HR Budget Template (Excel + Google Sheets, Free)
What's inside the HR budget template
The workbook has two tabs: Budget (up to 30 cost categories with budgeted and actual amounts) and Cost per Employee (a small dashboard where you enter your average headcount).
Each Budget row calculates variance in dollars and as a percentage automatically - no separate variance-tracking sheet, no manual subtraction. Categories are a dropdown covering the full HR department: salaries & wages, benefits, recruiting, training & development, HRIS/software, compliance & legal, employee engagement, and other.
The Cost per Employee sheet takes your total budgeted and total actual spend from the Budget sheet and divides each by the headcount you type in, giving you a budgeted and an actual cost-per-employee figure that updates the moment you change headcount.
Whole-department budget vs. recruiting-only budget
This template budgets the entire HR department as one workbook - recruiting is one line among training, benefits, software and compliance, not the whole picture. If you only need to budget recruiting spend specifically, see the site's Recruitment Budget template instead, which goes deeper on that single category.
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Budget vs. actual variance, and cost per employee
Variance is actual spend minus budgeted spend for each category - a positive number flags overspend, a negative number flags underspend, both calculated automatically as you fill in actuals throughout the year.
Cost per employee ties HR spend to headcount, a feature shape not confirmed in this wave's scraped competitors but useful for benchmarking - as your headcount changes, both the budgeted and actual cost-per-employee figures recalculate instantly from the same totals.
Who this template is for
HR managers and small-business owners who need to plan and track the department's full budget across every cost category, not just one line item like recruiting or benefits.
It's built for department-level planning and monthly or quarterly variance review - pair it with your recruiting-specific budget if you also want that level of detail.
How to use it
- List every HR cost category with budgeted and actual amounts - variance calculates automatically.
- Check the summary below the table for total budgeted, total actual and total variance.
- Enter your average headcount on the Cost per Employee sheet to see budgeted and actual cost per employee.
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Frequently asked questions
How is this different from the site's Recruitment Budget template?
This covers the whole HR department budget - recruiting is one category among salaries, benefits, training, HRIS/software, compliance and engagement. The Recruitment Budget template goes deeper on recruiting spend specifically.
How is variance calculated?
Actual amount minus budgeted amount, both in dollars and as a percentage of budget - a positive variance means you spent more than planned on that category.
How is cost per employee calculated?
Total HR budget or total actual spend, divided by the average headcount you enter on the Cost per Employee sheet - update headcount each period to keep the figures current.
Can I use this in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload the downloaded file to Google Drive, then open it and choose File > Save as Google Sheets. The variance and cost-per-employee formulas keep working.
How many budget categories does it support?
Up to 30 rows on the Budget sheet - enough to list every major HR cost category with room for more than one row per category if you want to split them further.
What's the usage license?
Personal use or use within one business. It's not meant to be resold or redistributed as a template product.