How does a full-time equivalent work?
- Set the standard full-time week you measure against, commonly 40 hours in the United States.
- Divide the hours a role actually consumes by that standard to get its number.
- Add the loaded cost of an in-house person: payroll taxes, benefits, equipment, software and space.
- Compare that loaded figure against equivalent outsourced hours rather than against a bare hourly rate.
- Recheck each quarter, because most desks grow or shrink faster than an org chart does.
A worked example
A wholesale distributor mapped its order desk before hiring. Order entry took about 22 hours a week, supplier chasing 10 and returns 6, which is close to one full-time person. Instead of hiring one local generalist, the company staffed order entry and chasing as a dedicated remote desk and kept returns with the warehouse lead. The owner now reports that desk as one unit of capacity and reviews the hours each quarter.
Where does a full-time equivalent show up in your tools?
The calculation usually happens in a Google Sheets or Excel model built from time records, then gets tracked against a task board in Asana, ClickUp or Notion. Payroll and accounting systems such as QuickBooks Online or Xero hold the loaded cost side of the comparison.
Common mistakes
- Comparing an outsourced hourly figure with a local salary and ignoring taxes, benefits and equipment.
- Counting a role at a full unit when the work only fills half a week, which buys idle capacity.
- Treating the number as fixed all year, when most desks swing hard with seasons and campaigns.
Why does a full-time equivalent matter?
Owners usually choose between hiring and outsourcing by comparing two numbers that were never measured the same way. Converting both into units of a full working week makes the comparison honest and shows where half a desk would do. It also prevents the common mistake of hiring a whole person for two thirds of a job.
How does AssistBPO handle a full-time equivalent?
AssistBPO staffs in whole and part units of a working week, so a desk can be compared with a local hire on the same basis. Assistants are employees of the group, never freelancers or contractors, and the client never co-employs them: recruiting, payroll, equipment, leave and supervision all sit with us. You direct the work and get a named assistant, a trained backup and a team lead for the hours you take.