Staffing Plan Template

A staffing plan unites some of the most important aspects of a successful news business: strategy, goals, finances and people. It’s an opportunity to assess where you want to go, where you are and what it takes to reach your goals. Use this template to strategically plan your next few hires. Of course you’ll want to add and adapt elements to reflect the nuances and context of your organization, but consider this a jumping-off point. Here is a link to the template as a Google doc.

Your mission statement

Include your mission statement here to serve as a North Star as you develop this plan.

Sustainability Stage

• Current stage:
• Next stage:

How would one or more hires help you move to the next stage? 

Organizational Goals

• Goal 1
  • What has to happen for you to reach this goal?
  • How will you measure progress and success?
• Goal 2
  • What has to happen for you to reach this goal?
  • How will you measure progress and success?
• Goal 3
  • What has to happen for you to reach this goal?
  • How will you measure progress and success?

Current Key Roles

• Who is owning the vision and strategic direction?
• Who is ensuring your business is in compliance and protected against any legal or financial risk? 
• Who is working on the activities that generate revenue?
• Who is managing your money?
• Who is producing your product?
• Who is quality controlling your product?
• Who is ensuring your product reaches your audience?
• Who is overseeing team culture and overall team well being?
• Who is overseeing the team’s professional development and performance goals?
• Who’s owning DEIB/EDI?
• Who’s owning onboarding and recruiting?

Current Team

Team member	Key responsibilities	How they divide their time	Relevant strategic goal/s	Current bandwidth/capacity	Additional skills they could apply to the org	Growth expectations	Insights

HR Gap Analysis

Goal	Skills Required	Importance of Skill (1-3 scale)	Level of Skill Required (1-3 scale)	Do you have that skill on the team, can you train someone to learn it or do you need to add it?

External considerations

1. What is the talent availability in my market?
2. What are the compensation expectations for the roles I’m seeking to hire?
3. What changes in technology might affect the labor supply and demand?
4. What hiring trends should I consider?
5. What are my aspirational peers, allies and competitors doing?
6. What economic or financial factors might influence my plan?
7. What DEIB factors should I consider given my goals and the market?

Staffing Needs

1. Biggest gaps between capacity and goals
2. Potential shifts in current team
3. Tools and technology to consider
4. Employee types (and mixes) to consider
5. Experience and skill level required
6. When to make the hire/s

Positions Needed

Position 1

• Why it’s necessary
• Relevant strategic goal/s
• Employee type
• Level of skill and experience
• Hiring timeline

Position 2

• Why it’s necessary
• Relevant strategic goal/s
• Employee type
• Level of skill and experience
• Hiring timeline

Position 3

• Why it’s necessary
• Relevant strategic goal/s
• Employee type
• Level of skill and experience
• Hiring timeline

Job Scorecards

Position 1 (link to scorecard)

Position 2 (link to scorecard)

Position 3 (link to scorecard)

Workplace culture needs 

Need 1

Why it’s important

Plan to implement it

Need 2

Why it’s important

Plan to implement it

Need 3

Why it’s important

Plan to implement it