How Planet Labs streamlined their Recruiting and Finance process, giving senior leaders 30% of their time back.

Planet is a leading provider of global satellite imagery and insights. Founded in 2010 by NASA scientists, Planet operates the world’s largest fleet of imaging satellites, delivering data that helps businesses, governments, and organizations make informed decisions and address critical challenges.

"headcount365 has saved us time and given us the visibility we need to manage headcount strategically. It’s been a game-changer in aligning our hiring with our growth goals."

CLARENCE LAL
GLOBAL HEAD OF TALENT ACQUISITION, PLANET LABS

Challenges

Planet’s manual, JIRA-based headcount management process became a bottleneck as they scaled, consuming 30% of the team's capacity, struggling to scale, and lacking robust reporting, which hindered decision-making and alignment with financial goals.

Solution

By implementing headcount365, Planet centralized their headcount data, automated approval workflows, and integrated systems for talent acquisition, HR, and finance, creating a scalable solution that aligned headcount management with strategic growth.

Impact & Results

Planet regained 30% of their team’s capacity, streamlined workflows across departments, and significantly improved reporting, leading to better financial alignment and more informed hiring decisions.

Table of Contents

    Challenges

    As Planet scaled rapidly, their Global Head of Talent Acquisition built a custom headcount process using JIRA, a project management tool. While this approach worked initially, JIRA was not designed for headcount management, and the process soon became a heavy manual burden to maintain as the company grew.

    Key challenges included:

    • Time-Intensive Approvals: Planet’s team had to rely on manual data uploads and complex approval processes for every change, from location adjustments to department moves. This consumed 30% of the team’s capacity, with the Global Head of Talent Acquisition and the Head of Finance heavily involved in administrative tasks.

    • Lack of Scalability: As their hiring needs became more complex, the JIRA-based system could not scale effectively. Any changes to workflows required deep company knowledge and manual interventions, slowing down the process and limiting flexibility.

    • Inadequate Reporting: One of the biggest limitations was the lack of robust reporting capabilities. The team couldn’t track key metrics such as job requisition levels, salary adjustments, or the financial impact of hiring decisions. This data gap made it hard for Planet to align headcount management with financial planning.

    The Global Head of Talent Acquisition recognized that Planet’s growth required a more sophisticated headcount management system and viewed headcount365 as the next logical step in their journey toward headcount sophistication.

    The Solution

    Planet adopted headcount365 to centralize and streamline their headcount processes. headcount365 provides a single source of truth for headcount data and integrates seamlessly with their ATS and HRIS. Its approval engine automates workflows, provides real-time visibility, and ensures that processes are scalable as the company continues to grow.

    Implementation

    The transition to headcount365 was smooth, with key team members managing the onboarding. Thanks to the platform’s intuitive design and responsive customer support, Planet quickly moved from manual processes to a more efficient, automated system.

    Impact & Results

    The implementation of headcount365 has delivered significant improvements to Planet’s headcount management, including:

    • 30% Time Savings: The talent leader regained 30% of their time previously spent on approvals and reporting, allowing for a focus on strategic initiatives.

    • Unified Headcount Tech Stack: With headcount365, Planet’s systems are now fully integrated, eliminating the need for multiple tools and ensuring consistent, accurate data across departments.

    • Automated & Scalable Workflows: The platform’s automated approval processes and real-time dashboards provide transparency and allow the business to scale headcount workflows without manual effort.

    • Comprehensive Reporting: headcount365’s reporting capabilities have filled a critical gap, allowing Planet to track job requisition levels, salary changes, and the financial impact of their hiring decisions. These insights have improved decision-making and alignment with financial goals.

    • Improved FP&A Collaboration: The integration of headcount365 enhanced strategic collaboration between talent acquisition and finance, ensuring that hiring plans and budgets are aligned.

    Customer Experience

    Planet has been highly satisfied with headcount365. The customer support team has been responsive, and the platform’s flexibility and ongoing enhancements have made a significant impact on their operations. The Global Head of Talent Acquisition views headcount365 as a key enabler of Planet’s growth and sophistication in managing headcount.

    Future Plans

    As Planet continues to grow, they plan to leverage headcount365 for more areas of their business, including a deeper partnership between HR and finance via an FP&A system integration. They look forward to further customization in approval workflows and enhanced reporting features to continue refining their processes.