This refers to a unit which provides an indication of an employee's workload in a manner that makes the workload comparable across different contexts.

Most start up companies are unlikely to hire full time staff; they usually receive help from temporary and part-time workers; the full time equivalent measurement allows employers to calculate the hours those employees worked, in comparison to the full time workload. Once the full time equivalent has been calculated, employers are able to have an idea of how many part time employees are required to complete the same workload as a full time employee. 

Stages that FTE is involved in 

1.Budgeted FTE:  The FTE budget includes how many hours the organization has to work with inside a given time frame, like per month or per quarter.

2. Target FTE: The target FTE is the organization’s ideal FTE requirements needed to meet annual budget and project goals, and it accounts for all needed resources.

3. Financial FTE: The financial FTE is the actual amount of FTE the organization needed to complete a project or the total number of FTE for employees in a specific timeframe, including paid overtime. Employers can use this information to adjust next year’s or next quarter’s target and budget.