FTE Calculator

You need to input four numbers in our FTE calculator to quickly compute your business’s FTE. Let’s go over each number and what it is. 

1. Number of full-time employees: Enter the number of full-time employees on your payroll.
2. Average number of full-time working hours: If your average full-time employee works 40 hours per week, use 40. You should include paid non-working hours, such as vacation days, when determining average full-time hours.
3. Number of part-time employees: Enter the number of part-time employees on your payroll.
4. Number of part-time working hours: Use the average number of hours each part-time employee works in a week or month. 

Once you have each number, fill in the calculator to get your result. If you weren’t using our calculator, you could still use these numbers to find your FTE. The math’s simple. Here are the steps:

1. Calculate the number of total full-time working hours in a week by multiplying the number of full-time employees by the average number of working hours per full-time employee. The equation looks like this:

Total part-time working hours= Number of full-time employees * Average full-time working hours 

If you have six full-time employees who work an average of 40 hours per week, they work 240 hours per week. 

240 hours = 6 employees * 40 working hours

2. Calculate the number of total part-time working hours in a week by multiplying the number of part-time employees by the average number of working hours per part-time employee. The equation looks like this

Total part-time working hours = Number of part-time employees * Average part-time working hours

If you have 12 full-time employees who work an average of 18 hours per week, they work 240 hours per week. 

216 hours = 12 employees * 18 working hours

3. Add the total number of full-time hours to the total number of part-time hours to get the total number of working hours. 

Total working hours = Total part-time working hours + Total part-time working hours

Using the same example, you’ll add the 240 full-time hours to the 216 total part-time hours.

456 = 240 + 216

4. Calculate the FTE by taking the total number of working hours and dividing it by the average number of working hours per full-time employee. 

FTE = Total working hours * Average full-time working hours

Staying with our example, divide the 456 total working hours by 40 — the average number of working hours per full-time worker. That gives you a workforce of 11.5 full-time equivalent employees. 

 11.4 = 456 / 40

You’re likely eligible for PPP loan forgiveness if you 

• Maintained employees compensation levels
• Spent at least 60 percent of your disbursement on payroll
• Spent the other 40 percent on qualifying expenses

To calculate FTE for your application, you need to determine the FTE of your chosen baseline or reference period. Your reference period acts as the benchmark for determining how much PPP forgiveness your business qualifies for. 

• Non-seasonal employers can choose either February 15, 2019 through June 3, 2019 or Jan 1, 2020 through February 29, 2020 to act as the reference period. 
• Seasonal employers may choose any consecutive 12 week period between May 1, 2019 and September 15, 2019. 

Take each employee’s average weekly hours during the reference period and divide it by 30. This number, rounded to the nearest tenth, is the FTE of the reference period. Remember that an FTE cannot exceed one. 

FTE = Average number of working hours per week / 30

You need to calculate the FTE of each employee and then add them. Here’s an example of how that might look (above).

Compare the reference period FTE to your FTE during the coverage period, the period of time from loan disbursement to eight to 24 weeks following the disbursement. Again, you’ll want to calculate the average weekly hours for each employee during the coverage period divided by 30. Add each employee’s FTE to get your coverage period FTE.

You’ll need to submit the FTE for both periods to prove that you maintained employee compensation levels. If you received $150k or less from the program, you can fill out your application on the SBA portal. 

A full-time employee works at least 30 hours a week on average. The IRS defines full-time employment as “an employee employed on average at least 30 hours of service per week, or 130 hours per month.” Use 30 hours as your benchmark to determine shared responsibility payments — a provision of the Affordable Care Act that determines whether employers need to offer minimum essential health care coverage. You’ll also use the 30-hour threshold to determine FTEs for PPP loan forgiveness.

According to the U.S. government, a full-time employee works at least 30 hours per week or 130 hours per month on average over 120 days. A part-time employee works less than 30 hours per week on average. Whether you hire mainly full-time or part-time employees can affect many aspects of your business planning and expenses, including

• Your business classification for tax reporting.
• Whether you’re required to offer health insurance to full-time employees.
• Whether you’re required to offer other benefits, such as overtime pay.
• The cost of wages and resources for hiring and maintaining your workforce.
• The flexibility, dedication, knowledge, and efficiency of your workforce.