Full-time equivalent (FTE)
expresses workforce size in full-time units: two half-time employees are 1.0 FTE. Budgets, benchmarks and legal thresholds (works-council sizes, quota duties, reporting bands) count in FTE or headcount — and confusing the two changes which obligations apply.
Where the FTE/headcount distinction bites
Legal thresholds vary in their counting unit: some duties trigger by headcount (each person counts once, however few hours), others by FTE or weighted schemes — Germany’s dismissal-protection and works-council thresholds use weighted part-time counts, Emiratisation bands use headcount, audit thresholds often use FTE averages. Applying the wrong unit places you on the wrong side of an obligation.
Operationally, FTE is the honest planning metric — capacity, cost-per-FTE, span ratios — while compliance calendars need a per-country threshold table with the correct counting rule for each duty.
FAQ
How is FTE calculated?
Contracted (or actual) hours divided by the full-time norm — itself local: 40 hours in much of Europe, 42 common in Switzerland, 48 in parts of the Gulf. A 32-hour Dutch contract is 0.8 FTE against a 40-hour norm. Define the norm per country before aggregating group numbers.
Do contractors count in FTE?
Not in employment FTE — but mature planning tracks total workforce capacity including contractor FTE separately, because delivery capacity and cost live in both pools. Regulatory counts, by contrast, follow employment status strictly.