A full-time employee is an employee who, for a calendar month, averages at least 30 hours per week or 130 hours of work per month.

For example, if Jane works 35 hours a week, or 140 hours in a month, Jane would be considered a full-time employee.

A full-time equivalent (FTE) is one or more employees whose work hours combined together equal 30 hours per week or 130 hours per month.

To calculate FTEs at your organization, you total the number of hours paid during a given period divided by the number of working hours in that period.

Here’s what the equation looks like:

Hours paid in a given period/working hours in that period = FTE.

So, let’s say:

1. Your organization runs on a typical 40-hour workweek
2. You have 4 employees
3. Jane works 40 hours a week
4. Brian works 30 hours a week
5. Travis and Katie each work 15 hours a week

To calculate your number of FTEs you would:

Add the total number of hours worked/paid 

40 + 30 + 15 + 15 = 100

Divide by the number of hours in the work period

100 / 40 = 2.5

In this example, your organization would have 2.5 FTEs.

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