The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Personnel \Per`son`nel"\, n. [F. See Personal.]
   The body of persons employed in some public service, as the
   army, navy, etc.; -- distinguished from materiel.
   [1913 Webster] person-to-person

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

personnel
    n 1: group of people willing to obey orders; "a public force is
         necessary to give security to the rights of citizens" [syn:
         force, personnel]
    2: the department responsible for hiring and training and
       placing employees and for setting policies for personnel
       management [syn: personnel department, personnel office,
       personnel, staff office]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

76 Moby Thesaurus words for "personnel":
   agent, alternate, alternative, analogy, backup, change, changeling,
   comparison, copy, counterfeit, crew, deputy, double, dummy,
   employees, equal, equivalent, ersatz, exchange, fake,
   fighting force, fill-in, firepower, force, forces, gang, ghost,
   ghostwriter, hands, help, hired help, imitation, locum tenens,
   makeshift, men, metaphor, metonymy, next best thing, phony,
   pinch hitter, proxy, relief, replacement, representative, reserves,
   retinue, ringer, second string, secondary, servantry, sign, spares,
   staff, stand-in, sub, substituent, substitute, substitution,
   succedaneum, superseder, supplanter, surrogate, symbol, synecdoche,
   the big battalions, the help, third string, token, troops,
   understudy, units, utility player, vicar, vice-president,
   vice-regent, work force