In December 2022, IonQ turned to TeamOhana’s Headcount Planning Platform to streamline IonQ’s headcount planning process. Dean, Omar, Jessica, and the entire IonQ team now have greater visibility and control of the process and can work together in a collaborative workspace purpose-built for headcount planning and management.
Improving accuracy and visibility in a single source of truth
The first thing that IonQ did was connect its HRIS and ATS, plus upload their existing headcount plan, to make TeamOhana the single source of headcount truth. With these integrations set up, Dean and other budget owners no longer rely on Finance business partners like Omar and Jessica for the most up to date headcount information.
"It removes us [Finance] from the process and gives ownership back to the hiring and reporting managers." – Omar Hamade, Sr. Finance Manager
The entire organization can access information for both current team members and future headcount at any time in TeamOhana, and they can visualize it in a variety of ways. This includes a dynamic org chart, hiring tracker, and budget tracker.
Where they used to have to log in and out of systems, download and reconcile data, then share it out in multiple spreadsheets, now IonQ’s team can simply login to the platform, which automates headcount reconciliation and unifies data in an easy-to-use interface.
"Our original process using spreadsheets led to errors and confusion. With TeamOhana, we have a single source of truth, eliminating mistakes and ensuring accurate information." – Jessica Hocken Allen, Finance BP
Workflows to streamline headcount planning
With a single source of headcount truth, IonQ’s headcount planning process could then become much more agile and efficient.
The Finance team, after setting the annual budget, assigns budget envelopes to budget owners like Dean. He is then empowered with a custom and private environment to build his bottom-up headcount plan within the set budget. IonQ’s compensation bands, leveling framework, hiring locations, departments, and initiatives all are housed in TeamOhana, which enables him to move quickly and see corresponding budget impact as he goes.
Dean, and all managers, can also see his team’s org chart, where he can visualize both current team members and future headcount and all of their key attributes. This helps him make informed decisions around org design, span of control, and leveling as he builds new headcount plans.
But Dean and his colleagues can’t plan alone. They need input from hiring managers, as well as Finance and Talent partners to ensure the plan is actionable and achievable. Unlike the challenge of trying to collaborate in spreadsheets, TeamOhana built collaborative features into the platform to drive more effective teamwork.
Unleashing collaboration between all headcount stakeholders
When Dean is ready, he invites collaborators to view and contribute to his plan. Typically, this would include Omar in Finance, Rebecca Demarest (Talent BP), and all of his hiring managers. But this is not like sharing a spreadsheet, which has no access controls, no audit trails, and no easy way to track all the comments.
Instead, each collaborator sees only what they’re supposed to see, and can give feedback directly. Along the way, Dean and his collaborators can see all of the changes and feedback because everything, including the budget impact, is tracked in the Changes tab.
Additionally, as Dean’s hiring managers build or modify their own plans, they can leave comments on the plan or on an individual headcount. Any user who is “@ mentioned” in a comment will be notified and will also see the comment on their TeamOhana home page, so the comment never gets lost and always has context within the larger plan.
Together, Dean and his team can now build the strongest and most informed headcount plan possible.
"TeamOhana allows us to collaborate across departments and make informed decisions. We can easily see hiring plans, trade requisitions, and understand the impact of each hire on the budget." – Omar Hamade, Sr. Finance Manager
Bringing transparency for agile decision-making and smart org design
IonQ can also modify plans and adapt faster to changing business needs. Although Dean has an approved plan, he often needs to replan when a new initiative comes down the pipe.
Thanks to real-time visibility in the TeamOhana Hiring Tracker, Dean can see the exact status of every approved headcount in his plan. He doesn’t need to ping the recruiter to find out if an offer has been sent or find out a start date from a hiring manager.
Most importantly, he doesn’t need Finance to tell him how much headcount budget he’s used and how much he has left. This information, along with a real-time projection of the budget variance, is automatically reconciled and made available to him in TeamOhana.
In addition, IonQ’s headcount stakeholders can get “View” access into other hiring managers’ plans so that they can understand the hiring plan and org structure of other teams. This is important for executive leaders like Dean, who need to work with other execs and contribute to the overall design of the org so that it’s set up to achieve the company’s objectives.
It’s also valuable for hiring managers, who are now empowered to “horse trade” headcount between each other and design the best plans they can, before sending it up the ladder for approval.
“I am now able to get a quick view of other leaders’ plans and suggest swaps when it makes sense. Those conversations can now happen more easily thanks to the visibility in the platform.” – Dean Kassman, VP Engineering
Finally, in the TeamOhana Dashboard, every IonQ user with the right permissions can also see headcount analytics and insights that are not available in any other platform, including their HRIS, ATS, and financial planning system. These live insights include effective headcount, annualized salary burn, attrition rate, hiring pace, and much more—all made available to help IonQ make strategic, cost-effective headcount decisions at the right times.
"With TeamOhana, we can easily re-forecast and adjust headcount plans. This flexibility allows us to respond to market demands and strategic initiatives, ensuring responsible growth." – Jessica Hocken Allen, Finance BP
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