A Short Monthly People Pack That Shows Capacity and Churn Before Margin Slips
Agency owners usually watch revenue and billing closely and see people issues only when someone resigns. We help you define a small set of people measures, such as utilisation, freelance spend, open roles and attrition by craft, agree how each is calculated, and build a short monthly pack that leadership reads and acts on. We then help you set the reports up on your own system or on the GullyHR platform.
Not sure what you need? Tell us about your business in six short steps and we will come to the first meeting prepared.
Share your requirementsThe starting point
Does Anyone See Capacity and Churn Together, Each Month?
Agencies are rich in data about clients and poor in data about their own people. Time is tracked, but it sits in a project tool; headcount is held by finance; exits are remembered by the founders. Nobody has seen the figures side by side, so a trend becomes visible only when it has cost something.
We help you build a one-page view that supports a decision.
You may be experiencing:
- Two people quoting different headcounts, one including freelancers and one not.
- Utilisation visible only for a few teams, and only when a margin problem is already apparent.
- Freelance spend known after the invoices arrive, with no view of whether it signals a staffing gap.
- Time to hire and open roles not tracked, so the cost of vacancies stays invisible.
- Attrition mentioned as a general worry with no breakdown by craft, level or account.
- Employee cost as a share of revenue calculated once a year, if at all.
- Reports that are long, rarely read and never discussed.
What we can help with
Our HR Analytics and Reporting Services for Agencies
Measure Definitions
Write down how each measure is counted: headcount including or excluding freelancers, utilisation by billable hours, attrition and time to hire, so that figures mean the same each month.
Headcount and Cost View
Report headcount by function and level, with employee cost as a share of revenue and freelance spend beside it, to show the shape and cost of the team.
Utilisation and Overload Flags
Show utilisation by person, level and team from your time data, and flag people and teams carrying sustained load, so that reallocation can be considered early.
Hiring Pipeline Reporting
Track open positions, time to hire, offers made and accepted and joiners from referrals and freelancers, so leaders can see where hiring is slowing.
Attrition and Movement Report
Report exits and promotions by function, level and account, with the regretted split, so that concentrations of churn are visible each month.
Leave, Overtime and Wellbeing Indicators
Add simple indicators, such as leave taken, late and weekend work and recovery days, to show whether the team is sustaining its pace.
Training and Development Reporting
Report training completed against plan and the promotion count by track, so that development is considered alongside capacity.
Monthly Pack and Review Meeting
Build a one-page pack and agree the monthly meeting that uses it: who attends, what decisions it supports and how actions are followed up.
The deliverables
What You Receive
Depending on the agreed scope, deliverables can include:
- A glossary of measures with calculation rules.
- A monthly one-page people pack.
- A source map showing where each figure comes from.
- A dashboard specification for your system or the GullyHR platform.
- Overload and attrition flags with thresholds you set.
- A review meeting agenda and action log.
- A first month of figures, rebuilt from your records.
- Configuration of reports on your system or on GullyHR.
Step by step
How We Work
Ask What Decisions Are Needed
We begin with the questions leaders actually want answered, such as whether to hire, when to pitch and where people are leaving, and only then choose measures.
Find the Data
We locate each figure in your timesheet, finance and HR sources, and note which are reliable and which need cleaning.
Define and Draft
We write the definitions and draft the pack, using your own recent figures, so leaders can react to something real.
Test for a Month or Two
We run the pack alongside your usual routine, and trim what is not used and add what is missing.
Set Up and Hand Over
We configure the reports, train whoever will maintain them and record the first pack as the baseline against which later months are compared.
The difference
See the Trend, Not Just the Level
A short, consistent people pack helps your agency to:
We do not promise outcomes. We record a baseline before work starts, covering the measures you can currently produce, how long the figures take to assemble and how many leaders use them, and report against it, so you can see what changed and what did not.
- Quote one headcount and one attrition figure.
- See utilisation and overload before margins slip.
- Know when freelance spend signals a gap to fill.
- Track how long vacancies stay open.
- Notice where churn concentrates.
- Spend monthly review time on decisions, not on reconciling numbers.
Find your fit
Who This Service Is For
Founders Who Watch Revenue but Not People Data
Add a short people view to the monthly management routine.
Agencies Planning Hires
Base hiring decisions on capacity and cost evidence.
Agencies Concerned About Churn
See where exits cluster by craft, level and account.
Agencies Reporting to Investors or Group Heads
Produce consistent people figures for people who ask for them.
How it usually shows up in marketing, advertising and creative
Agency reporting is financial. Revenue, margin and billing are looked at every month, and utilisation is reviewed when margins slip. People data is not part of the same view. Headcount is quoted differently by finance, HR and heads of function, since freelancers, interns and notice-period staff are counted in different ways. Utilisation is reported by team and not by level or person, so overload on a few people is hidden. Attrition is reported as a single figure, if at all. Hiring time, freelance spend and employee cost as a share of revenue are known to finance and not to the heads who can act. Pitch-time load and weekend work are seldom shown. Trends are lost because each month's numbers are built afresh. Leaders decide on instinct and anecdote.
Common challenges
Where it goes wrong in marketing, advertising and creative
Headcount has several answers
Finance, HR and the studio quote different numbers.
Utilisation hides the overloaded
A team average looks fine while a few people carry the work.
People cost is out of view
Heads of function do not see cost per level or freelance spend.
Trends are not kept
Each month is rebuilt and nobody can see direction.
A better process
What a working version looks like
- 01
Define each measure once
Headcount, utilisation, attrition and freelance spend, with who is included and where the data comes from. See HR reporting.
- 02
Keep the pack short
One page of headcount by function and level, utilisation and overload, freelance spend, open roles and attrition.
- 03
Show people-level load
Utilisation by person for the leads, so overload is visible and acted on.
- 04
Add cost against revenue
Employee cost as a share of revenue and by account, shared with heads of function.
- 05
Review it monthly
A fixed meeting with three decisions at the end, and numbers held each month for trend.
What to check this week
- Ask finance, HR and one head of function for the headcount today.
- Look at whether utilisation can be seen by person.
- Check if freelance spend is reported against the plan.
- Find the attrition number and how it was calculated.
- Count the decisions the last monthly review actually made.
What this looks like in marketing, advertising and creative
The parts of hr analytics and management reporting that are specific to this sector, rather than general.
Agency HR Dashboard
Capacity and churn, monthly.
What this coversHide
Agency HR Dashboard
Capacity and churn, monthly.
What this coversHide- Headcount by function and level
- Utilisation
- Overload flags
- Freelance spend
- Open positions
- Time to hire
- Attrition by function
- Promotion counts
- Employee cost as share of revenue
- Training completion
Questions on this, in marketing, advertising and creative
Start with a handful: headcount by function and level, utilisation, freelance spend, open positions and time to hire, attrition by function and employee cost as a share of revenue. Add others only if they support a decision.
Usually from your timesheet or project tool, finance records and the HR record. We map each figure to its source, note where quality is poor and show what must be fixed for the report to be reliable.
It can if misused. We show utilisation alongside overload flags and other indicators, so that it reveals who is overloaded as well as who is under-used, and we recommend how the figure is discussed with teams.
Yes, and many agencies begin that way. We can design the pack and definitions so that you maintain it yourselves, and set it up in a system or on the GullyHR platform later if the effort becomes a burden.
We report only what your records support, and where data is thin we say so. The first pack is a baseline, and later packs show change against it, with a note when a definition has changed.
Headcount by function and level, utilisation and overload flags, freelance spend, open roles, time to hire, attrition and employee cost as a share of revenue.
Because averages hide overload. A team at a healthy average can have two people near breaking point.
Monthly, in the same meeting as financial results. People figures that are seen once a year come too late to act on.
Write down definitions, use one source for each and keep them fixed from month to month.
Give Leadership a View of People That Arrives Every Month
If capacity and churn are discussed only when something has gone wrong, a short monthly pack is a good place to start.
Prefer to talk first? Call +91 80958 58589 or write to hello@gullyhr.com.
Book an HR Reporting Consultation
Tell us about your agency and what you currently track.
The general method — what hr analytics and management reporting covers, the questions it answers and what an engagement produces — is the same whatever the sector, and is set out on the hr reporting and analytics page. What is above is the part that differs for marketing, advertising and creative.
To run this in a system rather than on paper, see reports, analytics and automation.
Other HR topics for marketing, advertising and creative
Where to start
Most engagements begin with a review of how this runs in your business today, then a written process and the sequence to implement it.
See all HR topics for marketing, advertising and creative, or another industry.