Efectives

Efectives is a term used in human resources and public administration to denote the permanent, on-payroll segment of an organization’s workforce. In Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking contexts, efectives (or efetivos) refers to staff who hold official, permanent positions, as opposed to temporary or contracted workers. The count of efectives is commonly used for budgeting, staffing policies, and performance reporting, and it may be converted into full-time equivalents (FTE) to account for part-time arrangements.

The scope and definition of efectives vary by country and organization. In civil service settings, efectives typically include teachers, police, and other public employees who are employed on a stable, statutory basis. Contractors, interns, and consultants are usually categorized separately as non-efectives. Because of these variations, the term is not uniformly defined across English-language sources.

In English-language usage within international organizations, the concept is often translated or paraphrased as permanent staff, on-roll employees, or core workforce. When precise comparability is required, sources may specify “permanent full-time staff” and report numbers alongside or converted to full-time equivalents to reflect part-time or job-sharing arrangements.

See also: full-time equivalent, payroll, personnel management, civil service, human resources.