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20 Human Resources Terms Every HR Hopeful Should Know

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HR departments are usually the ones who develop and implement such family-friendly policies. Good HR departments make weeding out bad managers (or training bad managers to become good managers) a priority when creating a good corporate culture. Bad HR departments focus on mission statements and then wonder why the culture is still toxic. These are generally the skills needed to do a particular job, but the reference is often a little fuzzier.

The Fair Labor Standards Act is a United States labor law establishing the right to a minimum wage, overtime pay, and youth employment standards. Employee Relations (ER) is the term used to describe an organization’s efforts to build and maintain a positive relationship with its employees. Benefits In Kind (BIK) refer to any non-monetary compensation that employers provide to https://chat.openai.com/ their employees. Moreover, you’re also expected to successfully navigate the technical language of your specific department or industry. As someone seeking to thrive in the corporate world, it’s likely you’ve been bombarded with your fair share of business jargon, abbreviations, and acronyms. This tactic can seem like a passive move to get employees to quit on their own.

Morale takes in confidence, enthusiasm and discipline and describes group as well as individual dynamics. It also has the advantage of being clear to anyone in terms of what it means. Too much of the boosterism around happiness and engagement metrics has actually been a backdoor way of measuring individual productivity.

Everything that you, your colleagues and your company do in public (on or offline) are part of this brand and will impact on people’s desire to work with you. Sometimes the person you need to hire is looking for a job, sometimes they’re not. When it’s not the case and you’re looking for someone who already works hr language somewhere else the language gets feudal and bloody. And as for poaching (which used to mean shooting the landowner’s livestock without permission) it implies that employees are their employers’ deer to be shot. We like “sourcing” which is simple, descriptive and doesn’t imply that one set are owned by another.

HR terms

Acquihire refers to when a company buys another company primarily for its staff and skills rather than its products or services. Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) refers to a type of business process outsourcing where an organization transfers all or part of its recruitment functions to a third-party provider. Organizational Development (OD) is an interdisciplinary field of behavioral science research that helps organizations build their capacity to change and improve their effectiveness. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA) are a person’s unique recipe for success in a particular field and role.

What used to be known as telecommuting has also appeared as distributed work and teams. There’s an argument to be made for talking about distributed work but it works better as a way of describing teams than categorizing work. In addition some fully distributed teams have no office headquarters in the first place. The reality for the majority of companies is that they have some of their people working remotely and some working from the office. How to manage this blend is only going to grow in importance of for HR professionals. We’ve long had appraisals, evaluations and we still have 360-degree everything but there is something honest and straightforward about a performance review.

In turn, companies stand to lose productivity and opportunities, and even suffer damage to their reputations from failed assignments, along with an unnecessary loss of talent. When HR people talk about talent management, they are really just talking about making sure they recruit, train, manage, develop and retain the best people. Gross misconduct is generally determined by company policy rather than by law. But just because the employee handbook doesn’t say “no arson allowed” doesn’t mean that the company won’t fire you — and have you arrested — for that action.

Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) is a metric that indicates how engaged your employees are and how likely they are to recommend your organization as a great place to work. The Employee Life Cycle (ELC) refers to an employee’s entire journey with their company, from attraction and recruitment to offboarding and beyond. Compensation and Benefits (C&B) is the term used to describe the total package of monetary and non-monetary rewards an employee receives from their employer in exchange for their work. Understanding these terms is like second nature for seasoned HR practitioners, but the vast amount of HR acronyms can be overwhelming (and confusing!) for those just starting out.

Talent Management

A flexible work arrangement that allows employees to choose their working hours within predefined limits. This can help improve work-life balance and increase employee satisfaction. That something wrong can include poor performance as well as something more terrible, such as stealing. Another common term for firing an employee is “employment termination” or Chat GPT “terminating the employment relationship.” As a general rule, these terms all mean that a company is going to lay off a number of employees. It’s possible to reorganize and restructure and keep all of the employees, but in reality, if you hear discussions about company-wide reorganizations or downsizing, freshen up your resume, because you might need it.

The difference between the skills required for a job and the skills actually possessed by the employees or employee seekers. It refers to the interview where the candidates are asked hypothetical questions that are focused on the future. A training designed to help employees in an organization accept and respond to attitudes and behaviors that may unintentionally cause offense to others. A break during which employees are not expected to report to work or perform any of their normal duties, while still being employed by the company. A method of contacting a job applicant’s previous employees, schools, etc. to get more information about them.

The following list of HR acronyms and abbreviations presents the term, shares what it stands for, and provides an example sentence to help you understand how the term works in context. BYOD is used to describe the growing trend of using employee-owned devices within a business. It means that the employees own the laptops and other electronics that the company provides them.

This is a three-step process that starts with HRM activities, followed by HRM outcomes and organizational objectives. It reveals how HR activities lead to organizational goals, such as making a profit. New technologies, including ChatGPT, Virtual, and Augmented Reality, along with the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), are shaping HR models worldwide.

Our HR glossary is a dictionary of the terminology most commonly used by human resource professionals. Voluntary Time Off (VTO) is a leave category that gives employees the option to take unpaid time off work. Certain companies use this, for example, when more employees are available to work than needed. Time Off In Lieu (TOIL) means an employee receives paid time off as compensation for working overtime instead of receiving overtime pay. Pay for Performance (P4P) is a compensation strategy that ties employee earnings directly to their performance, rewarding high achievers with bonuses or higher pay.

Skills in analytics are also increasingly sought after, enabling HR professionals to make data-driven decisions that improve recruitment, retention, and overall organizational performance. Human Resource (HR) professionals play a crucial role in managing an organization’s most valuable asset—its people. The HR field is replete with specialized terminology and jargon that can be daunting to those unfamiliar with the industry.

This refers to the activities and training used to improve the skills, abilities, and confidence of leaders in an organization. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. This refers to the process of hiring passive candidates to fill a specialized or executive position. This refers to the management of employees of an organization so that they could contribute significantly to the overall productivity of the organization. A human resource information system is also known as HRIS is an HR software that integrates the HR processes into information technology. An HR employee who works with the senior leaders of the company and develops an HR strategy that supports the aims of the organization.

Applied to HR, the concept is that employee motivation can be influenced by how aware they are of being observed and judged on their work—a basis for regular evaluation and metrics to meet. This is a considered approach for transitioning individuals or organizations from one state to another in order to manage and monitor change. Companies can stay ahead of the game when they think ahead about how they can manage the introduction, implementation and consequences of major organizational changes.

In mergers and acquisitions, due diligence is the process of thoroughly examining the details of an investment or purchase to ensure all paperwork and documentation is up to date and compliant. Workable helps you build and promote your brand where your next candidates are. Any group of people who gather every day to talk about similar or related topics start using shortcuts to get to the point more quickly. Slowly this transforms from useful shorthand into a verbal wall that excludes newcomers. Get clear explanations of the most common HR terms, fast, with our plain-speaking HR glossary.

Fill out the form to get further information from our team about the Preply language training for companies. If you’re interested in taking a step further to learn business English, consider registering your work team for corporate English training with Preply Business or take a business English course. Gained prominence as organizations focused on creating healthier cultures. While HR addresses it for employee well-being, some outsiders may view it as a subjective term prone to misuse.

A report by PWC found that 58% of HR leaders surveyed believe that finding, attracting, and retaining talent is their number one challenge. Therefore, finding qualified candidates, selecting the best, and determining if there’s a match between the candidate, the company (culture), and the manager is one of the most important HR tasks. These issues can be operational, for example, creating a reintegration plan for an employee or helping a senior manager with the formulation of an email to the department. More tactical issues are the organization of and advising in restructuring efforts.

You will work closely with clients and their employees to optimize the utilization of their plan benefits and bring consultation to complex benefit strategies and initiatives. You will need strong partnerships with Sales, Brokers, Implementation, HR, and the Operations organization to resolve escalated and complex benefit issues. You will implement your benefit strategies through virtual, onsite, or recorded benefit presentations to each client. Travel will be required to support client visits and strengthen relationships. Whether you’re a part-time freelancer, a full-time employee, or a first-time job seeker, you’ll undoubtedly encounter human resources (HR) teams throughout your career. In short, HR is a special department that’s responsible for hiring and training an organization’s personnel.

In such a role, proactivity can help you in spotting potential problems before they happen or escalate. Proactive and strategic HRM helps to plan and align the core HR tasks in a way that offers the most value to the business. Communicating effectively is essential in Human Resource Management because the HR professional is the link between the business and the employee, representing both parties. An interview with potential employees to identify specific skills, wherein a set of questions are asked in a specific order. An assessment test is used to evaluate the skills and abilities of job candidates. A system in which employees are acknowledged and appreciated for their performance, internal and external work.

• And as for poaching (which used to mean shooting the landowner’s livestock without permission) it implies that employees are their employers’ deer to be shot.
• The goal of all onboarding programs is to bring new employees into the company and get them working effectively as quickly as possible.
• Instead, consider using “effective and flexible communication skills,” the architect suggested.
• Wellness programs are programs adapted by HR to improve employee health and promote healthy working behaviour in the workplace.

That’s why the OrangeHRM HR Dictionary is the place for you to learn more about new HR terminology that you come across, or simply browse for more knowledge. What we have here is a list of the most popular HR keywords and terminology explained. This is the process of identifying long-range needs and cultivating a supply of internal talent to meet those future needs. It assists in finding, assessing and developing the individuals necessary to the strategy of the organization. Compensation includes equity and any other financial instrument that might be offered to an employee.

Distributive bargaining is the negotiation between competing parties, which includes the distribution of a limited resource. Onboarding is the process of moving a new hire from applicant to employee status, ensuring that paperwork is done and orientation is completed. The Hawthorne effect is a phenomenon observed as a result of an experiment conducted by Elton Mayo. In an experiment intended to measure how a work environment impacts worker productivity, Mayo’s researchers noted that workers productivity increased not from changes in environment, but when being watched.

Wellness programs are programs adapted by HR to improve employee health and promote healthy working behaviour in the workplace. Turnover rate refers to the percentage of employees that leave a company in a given period of time. Technical interviews are conducted for job positions that require technical skills. Talent acquisition is a process of sourcing applicants, meeting qualified candidates, and identifying the right applicants for the organization’s hiring needs. It means getting the employees familiarized with the company policies, their co-workers, and their role in the company in detail. The culture in an organization is formed by the beliefs, assumptions, and values of the company.

A model under which a candidate is analyzed on the basis of their knowledge, skills, and abilities and then recruited for successful job performance. An interview scorecard is something that employers use during the hiring process. An interview scorecard helps in standardizing the recruitment process by evaluating candidates on certain standards. The formal evaluation of an employee’s job performance, often used to provide feedback, set goals, and determine rewards. The collection of perks, benefits, and incentives offered by an organization to its employees.

Using the wrong communication style may result in your message not being perceived as important – or risk offending people from more indirect cultures. For example, practices for managing and retaining people can differ tremendously between cultures. In India, it is common to get a promotion every single year, while in the Western world this happens on average every 3-5 years.

Some of them began life as jargon, others are simple terms that were replaced by more complex jargon and are overdue a revival. We’ve been arguing for a while now that language matters in recruitment (and HR in general). To a casual observer it’s pretty obvious that we should have reached “peak jargon” by now. Sadly jargon is not a resource that taps out quickly and there’s no reason to think we’re at the top of the bell curve on this.

These skills include the ability to create, read, and interpret HR reports using data from different HRIS. Large organizations usually have standard providers like SAP (with SuccessFactors) or Oracle. Knowledge of an HRIS is a prerequisite for most senior HR jobs and one of the top technical skills HR professionals need today. Coaching skills are most often developed on the job or in external coaching training, and they are also among the key leadership competencies. Coaching skills enhance the ability to develop employees, guiding them toward reaching their full potential and aligning their skills with the company’s objectives.

It should be apparent to anyone that a business and its employees need to check in with each other regularly so that both sides know where they stand. Some outfits prefer constant feedback and others will go with quarterly, half-yearly or annual reviews. When the balance of communication is right the contents of a review shouldn’t be a surprise to the reviewer or the reviewed. As people analytics grows in importance, demand for HR reporting skills is increasing too.

But outsiders may see it as a problem with remote work arrangements in general. While HR may use it for strategic transitions, outsiders might view it as underhanded and lacking transparency. As the workplace continues to evolve, so will the language we use to navigate its complexities.

Talent Acquisition (TA) encompasses the entire hiring process, from identifying and attracting to selecting and retaining qualified candidates. A Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) is a document that identifies where and how an employee’s performance is falling short, what needs to be done to improve this, and within what timeframe. Payment in Lieu of Notice (PILON) is compensation paid to employees for their notice period when they are terminated immediately (instead of working through their notice period). A Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) is a metric used to calculate the total hours worked by all employees in a business, equating them to full-time hours. Employee Lifetime Value (ELTV) is a metric that measures the total expected future value of an employee’s contributions to the organization during their employment.

This is an agreement between an employer and employee in which the employee may not disclose branded, patented or confidential information. Many companies have protected information that, if leaked, could be devastating for the brand or welfare of the organization—a confidentiality agreement serves as legal protection from this. In response to this we’ve made our own shortlist of HR terms worth understanding.

Training and development programs delivered through online platforms or virtual classrooms. A work arrangement that allows employees to perform their duties from outside the traditional office setting, usually from home. The percentage of employees who voluntarily leave the organization during a specific period. The process of integrating a new employee into the organization, including orientation, training, and mentorship. The process of examining and documenting the specific duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required for a particular job position.

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This may include health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, and other non-monetary benefits. An ATS is a software application used to manage and automate the recruitment process. It assists HR professionals in posting job openings, screening resumes, and tracking candidates throughout the hiring process. ADP is hiring a Bilingual Benefits Relationship Life Cycle Consultant in the San Francisco/San Jose area/surrounding area to manage a book of business.

A significant part of the English vocabulary for HR comes from Latin, which means that this language is a core of business progress. The more you learn English, the better you can perform as a Human Resources manager within global projects. To learn even more about improving the employee experience and increasing your competitive advantage while providing a fast return on investment, download our ebook now. This person is in charge of people or departments in a company but is not responsible for the entire company and does not decide about the company’s future. An exit interview is the final meeting between management and an employee leaving the company. Information is gathered to gain insight into work conditions and possible changes or solutions, and the employee has a chance to explain why he or she is leaving.

Learning and Development (L&D) is an essential function of HR and a crucial part of a company’s overall people development strategy. The Family and Medical Leave Act is a United States labor law that allows certain employees to take job-protected, unpaid leave for specific family and medical reasons. Research conducted by McKinsey shows that organizations ranking in the top 25% for diversity are 36% more likely to surpass the financial averages of their sector.

Originating in the pursuit of workplace equality, diversity, and inclusion have become central to modern HR strategies. While HR sees it as essential for fostering innovation, some skeptics may view it as political correctness gone awry. This linguistic evolution is an attempt to explain essential HR processes and practices in a neat, efficient package. Initiatives and programs designed to promote the health and well-being of employees in the workplace.

• Your company needs to invest time in learning these 10 languages for business relations.
• Payment in Lieu of Notice (PILON) is compensation paid to employees for their notice period when they are terminated immediately (instead of working through their notice period).
• There are comprehensive glossaries which already do this job well, such as SHRM and HR New Zealand’s effort, which we like for its clear format.
• Discover the 9 major industries with an ever-growing need for bilingual employees in this article by Preply Business.

A leadership style in which a leader adapts their style of leading to suit the current work environment and requirements of a team. A full-time paid internship for individuals who have been out of the workforce for a while. The process of searching and selecting the best candidate for a job opening. Psychometric tests are used to assess and understand the personality traits and attributes of a candidate. Probation refers to a time period under which the employees are exempted from certain contracts.