Staffing can be a significant proportion of an EMB’s costs, but also represent the EMB’s greatest asset. EMB core budgets may be reduced by rationalising structures, for example the number of EMB members or secretariat positions. The EMBs in Cambodia and South Africa undertook rationalization exercises during 1999 and 2002, respectively. The maintenance of only a small core of permanent staff, backed by well-trained temporary field staff, can reduce costs, while maintaining efficiency. For smaller EMBs, that of Fiji shows that core election staff can be kept to a minimum and remain functional. There are management tools, such as task profiling, that the EMB can use to determine the minimum staff numbers it needs to perform its functions. The EMB would then be required to justify the employment of additional staff on efficiency or effectiveness grounds. Use of temporary, rather than permanent, EMBs, can also assist financial sustainability.

However, the political and operational sustainability of using personnel measures to promote financial sustainability must be carefully considered. For example, significant budgetary savings can be achieved in Governmental Model EMBs, or other model EMBs where public servants or volunteers can be co-opted to serve with the EMB (as in India) during an election period. While assisting financial sustainability, this type of staffing profile can also have a negative effect on the performance of and public trust in the EMB, and thus the political sustainability of the electoral process. Finding a successful balance may not be easy.

Inability to retain sufficient experienced staff can have a negative effect on the EMB’s sustainability. Experienced staff, including temporary polling station staff, hold the institutional memory of the EMB – the knowledge of what has and has not worked, the experience to pass on to new staff and to other stakeholders. Staff retention requires active planning by the EMB, using measures such as reward schemes, professional training, and development programs and opportunities for promotion. Staff succession planning, including mentoring of more junior staff, exit debriefings for departing staff, and systematic, combined with accessible archiving of electoral records, will assist the EMB operate sustainably when key staff leave.