Estimate staffing for a coverage pattern: weekly coverage hours, the minimum number of employees, and the full-time equivalent.
Coverage hours multiply hours open per day by days open per week by the staff needed on duty at once — the total staff-hours the rota must supply each week. Minimum employees divide those coverage hours by the maximum hours one employee can work, rounded up, because a fraction of a person cannot cover a shift. FTE expresses the same coverage against a 40-hour full-time week. This is a planning estimate: sickness, holidays, handovers and peak-only staffing all push a real rota above the minimum.
Why is the answer a minimum, not a rota? The arithmetic covers steady hours only. Absences, annual leave, training and busy peaks need extra cover on top, so a practical headcount sits above the figure shown.
What does FTE mean here? Full-time equivalent: coverage hours divided by 40. A result of 2.5 FTE could be two full-time staff plus one half-time, or any mix totalling those hours.
How does the hours cap change the result? A lower cap per employee — for part-time teams or legal limits — spreads the same coverage across more people, raising the minimum headcount.