The role of using economic-mathematical models for making effective management decisions both in the process of managing socio-economic systems as a whole and in the field of personnel management is defined. Modeling is considered as the main specific method of science, which is used for the analysis and synthesis of control systems, as well as a special cognitive method, when the research subject instead of the directly studied object of knowledge chooses or creates an auxiliary object similar to it - an image or model, examines it, and transfers the acquired new knowledge to the original object. Economic-mathematical models allow combining complex and sometimes vaguely defined factors related to a decision-making problem into a logically clear scheme that can be analyzed in detail. Such an analysis allows obtaining and evaluating alternative possibilities for the functioning of the economic system and predicting the consequences of management decisions. In order to ensure the effectiveness of personnel management processes based on the use of economic-mathematical models for management decision-making, the following were defined: classification of economic-mathematical models by purpose and purpose of application, optimization nature of most economic-mathematical models, model building procedure and preparation of a management decision based on economic -mathematical methods, a generalized view of the problem of economic-mathematical programming and typical managerial problems of personnel management, which are solved with the help of economic-mathematical models.