Hiring planning and headcount planning
See what the hire changes before it becomes payroll.
Plan a future role with its start date and expected cost, then see how it changes payroll, burn, and runway before the hire becomes part of the current team.
- Future cost stays planned
- Timing stays visible
- The decision stays human
Conceptual explanation, not a product interface.
Chapter 01
Start with the team the business already carries.
Start with the team and payroll the business already carries. RunwayCal keeps planned roles separate, so a future hire does not appear as a cost the business is already paying.
This is planning for the financial effect of a role. It does not recruit people, run payroll, or manage performance.
Chapter 02
Add the role before it becomes realized payroll.
Record the role, department, planned start date, and expected compensation. Salaried, hourly, and per-unit plans retain the cost inputs you provide.
The role stays planned until its status changes. You can revise the timing or cost, remove it, or mark it filled when it becomes a real team role.
Chapter 03
Put the cost on the timeline.
Starting next month affects more months of payroll than delaying the role by a quarter. The start date controls when the expected recurring cost enters the Hiring Impact view.
Timing is visible without pretending the role has already been filled or the payroll has already been paid.
Chapter 04
See the financial consequence in Hiring Impact.
Hiring Impact is a separate planning projection. It compares current and adjusted runway, shows the monthly burn increase, totals the additional 12-month spend, and places planned starts on a 12-month timeline.
It does not silently rewrite canonical runway. Planned hires stay outside realized payroll until their state changes.
Chapter 05
See payroll change from that point forward.
A planned hire is not a one-month expense. Hiring Impact carries the resolved monthly cost forward from the planned start, making the recurring pressure visible across the months ahead.
The projection uses the compensation inputs you provide. It does not invent benefits, taxes, equipment, or overhead that are not represented in those inputs.
Chapter 06
Use runway as consequence, not a promise.
Hiring Impact shows how the planned cost changes a separate runway view. It shows the financial consequence, not a guarantee about how long the business will last.
Canonical runway remains based on confirmed reality. A planned hire is visible as excluded planning context until it becomes active; scenario runway remains hypothetical.
Chapter 07
Test timing before committing.
Compare a start next month with a delay of one quarter, or test a different compensation assumption. Each scenario remains separate from the current team and recorded payroll.
Compare the consequences, then return to the hiring plan with a clearer view of what timing asks from cash and runway.
Hypothetical alternatives, not current payroll.
Chapter 08
Decide what should change.
Review the payroll, burn and runway effect, then decide whether the role, timing or cost still fits the plan.
RunwayCal shows the planning effect. The hiring decision stays with you.