personnel

personnel — noun

1. all the workers in a business, organization, or military unit, seen as one group

1.nounC1
Definition

all the workers in a business, organization, or military unit, seen as one group.

Example

Hospital personnel worked through the night after the bridge collapse.

personnel meaning staff as one group

Airport security personnel checked every bag before the first flight.

collocation: security personnel

Common collocations
  • security personnel
  • military personnel
  • trained personnel
  • medical personnel
Synonyms
  • staff

    more common in everyday speech and less formal writing

  • workforce

    often used for the total number of workers in a company or area

  • employees

    stresses the people who have jobs with that employer

  • crew

    narrower; usually a team working on one vehicle, flight, or job

Grammar Patterns

security personnel

military personnel

Usage Note

Common in official or workplace language, often after a word naming the field, such as security, medical, or military. Distinguish from sense 2: this sense names the workers themselves, not the office that manages them.

Common Mistakes

The factory personnels need safety shoes.
The factory personnel need safety shoes.
personnel already refers to the group and does not normally take a plural -s.

2. the office or team in a workplace that hires staff, arranges training, and deals

2.nounC1
Definition

the office or team in a workplace that hires staff, arranges training, and deals with employee problems.

Example

Jenna asked personnel about the health form on her first day.

personnel meaning the HR department

Please send your new address to personnel before next month's pay run.

pattern: send something to personnel

Common collocations
  • ask personnel
  • contact personnel
  • personnel office
  • send it to personnel
Synonyms

Grammar Patterns

ask personnel

send something to personnel

Usage Note

Often appears without the before it because speakers treat it as the name of a department. Distinguish from sense 1: here it means the office that supports and manages employees, not the employees as a group.

Common Mistakes

I asked the personnels about my contract.
I asked personnel about my contract.
when it means the HR department, personnel is not normally pluralized.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Personnel is more formal than staff and is common in reports, notices, and official talk, especially in business, hospitals, airports, and the military. Staff is the everyday choice in speech and in less formal writing. Workforce often means all workers in a company, factory, or even a whole country, and it is common when talking about numbers, costs, or labor trends. Employees is precise when you want to stress the job relationship with an employer. Crew is narrower: it usually means the team on one plane, ship, film set, or similar job. You might say "The airline called in extra personnel after the storm," but "The cabin crew served dinner."

staff ↗workforce ↗employeescrew ↗

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

English borrowed personnel from French. In French it first related to the idea of what was personal, then came to name the body of workers in an organization. The word is ultimately linked to Latin persona, meaning 'person'.