Guidelines for the Definition and Calculation of the Staff Full-Time Equivalent

INTRODUCTION

The staff Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) is a metric which plays a key role in: the internal management reporting of the university; the establishment of external key performance indicators; the financial requirements of planning, costing, Resource Allocation Model, bench marking, ratios and trend analysis. This policy outlines the university’s definition of an FTE and the management reporting of same.

APPLICATION

This Policy applies to all employees who are under a Contract of Employment with UCC and who are paid from the university payroll.

DEFINITION

1. The Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) measures the equivalence to full-time and is that recorded in the Contract of Employment (example: if an employee is working 2 days a week, the FTE will be recorded as .4). The FTEs are counted at a particular point in time and are based on paid employees on the date of the report. FTEs do not equate to headcount and do not reflect the cost centre from which the employee’s salary is paid. An FTE cannot be more than 1.

2. An Employee means a person employed by the University in any capacity, and includes an Officer of the university, as defined in the Universities Act, 1997 or any statutory amendment or notification thereof.

3. Full-time employees are employees whose Contract of Employment is 100% for that post. 4. Part-time employees are employees whose Contract of Employment is for anything less than the full-time equivalent (100%).

GUIDELINES

5. FTEs do not equate to headcount and do not reflect the cost centre from which the employee’s salary is paid.

6. FTE figures are calculated using a population of staff who are actively paid at the time of reporting. For HEA FTE reporting purposes, this is done on a quarterly basis.

7. Vacant posts will not be reported as FTEs as an FTE is based on a population of actively paid staff at a particular point in time.

8. The FTEs of hourly occasional part-time staff under a Contract of Employment with UCC and being paid out of the part-time pay budget will not be reported as an FTE. Annual spend on parttime pay will be reported as a monetary figure by Department as an appendix to the FTE Report in line with the agreed practice for the reporting of quarterly HEA FTEs.

9. Individuals can hold more than one Contract of Employment with the university and each Contract of Employment may involve more than one different activity. For FTE staff reporting, the FTE of part-time staff who hold more than one Contract of Employment with UCC is recorded in the department which commands the greater salary (example: if an employee works 60% of an FTE in one department and 40% of an FTE in another department, the FTE of the employee will be recorded as .6 against the department for which the employee works 60%). Where there is no clear indication of a greater salary (e.g. if an employee is working 50% of an FTE in two separate departments), then the FTE will be recorded as .5 against the employing department where the employee has the greater service.

10. In a job-sharing situation where each job-sharing employee is working 50% of an FTE, the FTE of the respective job-sharing employee will be recorded as .5 against the employing department. In a job-sharing situation where each job-sharing employee is working a different proportion of the post, the FTE is reported in accordance with the job-sharing employee’s respective Contract of Employment. The combined total of the FTE of each job-sharing employee cannot be more than 1.

11. In situations of paid leave e.g. maternity leave, sick leave, sabbatical leave, the FTE of the employee will be recorded in accordance with their respective Contract of Employment (i.e. FTE remains unchanged). The FTEs of employees backfilling for these periods of absence will also be recorded in accordance with their respective Contract of Employment.

12. In situations of unpaid leave (exceeding a six month period), e.g. unpaid maternity leave, unpaid special leave, unpaid leave of absence, career break, or unpaid sick leave, the FTE of the employee on such unpaid leave is not recorded (i.e. FTE will not be reported in the FTE Report). The FTEs of these employees will be reactivated when the employee returns to the university into paid employment and these FTEs will be recorded as per the respective Contract of Employment. The FTEs of employees backfilling for these periods of absence are recorded in accordance with their respective Contract of Employment.

13. Where amendments to a Contract of Employment/working arrangement occurs, e.g. a temporary decrease in working hours, a temporary increase in working hours, temporary jobsharing arrangements, a phased return to work from long term sick leave or phased parental leave, the FTE of the employee will be altered to reflect these arrangements.

14. The FTE of an Adjunct Professor/Visiting Professor must be identified when the Contract of Employment is generated. If no FTE is identified, the FTE will be recorded as zero.

15. The FTEs of individuals who are seconded to the university on a Secondment Agreement, and who are not paid from the university payroll, will not be recorded as these individuals are not being paid directly from the university payroll. These will be reported as a separate line item in the FTE Report.

16. In the situation of joint appointments with the Health Service Executive (e.g. medical consultants), the FTE will be identified and recorded according to the respective Contract of Employment with UCC.

17. In the situation of lecturers or researchers who secure additional funding which alters the activities of their main Contract of Employment with UCC, their FTE will be recorded in their own Department as per their respective Contract of Employment. Any additional employees recruited will also be allocated an FTE according to their respective Contract of Employment.

PROCEDURES

18. The hiring Department, in submitting a PF3 to the Department of Human Resources, must identify what percentage of an FTE is being proposed. Where this is not defined, the FTE will be deemed to be 1.

19. The hiring Department, in completing the ‘Employment Agreement for Research Staff’ must identify what percentage of an FTE is being proposed. Where this is not defined, the FTE will be deemed to be 1.

20. On receipt of the completed PF3, the Department of Human Resources, when appointing an employee to the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) will record an FTE to a staff member according to their respective Contract of Employment.

21. On receipt of the ‘Employment Agreement for Research Staff’ form, a researcher will be appointed to the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) according to their respective Contract of Employment.

22. FTE figures for the university are returned on a quarterly basis to the HEA by the Department of Human Resources, in line with HEA reporting requirements.

CONTACT hrqueries@ucc.ie / 021 490 3603