Full-Time Employee (FTE)

A Full-Time Employee (FTE) is a staff member who works a standard, full-time schedule as defined by an organization or regulatory framework — typically 35 to 40 hours per week. The FTE metric standardizes employee headcount to evaluate workforce capacity, productivity, and labor costs.

For example, two part-time employees working 20 hours per week each would collectively be counted as 1.0 FTE.

This calculation is frequently used for:

• Workforce planning and budgeting

• Compensation and benefits allocation

• Compliance with labor laws and regulations

• Financial modeling and productivity analysis

In scaling startups or professional service firms, FTE ratios are key in forecasting revenue per employee, capacity for client servicing, and operational scalability.