FTE to headcount converter
FTE is hours expressed as full-time contracts; headcount is people. The two only match when everyone is full-time. Enter the FTE a plan needs and the share of hours delivered by part-time contracts, and the converter gives the people to recruit, seat and licence.
People in post to deliver the FTE.
- Establishment to budget
- 88
- Full-time people
- 46.2
- Part-time people
- 37.1
- Contracted hours per week
- 2,475.0 h
Posts, allowing for vacancies.
Show the working
- 66 FTE × 37.5 h = 2475 contracted hours a week.
- 30% of those from part-timers: 743 h ÷ 20 h = 37.1 people; the rest 1733 h ÷ 37.5 = 46.2 full-timers.
- Headcount = 83.3, rounded up to 84. With 5% of posts vacant at any time, the establishment to budget is 87.7.
Doing this for every interval of the week? Pebble WFM computes the requirement from your forecast and builds the roster. Free month, no card needed.
How FTE converts to headcount
FTE times the full-time contract gives hours a week. Split the hours by the share that part-time contracts deliver, divide each share by its contract length, and add the people. Two twenty-hour contracts are roughly one FTE and two headcount, two seats and two licences.
The vacancy allowance turns headcount into establishment: the posts you must budget so that, with attrition and hiring lag leaving some empty at any time, the people in post still deliver the FTE. Five per cent is common; centres with high attrition need more.
Part-time contracts are not a cost of headcount; they are the cheapest roster efficiency there is. Shorter shifts fit the curve better, which the week planner's roster efficiency input captures, so a higher part-time share often needs fewer FTE as well as more people.
Frequently asked questions
- Is headcount always higher than FTE?
- Yes, unless everyone is full-time and no post is vacant. The gap is the part-time share plus the vacancy allowance, and it is the reason a budget in FTE and a seating plan in desks disagree.
- How do I go the other way, from people to FTE?
- Add up contracted hours and divide by the full-time contract. Forty people on 37.5 hours plus twenty on 20 hours is 1,900 hours, or 50.7 FTE.
- Which number do I give finance?
- FTE for the budget, establishment for the headcount plan, and the FTE guide for the argument about why the FTE is what it is.
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