Manning

Manning is the act of providing personnel to operate, staff, or defend a vessel, machine, facility, or organization. As a verb, man (to man) means to furnish with staff or crew; as a noun, manning refers to the personnel engaged or the process of staffing. The term has historical roots in maritime usage and has since broadened to military, industrial, and service contexts. A vessel, building, or system is said to be manned when it has sufficient crew or operators to perform its functions. Manning levels or manning charts describe the number and distribution of personnel required at different times or locations.

In practice, manning is part of workforce planning and operations management, involving forecasting demand for labor, recruitment, training, scheduling, and assignment of personnel. As workplaces adopt more gender-neutral language, terms such as staffing, crewing, or crew deployment are increasingly used in place of manning, though the word remains common in historical and technical writing.

Manning is also a surname and, less commonly, a given name. Notable people include Eli Manning and Peyton Manning, American football quarterbacks, among others. The name appears in various place names and institutions. See also manpower, crew, roster.