Time is Money: Why HR and Finance Can’t Afford to Lose Hours in Spreadsheets

In today’s public sector landscape, HR and Finance leaders are navigating increased demands with limited resources. From compensation planning to bargaining prep and workforce forecasting, the pressure is real and the time to get it all done is limited. 

So why are so many agencies still spending hours… in spreadsheets? 

The Time Trap: Manual Work That Drains Your Day 

If you’ve ever spent an afternoon trying to track down the right version of a labor costing sheet, rechecking formulas before a board meeting, or manually updating salary schedules across multiple tabs, you’re not alone. 

We hear it all the time: 

• “We’re constantly duplicating data entry between HR and Finance.” 
• “One wrong cell reference and the entire model is off.” 
• “We build these massive spreadsheets that only one person really understands.”  

The cost isn’t just in headaches, it’s in hours. Hours that could be spent modeling strategic changes, preparing negotiation scenarios, or working directly with department leaders to plan for vacancies and retention. 

Opportunity Cost: What Could You Be Doing Instead? 

Let’s be honest: spreadsheets weren’t designed for compensation planning. They’re flexible, yes — but they weren’t built to handle multi-union bargaining, long-term labor forecasting, or shared HR/Finance collaboration. 

The longer you spend managing spreadsheets, the less time you have for the work that really moves the needle: 

• Analyzing trends to inform your next pay structure. 
• Aligning budget and staffing goals across departments. 
• Preparing compelling, transparent data for union discussions. 
• Forecasting the impact of workforce shifts over time. 

These aren’t just nice-to-haves, they’re critical for navigating today’s workforce challenges. 

What Happens When You Get Time Back? 

When public sector agencies automate compensation workflows and move away from spreadsheet dependency, the results are immediate: 

• Faster proposal modeling with accurate cost comparisons across units. 
• Real-time collaboration between HR and Finance using a shared system. 
• Fewer errors and less time spent validating numbers. 
• More focus on strategy, not formatting.

Final Thought: Time Isn’t Just Money — It’s Mission-Critical 

At the end of the day, HR and Finance aren’t just managing data — they’re managing the future of the workforce. And that’s work too important to be buried under spreadsheets. 

Manual spreadsheets weren’t built for today’s workforce challenges — but TrueComp is.

Our benchmarking and labor costing software empowers HR and Finance teams to collaborate in real time, eliminate manual errors, and make confident, data-driven decisions faster.