How to convert FTE to hours

If a role is three quarters of a full-time job, how many hours is that? The answer depends on what counts as full-time for the same period. FTE, or full-time equivalent, is a share of a chosen full-time schedule, not a fixed number of hours.

Let this example's full-time week be forty hours. One FTE fills that whole week. Three quarters of an FTE fills three of four equal segments, so we expect less than forty hours.

Write hours per week equals FTE times full-time hours per week. The FTE has no units: it is a ratio. Multiplying by hours per week gives hours per week.

With zero point seven five FTE and a forty-hour week, multiply zero point seven five by forty. That's thirty hours per week. On the timeline, three ten-hour segments are filled and one is empty.

Reverse it to check: thirty hours divided by forty hours equals zero point seven five FTE. This inverse calculation also lets you determine FTE when you know the scheduled hours.

FTE is workload, not headcount. One person scheduled for thirty hours and two people scheduled for fifteen hours each both total thirty hours, or zero point seven five of this forty-hour baseline.

Now keep zero point seven five FTE but switch to an organization where full-time is thirty-five hours a week. The result is twenty-six point two five hours, or twenty-six hours and fifteen minutes. Same FTE, different hours.

Keep the time period aligned too. A weekly FTE multiplies weekly full-time hours. For an annual estimate, choose a full-time hours standard for the year. Check whether it counts paid leave, or only hours actually worked.

So to convert FTE to hours, choose the full-time standard and time period, then multiply. In our forty-hour week, zero point seven five FTE is thirty hours. The number is useful only with its baseline attached.