Meaning & use
staffing
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Meanings
noununcountable
the people who work for an organization, or the job of providing and managing them
Grammar: No plural and no 'a'; use it like 'staffing is' or 'the staffing of'.
Patterns
- staffing levels
- staffing costs
- staffing of something
The hospital says its staffing is adequate for the winter.
Poor staffing at the call center meant long waits for customers.
The report criticizes the staffing of the new department.
noununcountablebusiness
the act of finding and giving workers to an organization or project
Grammar: Often used before another noun: staffing agency, staffing plan.
Patterns
- staffing agency
- staffing plan
- staffing for something
We hired a staffing agency to find temporary nurses.
Staffing for the festival takes several months of planning.
The manager is responsible for staffing the night shift.
Common combinations
- staffing levels
- Staffing levels have fallen since last year.
- staffing costs
- Staffing costs are the biggest part of our budget.
- staffing agency
- She found the job through a staffing agency.
- staffing shortage
- The school has a serious staffing shortage.
- adequate staffing
- The clinic needs adequate staffing to stay open.
Synonyms and how they differ
- personnel
- Personnel means the employees of an organization and is more formal; staffing often includes the process of managing or supplying them.
- workforce
- Workforce refers to all the people who work, often in a country or industry; staffing is used more for one organization's employees or its hiring process.
- recruitment
- Recruitment is only the act of finding new workers; staffing can also mean the workers themselves or keeping enough of them.
Word family
Commonly confused: staffing or stuffing?
staffing vs stuffing
Stuffing is a mixture put inside food like a chicken, or soft material used to fill cushions. It sounds similar but has nothing to do with workers.
Practice
The company is worried about ______ levels during the holiday season.
Choose one answer.
'Staffing levels' is the usual phrase for how many workers are available. 'Staff' alone can mean the workers but does not fit before 'levels' in this fixed expression; 'staffs' is a verb form and 'staffed' is an adjective or past verb, so neither fits here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “staffing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.