Manpower Planner

What this tool does

CM8-06 answers the daily production-planning question: do I have enough people for the plan, and what does the shortfall cost me? You describe each role — its shift pattern, its requirement (fixed coverage or a demand-driven output target), the people you actually have, and how much of their time is lost to absence and indirect work. The tool computes the effective supply, the gap per role, how much of that gap overtime can legally absorb, and compares the weekly cost of filling the rest with overtime versus new hires.

Everything runs inside this single HTML file. No installation, no account, no network requests — your headcounts, rates and plans never leave your computer.

FTE fundamentals

All staffing math here is in weekly FTE (full-time equivalents). One FTE is one person working the role's full weekly pattern (hours/shift × days/week). A person on the payroll is not a full FTE of productive capacity: part of their paid time disappears into absence and indirect work.

Comparing required FTE against effective available FTE — never raw headcount — is what makes the plan honest. A line that "has 12 people for 11 positions" is actually half a person short on an average day.

Coverage mode vs demand-driven mode

Coverage per shift

Use this when the requirement is positional: so many bodies must be on the floor every shift regardless of volume — machine operators, forklift drivers, quality inspectors, security, team leads.

The model assumes your people work the same days-per-week pattern the role operates. If you run 7 days but individuals work 5, plan the role as separate crews or increase the per-shift figure accordingly (a 7-day rotation needs 7/5 = 1.4× the per-shift coverage in rostered heads).

Output target (demand-driven)

Use this when the requirement follows volume: assembly, packing, picking, sewing, welding. Enter the weekly output target and the labour standard — direct person-minutes per unit, from your routing, time study or historical rate.

The required figure is effective FTE — hands actually producing. The gap calculation compares it against effective supply, so absence and indirect time are counted once, on the supply side.

Absence and indirect time

• Absence rate — all paid and unpaid time away: vacation, statutory holidays (if worked days include them), sick leave, parental leave, jury duty. Annualize it: a person with 25 days off out of 250 working days is 10%.
• Indirect time — time at work but not covering the role: training, toolbox meetings, 5S/cleanup, data entry, first-off inspections. Measure it or start with 5% and refine.
• Overtime cap — the sustained OT you can actually ask for, as a percentage of base hours. Legal limits, union agreements and burnout all apply; 10% (≈4 h on a 40-h week) is a common sustainable ceiling, 20–25% is a short-term surge only.

Gap, overtime and hiring

• BALANCED — supply matches the requirement within ±0.05 FTE.
• OT COVERS — the role is short, but the gap fits inside the overtime cap.
• HIRE n — overtime alone cannot close the gap; n is the gross heads to recruit (grossed up so the new people's own absence and indirect time are covered).
• SURPLUS n — more than half an FTE spare; a redeployment or cross-training opportunity.

Cost model

Enter the fully-loaded hourly cost: base wage plus benefits, employer taxes/statutory contributions and shift premiums — typically 1.25–1.4× the gross wage. The tool then shows:

The OT-vs-hire comparison is deliberately simple: it compares steady-state weekly cost only. It ignores recruiting and training cost, ramp-up time, severance risk and schedule flexibility — overtime is usually right for gaps you expect to close within a few months; hiring is right for structural gaps. Use the comparison as a first screen, not a final answer.

Typical planning values

• Factor — Typical range — Notes
• Absence rate (manufacturing) — 6–12 % — Higher with generous leave or older workforce
• Indirect time (direct roles) — 3–8 % — More during ramp-ups and audits
• Sustainable overtime cap — 8–12 % — 20 %+ only for short surges
• OT premium multiplier — 1.5× — 2.0× for Sundays/holidays in many jurisdictions
• Fully-loaded cost vs gross wage — 1.25–1.4× — Country- and benefits-dependent
• Labour standard allowance — +10–15 % — PF&D (personal, fatigue, delay) on pure cycle time

Saving your work

• Autosave: settings, the editor draft and the whole plan are kept in this browser's local storage (when allowed) and restored next time you open the file. The indicator in the toolbar shows the last autosave time.
• Save (toolbar, or Ctrl+S): writes the plan to this browser immediately and flashes Saved ✓ HH:MM. Use it before closing the tab if you have been typing quickly.
• Save project (.json) / Export .json: a portable file with every role, setting and report detail — share it or archive it with the production plan. Different from Save: it produces a file, not a browser copy.
• Export CSV: the full gap-and-cost table for spreadsheets, ERPs or the weekly ops review.
• Report details: title, company, department, prepared-by and closing notes on the Plan tab print into the report header and its closing section, and are saved with the project.
• Print Report: rebuilds and prints a formatted report — executive tiles, the gap table, the overtime-versus-hire comparison and all three charts (browser print → save as PDF works too).