoing employee has not yet left. This avoids budgetary surprises and ensures smooth financial planning.
Changes to Approved Headcount: Update FP&A on any modifications to approved headcount, including start dates, salaries, titles, or levels.
New Headcount Additions: Communicate all new headcount additions promptly.
Priority Roles: Highlight roles deemed as high priority to align with business objectives.
Timing of Changes: Clearly outline the timing of any changes to headcount.
Why It Matters: Headcount changes translate to "variance to plan" in financial terms, a critical component of financial reporting. By keeping FP&A informed, you help them manage these variances effectively.
Accurately Forecast Recruiting Capacity
Forecasting hiring capacity isn’t just about numbers—it's about setting realistic and achievable goals. Recruiting Leaders need to assess the time needed to ramp up recruiting capacity and develop predictable hiring patterns. Accurate forecasting not only strengthens trust with FP&A but also helps ensure that hiring projections are reliable, building a consistent track record of success. By delivering on promises, Recruiting Leaders support the company's financial planning process and strengthen cross-departmental credibility.
Key Actions:
Ensure that your hiring forecasts are realistic and achievable.
Include the time needed to add new recruiting capacity, ramp-up periods, and achieving predictable hiring patterns.
Why It Matters: Accurate forecasts build trust and reliability. If you commit to hiring a certain number of employees per month, delivering on that promise enhances your credibility and supports FP&A in their financial projections.
Identify Blockers to Hiring
Recruiting Leaders need to pinpoint blockers to hiring, whether it’s a person or inefficiency lie to help finance understand if their targets are realistic. By addressing these blockers with data-backed insights, Recruiting Leaders allow FP&A to adjust financial plans accordingly, fostering a collaborative environment where operations and finance work in tandem to achieve shared business goals.
Key Actions:
Recruiting Funnel: Provide detailed metrics on the recruiting funnel to illustrate the efficiency of the process, compensation effectiveness, and close rates.
Recruiter Performance: Use data to highlight recruiter performance issues and take corrective actions.
Hiring Manager Performance: Identify and report how hiring managers may be blocking the recruiting process through missed interviews, incomplete scorecards, or frequent changes to hiring plans.
Business Planning & Reforecasts: Communicate how shifts in business targets impact the recruiting process.
Why It Matters: By pinpointing and addressing hiring blockers with data, you enable FP&A to adjust financial plans and support necessary changes, fostering a collaborative environment.
Sync Every Requisition to the Finance Plan
For Recruiting Leaders, syncing requisitions to the finance plan ensures seamless alignment between hiring activities and financial objectives. By assigning unique tracking numbers to evergreen roles and involving finance in any net new adds to the recruiting plan, leaders guarantee transparency and a consistent connection to the finance strategy. This coordination helps prevent discrepancies and provides FP&A with real-time visibility
Key Actions:
Assign unique tracking numbers to evergreen roles and ensure they match the finance plan.
Include finance in discussions about any net new adds to the recruiting plan, regardless of hiring manager approval.
Why It Matters: A 1:1 match between recruiting activities and the finance plan ensures transparency and alignment, making it easier for FP&A to track progress and plan budgets accurately.
Understand the Impact of Start Dates and Employee Burden on Budget
Knowing how start dates and salary changes impact your budget is crucial for keeping recruitment decisions aligned with financial planning. A recruiting leader should stay ahead of potential budget discrepancies by communicating nuances like role changes and start date shifts to finance. By doing this, you’ll avoid misunderstandings and provide finance with real-time visibility, proving that you understand the financial implications of every hire.
Key Actions:
Recognize that combining two lower-salary roles into one higher-salary role can have different financial implications.
Communicate these nuances to finance to avoid misunderstandings and ensure accurate budget allocations.
Track all start date changes and their reasons so finance has a clear idea of how much OPEX will be spent on salary THIS plan year as well as next.
Why It Matters: Detailed understanding of budget impacts from headcount changes protects against financial discrepancies and ensures that recruitment decisions align with financial capabilities.
Maintain a High-Priority (P0) Single Source of Truth
Having a single, up-to-date source of truth for high-priority roles empowers you to keep finance and leadership on the same page. This approach not only streamlines reporting but also helps everyone confidently track hiring progress without constant updates. By maintaining this clear, accessible resource, you ensure recruiting efforts are aligned with business goals, making you look like a true strategic partner.
Key Actions:
Develop a single source of truth for high-priority roles that finance can access and rely on.
Ensure this source is updated regularly and reflects the current focus areas of the business.
Why It Matters: A reliable single source of truth allows FP&A to have higher confidence in the OPEX and revenue implications of hiring key roles, enabling them to represent recruitment needs accurately even in your absence.
Conclusion
Finance teams can be the TA leader’s best partner, but this relationship requires effort and communication. By managing headcount changes, forecasting accurately, identifying hiring blockers, syncing requisitions to the finance plan, understanding budget impacts, and maintaining a single source of truth, you not only make FP&A look good but also ensure a more streamlined and effective recruiting process.
Taking care of finance will ensure they support you when it really matters, creating a synergistic relationship that benefits the entire organization.
