Excel for Human Resource Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends HR Managers, HR Business Partners and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-HM-131

Before you join: Participants should be comfortable entering data, formatting worksheets, using basic formulas and working with rows, columns and filters in Microsoft Excel.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

HR teams hold data on employees, pay, attendance, recruitment, turnover and workforce capacity, yet reporting often depends on manually maintained spreadsheets, inconsistent definitions and late corrections. HR managers need reliable Excel models that turn HRIS exports and payroll extracts into decisions on staffing, retention, pay governance, absence and recruitment. This requires more than spreadsheet familiarity: it requires controlled data structures, transparent formulas, agreed metrics and reports that senior managers can interpret quickly.

This five-day intermediate course develops advanced Excel skills for HR reporting and analysis. Participants build structured employee datasets; use lookup, logical, date and dynamic-array functions; create PivotTables and PivotCharts; calculate workforce measures; analyse pay and absence patterns; track recruitment performance; and model workforce scenarios. The course addresses headcount, FTE, turnover, absence rates, time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, salary range penetration, pay gaps and succession risk. It also covers dashboard design, report commentary, data quality checks and confidentiality controls for sensitive employee information.

Instructor-led delivery combines short technical briefings with guided case work based on realistic HR datasets, including workforce planning, absence management, recruitment and compensation cases. Participants work through formula design, report construction, error checking and management reporting decisions in Excel. The course is available in classroom settings in more than 50 cities or live online, runs for five days from 08:30 to 16:30, and provides about 6.5 contact hours each day. Participants receive a certificate of completion and leave with reusable HR reporting templates, a metric dictionary and a personal improvement plan for their own reporting processes.

What you will be able to do

  • Build controlled Excel Tables for employee, recruitment, absence and compensation data
  • Apply XLOOKUP, SUMIFS, COUNTIFS and dynamic-array formulas to HR datasets
  • Create PivotTables, PivotCharts and slicer-based reports for workforce decisions
  • Calculate headcount, FTE, turnover, absence, recruitment and workforce planning metrics
  • Analyse compensation distributions, salary range penetration and pay-gap indicators
  • Model workforce supply, demand and staffing scenarios using Excel what-if tools
  • Design HR dashboards with documented metrics, thresholds and management commentary
  • Establish data-quality, confidentiality and workbook-control procedures for HR reporting

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce credible HR reports without relying on manual copy-and-paste consolidation
  • Explain workforce metrics and calculation assumptions confidently to senior stakeholders
  • Identify data errors before they affect headcount, pay or absence decisions
  • Create reusable dashboards for regular HR business reviews
  • Strengthen readiness for HR analytics, workforce planning and people reporting responsibilities

For your organisation

  • Improves consistency of headcount, turnover, absence and recruitment reporting
  • Reduces spreadsheet errors in employee, compensation and workforce planning analysis
  • Shortens preparation time for monthly HR and management reporting cycles
  • Provides clearer evidence for staffing, retention, pay and recruitment decisions
  • Strengthens confidentiality, auditability and ownership of HR reporting workbooks

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can structure, clean and control employee data for reliable Excel analysis.

  • Excel Table design for employee master data and controlled field names
  • Data validation lists preventing invalid grades, locations, contract types and statuses
  • XLOOKUP and XMATCH retrieving approved attributes from reference tables
  • TRIM, CLEAN and SUBSTITUTE standardising imported employee text fields
  • Date functions calculating service length, probation dates and age bands
  • Duplicate detection using COUNTIFS, conditional formatting and composite employee keys
  • Power Query steps importing, profiling and refreshing HRIS extracts

Participants can build accurate formulas for common HR classifications, summaries and exceptions.

  • IF, IFS and SWITCH formulas assigning policy-based employee classifications
  • SUMIFS and COUNTIFS measuring headcount by department, grade and location
  • AVERAGEIFS and MEDIAN summarising pay, tenure and absence distributions
  • Dynamic arrays with FILTER, UNIQUE and SORT for live HR lists
  • LET formulas reducing repetition in multi-condition workforce calculations
  • Error handling with IFERROR, ISNUMBER and blank-cell controls
  • Formula auditing with trace precedents, trace dependents and evaluation tools

Participants can create refreshable PivotTable reports for workforce monitoring and management review.

  • PivotTables summarising headcount, FTE, starters, leavers and internal moves
  • PivotTable calculated fields and measures for rates and workforce ratios
  • Slicers and timelines filtering HR reports by period and business unit
  • PivotCharts comparing workforce patterns without altering source data
  • GETPIVOTDATA building controlled management-report calculations from pivot outputs
  • Refresh procedures reconciling pivot totals to controlled source tables

Participants can calculate and explain workforce metrics using consistent population rules.

  • Headcount, FTE and average headcount definitions for consistent reporting
  • Monthly turnover rates calculated using agreed opening, closing and average populations
  • Voluntary, involuntary and regretted attrition segmented through coded termination reasons
  • Absence rate, Bradford Factor and lost-time measures with stated assumptions
  • Recruitment funnel metrics covering time-to-fill, offer acceptance and cost-per-hire
  • Span of control and manager ratios tested against organisational structures
  • Metric dictionary documenting formulas, population rules, exclusions and reporting cadence

Participants can analyse compensation data and prepare controlled pay decision-support reports.

  • Salary range penetration and compa-ratio calculations against approved pay ranges
  • Pay-gap analysis using mean, median and like-for-like comparison groups
  • Quartile and decile distributions identifying pay concentration and outliers
  • Conditional formatting flagging salaries below minimum or above maximum ranges
  • Scenario tables modelling merit increases, promotions and budget constraints
  • Percentile functions benchmarking internal pay positions by grade and location
  • Confidentiality controls separating identifiable compensation records from report outputs

Participants can analyse absence and attendance records while applying stated policy rules.

  • Working-day calculations using NETWORKDAYS.INTL, holidays and contractual work patterns
  • Absence episodes classified by reason, duration, certification and recurrence
  • Rolling 12-month absence trends calculated from employee-level absence records
  • Return-to-work triggers identified through policy thresholds and absence patterns
  • Bradford Factor outputs reviewed alongside context, policy and employee relations
  • Overtime, leave and attendance summaries reconciled to payroll cut-off periods
  • Exception reports prioritising missing dates, overlapping records and implausible values

Participants can monitor recruitment progress, conversion and hiring efficiency in Excel.

  • Applicant pipeline tables tracking source, stage, disposition and requisition status
  • Time-to-fill and time-to-hire calculated with explicit start-date definitions
  • Recruitment source conversion rates measured from application through accepted offer
  • Offer acceptance, candidate withdrawal and requisition ageing analysed by segment
  • Cost-per-hire schedules combining agency, advertising, travel and recruiter costs
  • New-hire quality proxy measures linked to probation and early attrition data
  • Recruitment dashboard views separating current workload from completed requisitions

Participants can model workforce requirements, gaps and staffing scenarios using Excel.

  • Workforce supply tables mapping current headcount, skills, vacancies and planned exits
  • Demand scenarios translating service volumes, productivity assumptions and staffing ratios into FTE
  • Gap analysis comparing required FTE with available workforce by role
  • Succession risk matrix combining criticality, readiness and estimated vacancy timing
  • Replacement-cost estimates using vacancy duration, recruitment costs and onboarding inputs
  • Scenario Manager and data tables testing alternative staffing assumptions
  • Action registers assigning owners, dates, dependencies and workforce-plan decisions

Participants can present HR analysis through clear dashboards and decision-focused commentary.

  • Dashboard wireframes linking executive questions to agreed HR metrics
  • Chart selection matching trend, composition, comparison and distribution questions
  • Dynamic named ranges feeding charts from expanding workforce tables
  • Conditional formatting communicating threshold breaches without distorting underlying values
  • Traffic-light indicators built from documented targets, tolerances and status rules
  • Management commentary distinguishing observed results, drivers, risks and recommended actions
  • Accessibility checks covering labels, colour contrast and readable chart scales

Participants can apply data governance and workbook controls to sensitive HR reporting.

  • Role-based workbook access, password protection and secure distribution procedures
  • Personal-data minimisation applied to HR reports, extracts and dashboards
  • Data-quality checks covering completeness, validity, consistency, timeliness and uniqueness
  • Audit trail design recording sources, refresh dates, assumptions and formula ownership
  • Version-control conventions preventing uncontrolled changes to approved HR reporting files
  • Workbook documentation specifying purpose, data definitions, logic and refresh instructions
  • Personal application plan prioritising HR reporting improvements after the course

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. HR metric dictionary template
  2. Employee data-quality checklist
  3. Workforce dashboard wireframe
  4. Turnover and absence analysis model
  5. Compensation analysis template
  6. Workforce planning scenario model

Who should attend

  • HR Managers — need reliable workforce reports for operational and strategic decisions
  • HR Business Partners — need evidence for workforce, retention and organisational discussions
  • HR Analysts — need stronger Excel methods for repeatable HR data analysis
  • People Analytics Specialists — need controlled spreadsheet models alongside HRIS reporting
  • Compensation and Benefits Analysts — need pay distribution and salary range analysis methods
  • Recruitment Managers — need pipeline, time-to-fill and source-performance reporting

Skills and tools covered

HR data analysisWorkforce metricsExcel dashboard designCompensation analysisWorkforce planningHR reporting controls

Tools and standards

Excel Tables, PivotTables, Power Query, Scenario Manager

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by guided work with realistic HR datasets and reporting problems. Participants build formulas, PivotTables, charts and models for employee records, turnover, absence, recruitment, compensation and workforce plans. Small-group discussions test metric definitions and reporting choices from the perspectives of HR, finance and line management. Simulations focus on identifying data exceptions, interpreting patterns and presenting findings. Each participant develops an application plan for improving a current HR spreadsheet, report or dashboard.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable entering data, formatting worksheets, using basic formulas and working with rows, columns and filters in Microsoft Excel. Familiarity with common HR data such as employee IDs, departments, grades, employment dates, absence records or recruitment stages is expected. Participants should have some experience preparing or reviewing HR reports, even if current reports are largely manual. Prior use of PivotTables, XLOOKUP, Power Query, macros, HR analytics software or statistical packages is not required. No programming, database administration or advanced mathematics background is needed.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should be comfortable with basic formulas, worksheets, sorting and filtering. The course teaches advanced formulas, PivotTables, Power Query and scenario tools from an intermediate starting point, so prior specialist Excel training is not required.

Bring a laptop with a current desktop version of Microsoft Excel, preferably Microsoft 365 or Excel 2021 or later. You may also bring anonymised examples of reports or data problems from your role, subject to your organisation's information-security rules.

The course is designed for HR managers, HR business partners, HR analysts, people analytics staff, recruitment managers and compensation specialists. It also suits finance or operations staff who prepare workforce reports with HR teams.

The technical methods are taught through HR reporting problems rather than generic sales or finance examples. Participants apply Excel to headcount, turnover, absence, recruitment, pay, workforce planning and confidential employee data.

Participants can improve existing monthly reports, standardise metric definitions, create refreshable PivotTable packs and introduce checks for HR data errors. The reusable templates and personal application plan provide a starting point for a specific reporting improvement.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is allocated across data preparation, formulas, workforce metrics, compensation, absence, recruitment, planning, dashboards and reporting governance.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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