Meaning & use
key personnel
Last updated
Meaning
nounpluralbusinessformal
The most important employees in an organization, whose skills or roles are essential to its work.
Grammar: Plural; takes a plural verb and is not used with 'a'. It often follows 'retain', 'identify' or 'train'.
Patterns
- key personnel in something
- retain key personnel
- identify key personnel
The company offers bonuses to retain key personnel.
All key personnel must complete the safety training.
During the merger, managers tried to identify key personnel who should stay.
Common combinations
- retain key personnel
- Flexible hours help the firm retain key personnel.
- identify key personnel
- The audit helped us identify key personnel in each department.
- key personnel changes
- The announcement listed several key personnel changes at the top.
- train key personnel
- We train key personnel to handle emergency situations.
Synonyms and how they differ
- key staff
- This is slightly less formal and common in everyday business talk, but it means almost the same.
- senior management
- This refers specifically to top-level managers, while key personnel can include essential specialists who are not managers.
Word family
- personnel noun
- All the people who work for an organization.
Commonly confused: key personnel or personal?
key personnel vs personal
'Personal' is an adjective meaning private or individual: 'personal belongings.' 'Personnel' is a noun meaning staff. They sound similar but are different words.
Practice
The hospital needs to keep its key ___ during the busy winter months.
Choose one answer.
'Key personnel' is the fixed business phrase for essential staff. 'Personal' is an adjective, 'person' is singular and would need a different structure, and 'personally' is an adverb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “key personnel”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.