FTE (full-time equivalent)
FTE, or full-time equivalent, expresses staffing as units of one full-time person. Somebody working three days of a five day week counts as 0.6 FTE. Two such people total 1.2 FTE. The unit lets part-time and full-time staffing be added together in one figure.
FTE solves a small, real problem. A team of one full-timer and three part-timers cannot be described by a headcount, and FTE gives it a single comparable number.
It is at its best in aggregate. Budgeting, departmental sizing, comparing one year against another.
It is at its worst in a delivery plan, because it discards two things that decide whether work gets done. Which days somebody works, and what they can do.
The first matters more than people expect. Two people at 0.5 FTE are not one person, and if both work Mondays to Wednesdays, Thursday has nobody. The second is more obvious and still gets ignored: 1.0 FTE of the wrong skill delivers none of the work, while the plan shows the number as filled.
There is a coordination cost too. Two half people need two handovers, two sets of context and two people kept up to date. None of that appears in the unit, and on work that needs continuity it can eat a real share of what the number promised.
Where this shows up in PeopleMuster
PeopleMuster plans in hours on specific days rather than in FTE units, so a part-time pattern shows as the days it actually covers.
Questions people ask
How is FTE calculated?
A person's contracted hours divided by the organisation's full-time standard for the same period. The standard is a local choice, so an FTE figure is only comparable inside one organisation.
Is FTE the same as headcount?
No. Headcount counts people. FTE counts full-time equivalents. A team of twelve part-timers is twelve headcount and considerably less than twelve FTE.
When should FTE not be used?
In any plan where which days somebody works matters. FTE flattens the calendar, and delivery happens on specific days rather than on an average one.