Final answer:
Full-time equivalent (FTE) refers to the total hours worked by one employee on a full-time basis, with part-time workers contributing a fractional FTE based on their hours.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term full-time equivalent (FTE) is best defined as the total hours worked by one employee on a full-time basis. Essentially, an FTE is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. One FTE corresponds to one full-time worker, while part-time workers are counted as a fraction of an FTE based on the number of hours they work. For instance, if a full-time schedule consists of 40 hours per week, an employee working 20 hours would be considered 0.5 FTE.
For example, if two employees each work 20 hours per week, they would collectively be considered as one FTE because their combined hours equal a full-time position.
Therefore, option C, 'The total hours worked by one employee on a full-time basis,' best defines the term full-time equivalent (FTE).
Therefore, the correct answer is C. The total hours worked by one employee on a full-time basis.