Analysis and reporting on headcount trend over time for managed service providers.
Analysis and reporting on headcount trend over time for managed service providers.
The data covers the full scope of Autotask PSA records relevant to this analysis, broken down by the key dimensions your team needs for day-to-day decisions and client reporting.
Who should use this: MSP owners, HR leads, and operations managers planning workforce
How often: Monthly for headcount reviews, quarterly for planning, annually for budgeting
Analysis and reporting on headcount trend over time for managed service providers.
EVALUATE
ROW(
"Current", COUNTROWS(BI_HiBob_Employees),
"12M Growth", CALCULATE(COUNTROWS(BI_HiBob_Employees), BI_HiBob_Employees[status] = "Active")
)Breakdown of headcount trend over time across managed clients.
| Client | Current | 12M Growth | Hires (12M) | Departures (12M) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering | 487 | +14.3% | 98 | 37 | Good |
| Sales | 350 | +10.3% | 70 | 26 | Good |
| Customer Success | 282 | +8.3% | 56 | 21 | Warning |
| Product | 219 | +6.4% | 44 | 16 | Warning |
| Marketing | 185 | +5.4% | 37 | 14 | Critical |
| Finance | 136 | +4.0% | 27 | 10 | Good |
Engineering has the largest team with balanced growth across all roles. Finance shows slower hiring velocity, which may constrain their delivery capacity. Monitor the manager-to-IC ratio as headcount scales to prevent bottlenecks.
EVALUATE
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS(
BI_HiBob_Employees[company_name],
"Current", COUNTROWS(BI_HiBob_Employees),
"12M Growth", CALCULATE(COUNTROWS(BI_HiBob_Employees), BI_HiBob_Employees[status] = "Active")
)
ORDER BY [Current] DESCHow headcount trend over time has evolved over the past three quarters.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Current Employees | 75 |
| New Hires (logged) | 18 |
| Managers | 14 |
The portfolio shows consistent improvement over three quarters, moving from 142 in Q3 2025 to 168 in Q1 2026. This upward trend reflects targeted optimization efforts. Maintain the current improvement cadence and extend attention to newly onboarded clients to sustain the trajectory.
EVALUATE ROW("TotalEmployees", [Total Employees], "TotalManagers", [Total Managers], "NewHires", COUNTROWS(FILTER('BI_HiBob_Employee_History', 'BI_HiBob_Employee_History'[work_change_type] = "New Employee")))Managers with more than 8 direct reports, risking burnout and poor oversight.
| Manager | Department | Direct Reports | Span vs Target | Tenure (yrs) | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan de Groot | Engineering | 14 | 175% | 3.2 | |
| Michael Chen | Engineering | 12 | 150% | 2.8 | |
| Emma Rodriguez | Sales | 11 | 137% | 4.1 | |
| Sarah Bakker | Customer Success | 9 | 112% | 5.4 | |
| David Kim | Product | 9 | 112% | 1.8 |
Jan de Groot in Engineering carries 14 direct reports, 75% above the recommended maximum of 8. Combined with Michael Chen at 12 reports, Engineering has two managers operating far beyond sustainable capacity. Research consistently shows that managers above 10 direct reports deliver lower performance reviews and higher team attrition.
Monthly new hires and departures over 6 months.
| Month | New Hires | Departures | Net Change | Turnover Rate | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2025 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 1.8% | |
| Dec 2025 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 1.2% | |
| Jan 2026 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 2.4% | |
| Feb 2026 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 3.5% | |
| Mar 2026 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 4.6% | |
| Apr 2026 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 4.1% |
Departures have doubled from 3 to 7 per month over six months while hiring has slowed from 12 (January) to 6 (April). March was the first month with zero net growth, and April saw the first net loss. Monthly turnover rate has risen from 1.8% to 4.1%, well above the 2.5% industry benchmark.
Which departments are growing and which are shrinking.
| Department | Current HC | 6 Months Ago | Change | Growth % | Budget Fill |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering | 48 | 42 | +6 | +14.3% | 92.3% |
| Product | 18 | 16 | +2 | +12.5% | 90.0% |
| Customer Success | 24 | 22 | +2 | +9.1% | 85.7% |
| Sales | 16 | 18 | -2 | -11.1% | 76.2% |
| Marketing | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0.0% | 80.0% |
| Finance | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0.0% | 100.0% |
| Operations | 6 | 7 | -1 | -14.3% | 66.7% |
Engineering leads growth with +6 headcount (14.3%), aligned with product investment priorities. Sales has shrunk by 2 heads (-11.1%) and is only at 76.2% budget fill, which will directly impact revenue capacity. Operations lost 1 person and sits at 66.7% fill rate, the lowest in the organization.
The gap between top and bottom performers is wider than expected. The bottom 20% scores more than 25 percentage points below the portfolio average, indicating structural issues that require targeted intervention.
Entities in the moderate risk category show a declining trend over the past quarter. Without intervention, 3-4 of these entities may shift to the high-risk category within 60 days.
The top 30% of the portfolio maintains stable performance above target, indicating current best practices are effective and can serve as a model for the rest.
1. Conduct a targeted review of all high-risk entities within 2 weeks. Document the root cause for each entity and create a remediation plan with clear deadlines and accountable owners.
2. Implement automated monitoring for the moderate-risk group. Set thresholds that trigger an alert when performance drops 5 percentage points below target, enabling early intervention before entities slip into high risk.
3. Schedule this report monthly as part of the QBR process. Use the trend data to verify that improvement initiatives are delivering measurable results across multiple quarters.
Growing headcount with stable manager ratios indicates healthy scaling. Growing headcount with declining ratios signals management bottlenecks that need addressing.
Net growth rate, department distribution, manager-to-IC ratio, and tenure distribution. Together these reveal whether growth is balanced and sustainable.
More employees means more endpoints, more support requests, and more complexity. Track headcount changes to proactively adjust service capacity.
Q1 and Q3 typically see higher hiring activity. Year-end often shows departures. Adjust your analysis for these cycles when comparing quarters.
Research suggests 5-8 direct reports per manager is optimal. Below 5 creates management overhead. Above 8, the manager cannot provide adequate coaching, feedback, and career development. Above 12 is considered critical.
Monthly turnover rate = (departures in month / average headcount) x 100. Annual turnover is the 12-month rolling sum. The MSP industry benchmark is around 15-20% annually, or roughly 1.5% monthly.
Connect Proxuma Power BI to your PSA, RMM, and M365 environment, use an MCP-compatible AI to ask questions, and generate custom reports - in minutes, not days.
See more reports Get started