headcount

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See also: head count

English

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Etymology

head +‎ count

Noun

headcount (plural headcounts)

  1. The act of counting how many people are present in a group.
    • 2023 January 11, Stephen Roberts, “Bradshaw's Britain: castles and cathedrals”, in RAIL, number 974, page 56:
      Population 39,693 (just north of 115,000 today), Cheltenham has been overtaken by Gloucester in terms of headcount.
  2. The number of people present in a group or employed by a company.
    • 2023 March 8, “Network News: More than 200 BTP vacancies”, in RAIL, number 978, page 12:
      The last headcount data for BTP is from December 2022, when the number of BTP officers was 3,183, up from 3,175 in April 2022.
  3. More generally, a consideration of a company's appropriate staffing level based on some larger context. (Generally used adjectivally.)
    Due to economic difficulties, the company will be making headcount adjustments.
  4. By extension, one slot in a workgroup, filled or to be filled by one person.
    I've convinced management to give us one more headcount, to take some work off the rest of us.

Usage notes

The two-word spelling head count refers neutrally to simple counts. The one-word spelling headcount tends to have a business jargon feel to it, especially when used adjectivally in phrases such as "headcount reduction", or in the extrapolated case where it refers to one person or one job opening.

Translations