What Is FTE?

What is Full Time Equivalent?

Full Time Equivalent or FTE is used in call and contact centres to provide the equivalent headcount for one person working full time.

• So 1 FTE = Somebody who works Monday – Friday
• or 1 FTE = Two people who work half a day

In terms of the number of hours, then one FTE could be either 37.5 hours or 40 hours per week, depending on the number of hours per week that you work in your organisation.

If you only have full-time staff, your FTE is therefore the number of staff you require.

It has no bearing on number of calls, shrinkage etc.

In BPO, the meaning of FTE is merely the number of full-time staff required. This can be factored as full-time staff + part time staff.

2 x 50% hours = 1FTE

How to Calculate FTE

1. Determine Full-Time Hours

Establish the standard number of hours that constitutes a full-time workweek in your organization. This is usually 40 hours per week but can vary by company or region.

2. Calculate the FTE for an Individual Employee

Formula:

FTE = Actual Hours Worked by the Employee ÷ Full-Time Hours

Example: If an employee works 30 hours per week and full-time is defined as 40 hours per week:

FTE = ​30 ÷ 40 = 0.75

So, this employee represents 0.75 FTE.

3. Calculate the FTE for Multiple Employees

Add up the FTE values for all employees to get the total FTE.

Example:

• Employee A works 40 hours per week (1.0 FTE).
• Employee B works 20 hours per week (0.5 FTE).
• Employee C works 10 hours per week (0.25 FTE).
• Total FTE = 1.0 + 0.5 + 0.25 = 1.75 FTE.

4. Using an Erlang Calculator for Workforce Planning

Erlang Calculators are tools often used in contact centres or environments where customer service levels need to be balanced with staffing levels.

These calculators can help determine how many agents (FTEs) are required to handle a specific volume of calls or tasks while maintaining desired service levels.

Steps to Use an Erlang Calculator:

• Input Call Volume: Enter the expected number of calls or tasks per hour.
• Service Time: Provide the average time it takes to handle each call or task.
• Service Level Target: Specify the percentage of calls or tasks you want handled within a certain time frame.
• Calculate FTE: The Erlang calculator will compute the number of agents (FTEs) required to meet these parameters.

Example: If your contact centre expects 200 calls per hour with an average handling time of 5 minutes per call, and you aim for 80% of calls to be answered within 20 seconds, the Erlang calculator might suggest you need 15.7 FTEs to achieve this.

Author: Rachael Trickey
Reviewed by: Hannah Swankie