What if I only have part-time or seasonal workers?

Many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rely mainly on part-time or seasonal staff. If this describes your business, you might be wondering how to report your workforce under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) or the Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for SMEs (VSME).

The good news: the standards are designed to handle part-time and seasonal work. Learn more about reporting employee headcount vs FTE.

Employees vs. working hours

Under the VSME Basic Module – Workforce: General characteristics (B8), SMEs must report the number of employees in either headcount or full-time equivalents (FTE).

• Headcount is simply the number of people on your payroll.
• FTE converts working hours into fractions of a full-time job.

Which option is better?

• Headcount is simpler and shows how many people are linked to your business.
• FTE is fairer if your workforce is mostly part-time or seasonal, because it reflects the actual workload.

Tip: Many payroll or HR systems already calculate FTE automatically, so you may not need to do the sums yourself.

Most importantly, whichever method you choose, use it consistently every year.

Seasonal workers

Seasonal staff (for example, summer hospitality workers or harvest teams) are counted as employees while they are under contract.

• If you use headcount, count them as employees in that reporting year.
• If you use FTE, calculate their contribution relative to a full-time role. Example: someone working 3 months at full-time hours = 0.25 FTE.

Example

A vineyard employs:

• 2 permanent part-time staff (20 hours per week each, half-time).
• 8 seasonal harvest workers (full-time for 2 months).

Headcount = 10 employees. FTE = 1.0 (two part-timers combined) + 1.3 (8 × 2 months ÷ 12 months) = 2.3 FTE.

Both figures are correct. Headcount shows how many people are employed, while FTE shows the size of the workforce in terms of working hours.

Practical guidance for SMEs

1. Decide early whether to report in headcount or FTE.
2. Include all staff under contract, even if they only work part of the year.
3. Document your method (e.g. how you convert seasonal hours to FTE).
4. Stay consistent year-on-year.
5. Add context in your report if seasonal or part-time work is central to your business model.

Key Terms

• Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) — An EU law that requires large companies — and eventually some medium-sized ones — to report on their environmental and social impacts. Smaller suppliers are not directly in scope but may be asked for CSRD-style data by banks or bigger clients.
• Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for SMEs (VSME) — A simplified framework designed to help SMEs share sustainability information. It is voluntary but can help SMEs respond to client or bank requests.
• Basic Module — The minimum set of sustainability disclosures under the VSME. It covers essential topics such as energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, waste, workforce data, and basic governance issues.
• Headcount — The total number of employees, regardless of working hours.
• Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) — A measure of workforce capacity that converts part-time or seasonal roles into fractions of a full-time role.