Benin, Burkina Faso, Swaziland, and Senegal, all of which have staffing levels within 10 percent of the efficient level. Median overstaffing across all utilities is 41 percent, with most utilities in the 25–65 percent range. Eskom stands out for overstaffing in absolute terms, reporting 41,800 employees against the estimated benchmark of 14,200, suggesting overstaffing of 27,500. The most extreme case is the Zambia Electricity Supply Company (ZESCO) in Zambia, which is overstaffed by more than 70 percent. These findings suggest opportunities to optimize staff levels, which could result in substantially lower costs, or else use the savings to offer higher salaries to attract more qualified workers without increasing overall spending on labor. For utilities that provide a breakdown of staff working in generation and T&D, overstaffing seems to be more prevalent among staff working on T&D.

# **Table 10: Analysis of staffing levels**

|||**Actual numb**|**er of staff**||**"Optimal" be**|**nchmark s**|**taff size**|**Overstaffin**|**g**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Country**|**# customers**|**Generation**|**T&D**|**Total**|**Generation**|**T&D**|**Total**|**Difference**|**% over**|
|Cape Verde|133,481|||**634**|496|449|**945**|-311|-49%|
|Gabon|280,639|||**1,430**|753|638|**1,391**|40|3%|
|Benin|484,486||1,412|**1,412**|262|1,101|**1,363**|49|4%|
|Burkina Faso|508,499|||**1,885**|646|1,156|**1,802**|83|4%|
|Swaziland|150,668|||**680**|135|507|**642**|38|6%|
|Senegal|998,423|||**2,583**|662|1,749|**2,411**|172|7%|
|Sierra Leone|80,894|||**663**|268|272|**539**|124|19%|
|Mauritius|435,311|||**1,902**|531|989|**1,520**|382|20%|
|Mali|346,978|214|1,347|**1,561**|415|789|**1,203**|358|23%|
|Togo|233,036||1,161|**1,161**|101|784|**885**|276|24%|
|Mozambique|1,377,003|||**3,763**|425|2,412|**2,837**|926|25%|
|Niger|238,548||1,328|**1,328**|169|802|**971**|357|27%|
|Rwanda|366,106|||**1,345**|145|832|**977**|368|27%|
|São Tomé and Príncipe|35,169|||**317**|111|118|**229**|88|28%|
|Uganda|667,483||2,047|**2,047**|178|1,169|**1,347**|700|34%|
|Cameroon|951,496|||**3,587**|643|1,667|**2,310**|1,277|36%|
|Ghana|2,612,007||7,350|**7,350**|325|4,576|**4,901**|2,774|38%|
|Seychelles|35,234|||**513**|186|118|**304**|209|41%|
|Côte d'Ivoire|1,315,837|||**4,260**|216|2,305|**2,521**|1,739|41%|
|Tanzania|1,473,217|||**6,328**|1,053|2,581|**3,634**|2,694|43%|
|Botswana|343,050|471|1,451|**1,922**|300|780|**1,079**|843|44%|
|Mauritania|177,806|||**1,976**|492|598|**1,090**|886|45%|
|Kenya|3,611,904|2,407|10,845|**13,252**|831|6,328|**7,158**|6,094|46%|
|Burundi|86,446|||**892**|189|291|**480**|412|46%|
|Central African Republic|23,550|||**531**|205|79|**284**|247|46%|
|Guinea|270,249|||**1,792**|307|614|**921**|871|49%|
|Liberia|25,993|||**309**|68|87|**155**|154|50%|
|Comoros|44,400|109|467|**576**|130|149|**279**|297|52%|
|Madagascar|480,369|||**5,691**|1,483|1,092|**2,575**|3,116|55%|
|Gambia, The|131,368|340|1,126|**1,466**|181|442|**623**|843|58%|
|Congo, Rep.|205,000|||**2,279**|155|689|**844**|1,435|63%|
|Ethiopia|1,936,244|||**11,839**|885|3,392|**4,277**|7,562|64%|
|Malawi|274,005|592|1,881|**2,473**|232|623|**855**|1,618|65%|
|South Africa|5,477,602|||**41,787**|4,648|9,596|**14,244**|27,543|66%|
|Zimbabwe|601,609|1,593|4,477|**6,070**|629|1,367|**1,996**|4,074|67%|
|Zambia|662,526|||**6,771**|432|1,506|**1,937**|4,834|71%|

_Source_ : World Bank staff calculations based on utility annual reports and financial statements. _Note_ : Data for Ghana are available for T&D only.

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