What is Full-time Equivalent FTE?

For example, you may have one staff member working 30 hours a week, another working 50 hours a week, and a third who worked 40 hours a week. Considering the average FTE or full-time working week is 40 hours, this means you have 3 full-time staff. Identifying full-time staff is not as easy as saying, “You work 40 hours a week. You’re full time.” Not when some employees work 50 hours some weeks, and 30 other weeks. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act is a law requiring some employers to offer continued health coverage to workers and their families when they are no longer eligible for the company-provided plan. Figuring out exactly how many people work for a company is more complicated than asking for a show of hands. And while they’re all valued as part of the company, there are certain situations in which they’re not considered in the same way when calculating your headcount.

• If the total is at least 50, the employer is an ALE and is required to offer health insurance to all qualifying employees.
• If you’re offering health coverage to remote workers, there may be some additional considerations.
• You’ll need to count the number of employees employed in your company throughout the year.
• It will help you plan your project work in regards to deadlines and your budget.
• Available hours per week is the number of hours your business considers standard work time multiplied by the number of employees you require to accomplish those related needs.

Full-time equivalent refers to a unit which indicates the workload of an employed person in a way that makes workloads comparable across various contexts. It allows companies to standardize salaries by finding an equivalent salary between the part-time and those working full-time. This article was co-authored by Jill Newman, CPA and by wikiHow staff writer, Hunter Rising. Jill Newman is a Certified Public Accountant in Ohio with over 20 years of accounting experience. She has experience working as an accountant in public accounting firms, nonprofits, and educational institutions, and has also honed her communication skills via an MA in English, writing jobs, and as a teacher. She received her CPA from the Accountancy Board of Ohio in 1994 and has a BS in Business Administration/Accounting.

Are there any exceptions to calculating FTEs?

Calculating your FTE highlights areas for improvement when it comes to project needs or employee hours. When you are determining FTE, it’s important to know what a full-time workweek means to your company. This method of calculation is a common way of creating an accurate forecast. Human Resources departments often use FTE to figure out how to set the working hours and salaries of employees.

When using FTE alongside other performance metrics, it can become easier to understand per-employee costs and output in a large organization. From hiring and onboarding remotely to supporting employee mental health, find relevant HR resources for helping your business recover from https://www.bookstime.com/ a crisis. Request a proposal today to learn more about our international payroll services and how we can help you manage and grow your global team. If you fail to meet the above mandate for part of the year, you owe payment for each month you didn’t meet the requirements.

What constitutes a full-time employee under the Affordable Care Act (ACA)?

Here are some common scenarios in which you wouldn’t have access to employer-sponsored insurance – and suggestions for how you can still get affordable, comprehensive health insurance. The figure 1.0 refers to one employee working full-time while the figure 0.5 refers to an employee that works half full-time hours. For example, say you run an ice cream van five hours per day, four days a week . Employers can use FTE to guide their hiring strategy and plan for a project, while governments often use the metric to determine program eligibility. A part-time worker who works half-time would be equivalent to 0.5 FTE. Jean Murray, MBA, Ph.D., is an experienced business writer and teacher who has been writing for The Balance on U.S. business law and taxes since 2008. No, people who own the organization or company cannot be counted in the FTE and average annual wage calculation.

If you’re concerned about staying compliant, consider software such as Homebase that will track your employee hours, provide reporting, and can also prepare your time sheets for payroll. Jennifer Hartman is an HR Specialist and staff writer for Fit Small Business, with over 15 years of experience in accounting, payroll, and human resources. In general, full-time means an employee who works 40 fte meaning hours per week, although this can vary depending on the organization. FTE calculations are also important when determining eligibility for certain federal programs and benefits. If your business has a 32- or 35-hour workweek, then multiply the number of employees by that amount instead of 40. If you increase your opening hours and are open every day of the week, then you have a 0.875 FTE.

What is Full-time Equivalent (FTE) & How to Calculate It

The ACA legally requires that employers, individuals, and the government each help offer insurance to as many people as possible. Companies with 50 or more FTE hours worked — regardless of the actual headcount — legally classify as an Applicable Large Employer . FTE uses 1.0 to mean one full day of work, while 0.5 would mean half of that amount or less than a full day of work. Not every full-time employee is an FTE employee, since FTE status only includes employees who work hours contributing toward a 1.0 or 0.5 FTE measurement. There are several tools online called “employment calculators” to get an estimate about your overall costs for employees in different countries. FTE is frequently used to assess an employee’s workload and its contribution to a project, or to track cost savings in a company.