Human Resource Glossary of Terms

If you want to succeed at work, you need to know the vocabulary. This comprehensive glossary of human resource (HR) terms defines words and phrases frequently used by HR professionals.

- A -

Ability: A competence to perform an observable behavior or a behavior that results in an observable product.

Absenteeism: The failure to show up for scheduled work. This is distinguished from tardiness or lateness, which indicates a failure to report for work on time, and turnover, which indicates a permanent leave from work where the ex-employee is replaced.

Action item: Specific activity initiated to achieve an objective. 

Adaptive device: Any tool that facilitates greater efficiency by an individual with a disability in the performance of duties.

Adverse impact: Adverse impact exists where a substantially different rate of selection in hiring, promotions, or other employment decisions works to the disadvantage of members of a protected group. An inference of adverse impact may occur in the absence of such data and is determined by calculating the extent of a group's representation or utilization in a given occupation based on the availability of its members in the relevant labor market.

Affected group (or class): Any group in the population shown to suffer the effects of past or present discrimination. 

Affirmative Action: Affirmative action is a policy used by colleges and universities to improve the educational opportunities for minority groups (including minority races, genders, and sexual orientations) that are commonly and historically discriminated against. The term was first introduced in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, who, in an executive order, stated that government contractors “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or natural origin.”

Affirmative Action Officer: An individual in an agency who has primary responsibility for the development and maintenance of the agency's affirmative action plan.

Affirmative Action Plan (AAP): An affirmative action plan consists of statistical analyses of an employer's utilization (or underutilization) of individuals from certain protected classes such as women, veterans, minorities, and people with disabilities.

Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): Refers to any means of settling disputes outside of the courtroom. ADR typically includes early neutral evaluation, negotiation, conciliation, mediation, and arbitration. ... Negotiation allows the parties to meet in order to settle a dispute.

American Indian/Alaskan Native: All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of North America who maintain cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, government programs, public accommodation, telecommunications, and transportation. 

Applicant flow log: A chronological compilation of applicants for employment or promotion, showing the persons categorized by race, sex, and ethnic group, who applied for each job title (or group of job titles requiring similar qualifications) during a specific period. 

Applicant Tracking System (ATS): An applicant tracking system (ATS) is a software application that enables the electronic handling of recruitment and hiring needs. An ATS can be implemented or accessed online at enterprise- or small-business levels, depending on the needs of the organization.

Arbitration: The process of dispute resolution that is voluntarily agreed upon by two parties to accept an impartial arbitrator’s decision on the parties’ dispute. Arbitration is less formal than a court trial, but the process is similar.

Architectural barrier: Any non-job-related consideration that excludes from employment individuals otherwise capable of doing the work at issue. 

Attrition: A gradual voluntary reduction of employees (through resignation and retirement) who are not then replaced, decreasing the size of the workforce.

Availability standard: A percentage figure depicting the availability in the relevant labor market of a group who are qualified under valid, job-related criteria.

 - B -

Background Screening / Pre-employment Screening: Testing to ensure that employers are hiring qualified and honest employees and that a prospective employee is capable of performing the functions required by the job. The screening can involve criminal background checks, verification of Social Security numbers, past addresses, age or year of birth, corporate affiliations, bankruptcies, liens, drug screening, skills assessment and behavioral assessments. If an employer outsources pre-employment screening, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that there must be a consent and disclosure form separate from an employment application

Back Pay: Compensation for past economic losses (such as lost wages, fringe benefits, etc.), caused by discriminatory employment practices.

Balanced Scorecard: A strategic planning and management system that is used to tie business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor performance against goals. Developed in the early 1990’s by Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton, the balanced scorecard measure four areas of business: internal business processes, financial performance, customer knowledge, and learning and growth.

Barrier: Any obstacle to the realization of a person's full potential. 

Base Wage Rate (or base rate): The monthly salary or hourly wage paid for a job, irrespective of benefits, bonuses or overtime.

Benchmark Job: A job commonly found in the workforce for which pay and other relevant data are readily available. Benchmark jobs are used to make pay comparisons and job evaluations.

Benchmarking: A technique using specific standards to make comparisons between different organizations or different segments of the organizations, with the intent of improving a product or service.

Benefits: Employee benefits are part of the total compensation package that includes all tangible return for an employee’s labor except for direct payment. Mandatory benefits are social security benefits, unemployment compensation, and workers’ compensation, while other benefits are discretionary, such as paid time off, health care, retirement, child care, employee discounts, club memberships, and financial assistance plans. Benefits administration consists of designing, developing, and integrating the various benefits as a unified system, includes enrolling employees, communicating with employees, dealing with benefits vendors, and handling changes. Many companies choose to outsource benefits administration, such as through a professional employer organization (PEO).

Benefits Administration: Software that helps companies manage and track employee participation in benefits programs such as healthcare, flexible spending accounts, pension plans, etc. This software helps automate and streamline the complex and otherwise time-consuming tasks of benefits administration.

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS): An appraisal that requires raters to list important dimensions of a particular job and collect information regarding the critical behaviors that distinguishes between successful and unsuccessful performance. These critical behaviors are then categorized and appointed a numerical value used as the basis for rating performance.

Behavioral-Based Interview: An interview technique used to determine whether a candidate is qualified for a position based on their past behavior. The interviewer asks the candidate for specific examples from past work experience when certain behaviors were exhibited.

Behavioral Competency: The behavior qualities and character traits of a person. These act as markers that can predict how successful a person will be at the position, he/she is applying for. Employers should determine in advance what behavioral competencies fit the position and create interview questions to find out if the candidate possesses them.

Behavioral Risk Management: The process of analyzing and identifying workplace behavioral issues and implementing programs, policies or services most suitable for correcting or eliminating various employee behavioral problems.

Bereavement Leave: Paid or unpaid time off following the death of an employee’s relative or friend. This time, generally ranging from one to three days, is given so that the employee can make arrangements, attend the funeral and attend to other matters related to the deceased. Many organizations are flexible in terms of how much time an employee takes off.

Big Data: The process of analyzing very large, often independent, data sets to reveal patterns, trends, and associations – especially relating to human behavior and interactions. This in turn can help employers with data driven decision-making.

Black (Not of Hispanic Origins): All persons having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.

Blended Workforce: A workforce is comprised of permanent full-time, part-time, temporary employees and independent contractors.

Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ): Any prerequisite that has been demonstrated to be valid as a qualification for employment. 

Broadbanding: A strategy for salary structures that consolidate a large number of pay grades into a few "broad bands." In a broadband pay structure, the numbers of salary grades are consolidated into fewer, but broader, pay ranges

Burden of proof: In discrimination cases, the plaintiff must show that an action, practice, or policy used by the employer has an adverse impact. Once adverse effect is shown, the burden of proof shifts to the employer, who must show that the action, practice, or policy is job related.

Business Continuity Planning:Business continuity planning is the process of creating systems of prevention and recovery to deal with potential threats to a company. In addition to prevention, the goal is to enable ongoing operations before and during execution of disaster recovery.

Business Necessity: Is an employer's defense of an employment related decision that is based on the requirements of the business and is consistent with other such decisions. To establish business necessity an employer must prove that the practice is job related and consistent with business necessity.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO): Is the contracting of non-primary business activities and functions to a third-party provider. BPO services include payroll, human resources (HR), accounting and customer/call center relations. BPO is also known as information technology enabled services (ITES).

 - C -

Career Path: A career path identifies optimum alternative paths of employee progression to positions requiring successively higher levels of skill and the consequent promotional opportunities.

Chilling Effect: Is describes a situation where a speech or conduct is suppressed by fear of penalization at the interests of an individual or group. It can affect one's free speech. Since many attacks rely on libel law, the term libel chill is also often used.

Civil Rights: Rights protected by the U. S. Constitution and various statutes that prohibit discrimination in employment, education, housing, voting, public accommodations, and other matters.

Child Labor Laws:Laws set restrictions on age, types of jobs children can do, when children can work, and how much employers have to pay them. Provisions for child labor laws are set by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) sets specific laws and enforces them. States can also create employment laws. Employers must follow all child labor laws.

Compliance: The state of being in accordance with established guidelines or specifications, or the process of becoming so. Adherence to laws, court decisions, regulations, executive orders, and other legal mandates governing affirmative action and equal employment opportunity. Compliance encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation.

Concentration: A higher representation of a group of persons in a job category than would reasonably be expected by their presence in the civilian labor force. 

Conditions of Employment: Includes, but is not limited to, salaries, wages, hours of work, vacation allowances, sick and injury leave, number of holidays, retirement benefits, insurance benefits, prepaid legal service benefits, wearing apparel, premium pay for overtime, shift differential pay, jury duty, and grievance procedures.

Congenital Disability: Describes a disability that has existed since birth but is not necessarily hereditary.

Constructive Discharge: An employee's involuntary resignation resulting from the employer making working conditions for the employee so intolerable that a reasonable person would have felt compelled to resign. An enforcement agency will assert that an employee was constructively discharged where it finds that 1) a reasonable person in the employee's position would have found the working conditions intolerable, 2) the employer's conduct that constituted the violation against the employee created the intolerable working conditions, and 3) the employee's involuntary resignation resulted from the intolerable working conditions.

Candidate Relationship Marketing (CRM): Is a method for managing and improving relationships with current and potential future job candidates. CRM technology is used to automate communication process with the candidates, encourage their engagement and improve candidate experience.

Capitated Pricing: In capitated pricing traders deliver contracted services for a set amount of money per employee per month. It often refers to a pricing model used by healthcare providers which regulates the price of similar products and devices across the industry based on the level of the product.

Carve-Out: The elimination of coverage of a specific category of benefit services (e.g. vision care, mental health/psychological services, or prescription drugs). The employer opts out of certain services with one vendor and contracts another to deliver them.

Change Management: The discipline that guides how we prepare, equip and support individuals to successfully adopt change in order to drive organizational success and outcomes.

Cloud Computing: Storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer’s hard drive.

COBRA: Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. 1985 Federal law that requires employers to offer continued health insurance coverage to terminated employees and their beneficiaries. The coverage may continue for the following cases: termination of employment, change in working hours, change in dependent status or age limitation, separation, divorce, or death.

Cognitive Ability Testing: A testing instrument used during the selection process in order to measure the candidate’s learning and reasoning abilities.

Cognitive Computing: The use of computerized models to simulate the human thought process in complex situations where the answers may be ambiguous and uncertain. In general, the term refers to how software can mimic the functioning of the human brain to help improve decision-making. In HR, cognitive computing refers to a host of self-learning systems that in theory, can use data mining, pattern recognition and natural language processing to help organizations automate HR processes/systems and improve talent related decision making – e.g., tools that ‘predict’ high potential job candidates.

Collective Bargaining: One or more unions meeting with representatives from an organization to negotiate labor contracts.

Compensation: Pay structures within an organization. It can be linked to employee appraisal. Compensation is effectively managed if performance is measured adequately.

Compensatory Time-Off Plan: The practice of giving employees paid time off that can be used in the future in lieu of paying them overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 per week. While an acceptable practice in the public sector, the FLSA places very strict limitations on the use of compensatory time off for private sector employers.

Competency-Based Pay: Competency-based pay, alternately known as skill-based and knowledge-based pay, determines compensation by the type, breadth and depth of skills that employees gain and use in their positions.

Competency Modeling: A set of descriptions that identify the skills, knowledge, and behaviors needed to effectively perform in an organization. Competency models assist in clarifying job and work expectations, maximizing productivity, and aligning behavior with organizational strategy.

Competitive Advantage:In the context of Human Resources, competitive advantage refers to the quality of the employees, as a competingorganization’s systems and processes can be copied but not its people. All other things being equal among competing companies, it is the company with better employees that has the competitive advantage.

Condition of Employment: An organization’s policies and work rules that employees are expected to abide by in order to remain continuously employed.

Confidentiality Agreement: An agreement between an employer and employee in which the employee may not disclose proprietary or confidential information.

Constructive Dismissal: An employer’s behavior (either one serious incident or a pattern of incidents) creates a negative work environment, leading to an employee’s resigning. Such behavior is considered a breach of contract and gives the employee the right to seek compensation in court.

Consultants: An outside individual who supplies professional advice or services to companies for a fee. Large HR consulting firms include Aon, Mercer, Hewitt and Watson Wyatt. Large HR consulting firms typically work with companies who have more than 1,500 employees.

Contingency Recruiting (Search): Contingency recruiters conduct frontline talent searches and represent either employers or individuals seeking placement. Contingency firms are not paid unless a candidate is successfully placed.

Contingent Staff: Temporary staff that supplements a company’s workforce. Contingent staff may be hired through a staffing firm. Businesses that have fluctuating seasonal staff demands or are in need of temporary call center representatives often use contingent workers.

Contract for Services: An agreement with a self-employed person for a specific job.

Contract of Service: Another term for employment agreement.

Conversion Rate: A conversion rate is defined as the relationship between visitors to a web site and actions considered to be a ‘conversion’, such as a sale or request to receive more information. 

Core Competencies: The particular set of strengths, experience, knowledge and abilities that differentiate a company from its competitors and provide competitive advantage. Employees should possess these qualities in order to advance business goals.

Cost-Benefit Analysis: The ability to measure the costs associated with a specific program, project, or benefit. The cost is then compared to the total benefit or value derived.

Cost-Per-Hire: The costs linked to recruiting talent. These costs can include advertising, agency fees, relocation costs, and training costs.

Crowd Sourcing: Obtaining services or contributions from a large independent group of people (usually from an online community) rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.

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Data Breach: An incident in which sensitive, protected or confidential data has been viewed, stolen or used by an individual unauthorized to do so.

Deferred Compensation: Payment for services under any employer-sponsored plan or arrangement that allows an employee (for tax-related purposes) to defer income to the future.

Defined Benefit Plan: A retirement plan that pays participants a lump-sum amount that has been calculated using formulas that can include age, earnings and length of service.

Defined Contribution: A pension plan that clearly defines the amount of contributions, which is usually a percentage of an employee’s salary. The benefits payable at retirement depend on several factors including future investment return and annuity rate at retirement.

Deregulation: The removal or revision of laws that regulate the supply of goods and services.

Developmental Disability: Any mental or physical disability that has an onset before age 22 and may continue indefinitely. 

Developmental Counseling: A form of shared counseling where managers or supervisors work together with subordinates to identify strengths and weaknesses, resolve performance-related problems and determine and create an appropriate action plan.

Disability: The inability to perform all or part of one’s occupational duties because of an accident or illness. This can be due to a sickness, injury or mental condition and does not necessarily have to have been caused by the job itself.

Disability Income Insurance: Health insurance that is paid to a policyholder who experiences a loss of income due to an injury or an illness. Disability insurance plans pay a portion of the salary of a disabled worker until his/her retirement age.

Disciplinary Procedure: A standardized process that an organization commits to when dealing with an employee who has breached the terms of employment in some way. If this procedure is not standardized and fair, the organization may face discrimination or other legal charges.

Discrimination: The favoring of one group of people, resulting in unfair treatment of other groups.

Direct Threat: A significant risk; a high probability of substantial harm to the health or safety of the employee or others.

Disadvantaged: Lacking in the basic resources or conditions (such as standard housing, medical and educational facilities, and civil rights) believed to be necessary for an equal position in society.

Disparate Effect: The tendency for a test, selection of job qualifications, or other employment practice to screen out or otherwise limit the employment opportunities of a certain group at a greater rate than others. Also called "adverse effect" or adverse impact."

Disparate Treatment: Unequal treatment in employment opportunities because of one's race, color, religion, sex, age, ancestry, national origin, disability, or veteran's status. Also called "differential treatment."

Diversity: The collective mixture of differences and similarities that may include: individual and organizational characteristics, values, beliefs, experiences, backgrounds, preferences and behaviors.

Diversity Training: Diversity training is training for the purpose of increasing participants’ cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills, which is based on the assumption that the training will benefit an organization by protecting against civil rights violations, increasing the inclusion of different identity groups, and promoting better teamwork.

Dual Labor Markets: A situation in an organization where a smaller Core Labor Force and a Peripheral Labor Force co-exist.

Due Diligence: In mergers and acquisitions, the process of carefully investigating the details of an investment or purchase to assess risk and potential value and reward.

 - E -

EAP: An employer-sponsored program that is designed to assist employees whose job performance is being adversely affected by such personal stresses as substance abuse, addictions, marital problems, family troubles, and domestic violence. For every dollar invested in an EAP, employers save approximately $5 to $16. The average annual cost for an EAP ranges from $12 to $20 per employee. Source: US Department of Labor.

eCommerce (Electronic Commerce): Is a term for any type of business, or commercial transaction, that involves the transfer of information across the Internet. ... It is currently one of the most important aspects of the Internet to emerge.

Emotional Intelligence: Based on the book of the same name by Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize, assess and manage their own and others’ emotions.

Employee Advocacy | Employer Advocacy: An employer branding tactic involving the promotion of an organization by its staff members – often times through the use of employee generated content (EGC). While social media is often the main promotional medium, other promotional tools include email, chat, forums and discussion boards.

Employee Assessments: Tests used to help employers in pre-hire situations to select candidates best suited for open positions. These tests can sometimes be taken via the Internet and can provide employees with effective training, assist managers in becoming more effective, and promote people into appropriate positions. Types of assessments include those to determine personality, aptitude and skills.

Employee Assistance Programs: An EAP is an employer-sponsored intervention designed to identify and assist employees with personal problems (substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, workplace violence, marital and family problems, financial difficulties, etc.) that interfere with their work performance.

Employee Engagement: Employee engagement, also called worker engagement, is a business management concept. An “engaged employee” is one who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about their work, and thus will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests.

Employee Relations: Developing, maintaining, and improving the relationship between employer and employee by effectively and proactively communicating with employees, processing grievances/disputes, etc.

Employee Retention: Practices and policies designed to create a work environment that makes employees want to stay with the organization, thus reducing turnover.

Employee Self-Service: A program that allows employees to handle many job-related tasks normally conducted by HR departments including benefits enrollment, and updating personal information. Employees can access the information through the company’s intranet, kiosks, or other Web-based applications.

Employed: Under criteria established by the Bureau of the Census and the U. S. Department of Commerce, all civilians 16 years old and who were either : (a) "at work," meaning those who did any work at all during the reference week as paid employees or in their own business or profession, or on their farm, or who worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers on a family farm or in a family business; or (b) "with a job but not at work," meaning those who did not work during the reference week but had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent due to illness, bad weather, industrial dispute, vacation, or other personal reasons. Generally excluded from the category of employed are persons whose only activity consisted of unpaid work around the house or volunteer work for religious, charitable, and similar organizations, or person on layoff.

Employee Benefits: Benefits are a form of compensation paid by employers to employees over and above the amount of pay specified as a base salary or hourly rate of pay. Benefits are a portion of a total compensation package for employees.

Employment-At-Will: A term used in U.S. labor law for contractual relationships in which an employee can be dismissed by an employer for any reason (that is, without having to establish "just cause" for termination), and without warning, as long as the reason is not illegal (e.g. firing because of the employee's race or religion). An employee can also quit at any time for any reason – or no reason at all.

Enterprise Compensation Management (ECM): The automation of the compensation process to assist organizations in the acquisition, management and optimization of its workforce.

ERISA (Employment Retirement Income Security Act): A federal law that governs pension and welfare employee benefit plans. ERISA requires plans to provide participants with plan information including plan features and funding. It also requires that plans provide fiduciary responsibilities for those who manage and control assets. It gives participants the right to sue for benefits and breaches of fiduciary duty.

EEO Compliance and Operations: The HHS Equal Employment Opportunity Compliance and Operations (EEOCO) Division administers and ensures compliance with the laws, regulations, policies, and guidance that prohibit discrimination in the federal workplace for employees and applicants.

Executive Coaching: Executive coaching is a professional relationship between a Coach and an Executive, or an Executive Team. The goal is to assist executives with positive leadership development. It can be provided in one-on-one sessions or via the Internet.

Executive Compensation: Also called executive pay, compensation packages are specifically designed for executive-level employees that include items such as base salary, bonuses, perquisites and other personal benefits, stock options and other related compensation and benefit provisions.

Executive Search: An agency or organization used by employers to assist them with the selection and placement of candidates for senior-level managerial or professional positions.

Exempt Versus Non-Exempt Employees: The difference between exempt and nonexempt employees is who gets paid overtime and who doesn’t. The U.S. Department of Labor specifically designates certain classes of workers as exempt, including executives, administrative personnel, outside salespeople, highly skilled computer-related employees, doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. Managers who hire and fire employees and who spend less than half their time performing the same duties as their employees are typically also exempt employees. In general, the more responsibility and independence or discretion an employee has, the more likely the employee is to be considered exempt. Generally, any worker performing repetitive tasks is most likely nonexempt and must be paid overtime.

Equal Employment Opportunity: The right of all persons to work free from discrimination on the basis of protected classes such as race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, veteran's status, genetic information or other factors which cannot lawfully be the basis for employment actions.

Equal Pay Act of 1963: The Equal Pay Act, an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, requires employers to give women equal pay to men for equal (not similar) skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions. Pay may differ when based on seniority, merit, performance, or any other factor not based on sex. Pay can’t be reduced to bring the organization into compliance.

Essential Functions: A position's fundamental job duties that must be performed with or without an accommodation.

Exit Interview: The final meeting between management, usually someone in the HR department, and an employee leaving the company. Information on why the employee is leaving is gathered to gain insight into work conditions and possible changes or solutions.

Expatriate: An employee who is transferred to work abroad on a long-term job assignment.

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Factor comparison: A systematic and scientific comparison, that instead of ranking complete jobs, ranks according to a series of factors. These factors include mental effort, physical effort, skill needed, responsibility, supervisory responsibility, working conditions, etc.

Fair Representation: The duty of fair representation is incumbent upon U.S. labor unions that are the exclusive bargaining representative of workers in a particular group. It is the obligationto represent all employees fairly, in good faith, and without discrimination.

Fair Credit Reporting Act: A United States federal law that regulates the collection, dissemination, and use of consumer information. In an HR setting employers that run background checks on job candidates or employees must comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA): Provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. Current United States maternity leave policy is directed by FLMA. The policy also requires that the employee’s group health benefits be maintained during the leave.

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA): FSAs allow employees to set aside a portion of their earnings on a pre-tax basis into separate spending accounts to fund allowable health care and/or dependent day care expenses. The funds must be segregated as per IRS regulations.

Flexible Working Hours: Schedules that allow employees to structure their work hours around their personal responsibilities. Examples include flextime, job sharing, telecommuting and a compressed workweek. Home sourcing has become a popular flexible work concept in recent years. In this arrangement, employees work full-time from their homes.

Flexible Workplace/Telecommuting: Involves working from home or another location away from the office. It involves conducting work away from the office, but electronically linked to it. As technology advances, telecommuting becomes more effective, affordable, and commonplace.

Forced Ranking: Also known as a vitality curve, this is a system of work performance evaluation in which employees are compared against each other instead of against fixed standards. Based on the “20/80 Rule” idea, that 20 percent of employees do 80 percent of the meaningful, productive work, the top 20 percent of workers are rewarded and, oftentimes, the bottom 10 percent are fired.

Formal Training: A structured program to develop or increase job-related skills and abilities. Typically, classroom training as well as on-the-job training fall into this category.

Freedom of association: The right of workers to join a union and to bargain collectively. This right is protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Human Rights Act of 1993.

Fringe Benefits: Employment compensation other than wages or salary, including, for example, annual and sick leave, medical insurance, life insurance, retirement benefits, profit sharing, and bonus points. 

Front Pay: Compensation for estimated future economic loss; generally calculated based on the difference between the victim's current pay (or for a rejected applicant, the pay he or she should have received) and the pay associated with the victim's rightful place. Front pay runs from the time of the settlement, hearing, or administrative or court order to a certain time in the future set by the settlement, hearing, or administrative or court order (usually when the victim attains his or her rightful place). 

FTE (Full-Time Equivalency): For affirmative action plan purposes, only positions occupied by an employee designated as "A" (active) in the SHARP system are used to calculate FTE. The percent of time worked is based on a standard of 100% or 1.0. For example, an employee who is working 60% and employee who is working 40% of the time would equal 100% or an FTE of 1.0. 

Full-Time: Any employment position which requires 40 or more hours of work per week.

Functional Job Analysis: Developed by the U.S. Department of Labor, functional job analysis is a method of gathering specific and detailed job information. This information can be used to write job descriptions.

- G -

Gag clause: Refers to the employment contract restrictions used as a means of protecting the organization’s trade secrets or proprietary information

GED (General Education Development): A certificate recognized by a state's department of education as equivalent to a high school diploma.

Gender Pay Gap: The average difference between men’s and women’s aggregate hourly earnings.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):The legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information of individuals within the European Union (EU). The GDPR sets out the principles for data management and the rights of the individual, while also imposing fines that can be revenue based.

Generation I:The term used to describe children born after 1994 who are growing up in the Internet age.

Generation X:The term used to describe individuals born between 1965 and 1980.

Generation Y:The term used to describe individuals born between 1985 and the present.

Genetic-based Discrimination:The practice of requesting or requiring genetic testing information during the hiring process or using genetic testing information to base any other employment decisions or actions.

Geographical Differential:The variance in pay established for same or comparable jobs based on variations in labor and costs of living among other geographic regions.

Glass Ceiling: An artificial barrier to the advancement of women and minorities to decision-making positions. 

Goals: Goals are objectives for hiring and promoting protected group members in EEO categories to correct the lingering effects of past discrimination. Goals are flexible targets used to guide affirmative action efforts during the current plan cycle. Goals are not quotas and cannot be used to discriminate or exclude persons from employment opportunities through reverse discrimination.

Good Faith Bargaining:A requirement of the Employment Relations Act of 2000 that all parties to a contract conduct negotiation with a willingness to reach an agreement on new contract terms.

Grievance:A complaint by an employee due to an alleged violation of law or collective bargaining or dissatisfaction with work conditions.

Gross Misconduct:An action so serious that it calls for the immediate dismissal of an employee. Examples include fighting, drunkenness, harassment of others and theft.

Group Dynamics:The way that people interact within a group that determines how it functions and how effective the group is.

- H -

Handicap: A condition or barrier imposed by society, the environment, or by oneself. 

Harassment: Any repeated behavior, or combination of behaviors, by one or more employees toward another employee or group of employees based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, veterans status, or age, and which the affected employee considers to be annoying, insulting, or intimidating, which causes discomfort or which has a detrimental effect on the employee's work performance..

Hawthorne Effect: The theory that organizations can motivate their employees as much or more by expressing concern for problems as by actually improving their work conditions. 

Health Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA): A benefit plan designed to allow employees to set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for eligible medically related expenses, such as medical, vision or dental exams, copays and deductibles, as well as other out-of-pocket expenses.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA): HIPAA Title II includes an administrative simplification section that mandates standardization of electronic health records systems and includes security mechanisms designed to protect data privacy and patient confidentiality.

Health savings accounts (HSA): A tax-free account that can be used by employees to pay for qualified medical expenses. To be eligible for a Health Savings Account, an individual must be covered by a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP), must not be covered by other health insurance, is not eligible for Medicare and can’t be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return.

Hierarchy of Needs: A theory created by psychologist Abraham Maslow that states humans constantly strive to meet a series of needs, going from physical (food and shelter) all the way to spiritual (self-actualization).

Hispanic: All persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.

HR Audit:A periodic measurement of human resources effectiveness, conducted by internal staff or with the use of an HR audit system.

HR Generalist:An individual who is able to perform more than one diversified human resources function, rather than specializing in one specific function.

Human Capital:The collective skills, knowledge and competencies of an organization’s people that enables them to create economic value.

Human Capital Management:The challenge of recruiting and retaining qualified candidates, and helping new employees fit into an organization. The goal is to keep employees contributing to the organizations intellectual capital by offering competitive salary, benefits and development opportunities. The major functions of human capital management include Recruitment, Compensation, Benefits and Training.

Human Resource Audit:A human resources (HR) audit is a series of systematic, formal procedures designed to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization’s HR management system. These audits compares the current system to relevant internal and external benchmarks, evaluates the appropriateness of this system for implementing the firm’s strategic and operational objectives, and provides a framework for improving the way in which the firm manages people.

Human Resource Information System (HRIS):Business software systems that assist in the management of human resource data (e.g. payroll, job title, candidate contact information). Some of the larger HRIS platforms include SAP and Peoplesoft.

Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO):A contractual agreement between an employer and an external third-party provider whereby the employer transfers responsibility and management for certain HR, benefit or training-related functions or services to the external provider.

- I -

Immediate Labor Area: The geographic area from which employees reasonably may commute to the employer's establishment. It may include one or more contiguous cities, counties, Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or parts thereof. 

Injunctive Relief: A court order requiring a person to perform, or to refrain from performing, a designated act. For example, injunctive relief might require an employer to cease asking discriminatory questions on its job application. 

- J -

Job Analysis: The process of gathering information about the requirements and necessary skills of a job in order to create a job description.

Job Area: Any subunit of a workforce sector, such as a department, job group, job title, etc.

Job Board: An online location that provides an up-to-date listing of current job vacancies in various industries. Applicants are able to apply for employment through the job board itself. Many job boards have a variety of additional services to help job seekers manage their careers and their ongoing job search processes.

Job Classification: A method of evaluation used for job comparisons, which groups jobs into a prearranged number of grades, each having a class description and a specified pay range.

Job Description: A written statement detailing the duties of a particular job title.

Job Group: Job or group of jobs having similar content, wage rates, and opportunities.

 - K -

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):Tasks that are central to the success of a business and show, when measured, whether the business is advancing toward its strategic goals.

KSAs:The Knowledge, Skills and Abilities an employee needs to meet the requirements of a job.

- L -

Labor Area: Geographic area used in calculating availability. The area may vary from local to nationwide.

Labor certification: Labor certification is a statement from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that a particular position at a particular company is “open.” It is the first step in the process of obtaining a green card.

Labor Force: As defined by the U.S. Bureau of Census: "All persons classified in the civilian labor force plus members of the Armed Forces." 

Labor Market: A geographical region (local, national or international) in which labor transactions occur—employers find workers and workers find work.

Labor Law Posting: Federal and state regulations requiring employers to post in conspicuous places a variety of labor law posters with information regarding employee rights.

Leadership Development: Activities, whether formal or informal, that enhance leadership qualities.

Learning Disability: A permanent condition that affects the way individuals perceive, retain, and express information.

Learning Management Software and Systems:A software platform for businesses and organizations designed to train and educate employees. Components typically include content delivery and other tools needed to administer, measure, track, and report / analyze the effectiveness of a company’s training initiatives. Modern learning management systems (LMS) are often cloud-based solutions, allowing access to training and other LMS content & features online using a standard web browser.

Learning Style:Learning styles are overall patterns that provide direction to learning and teaching. They involve educating methods, particular to an individual, that are presumed to allow that individual to learn best.

Long-Term Care Insurance:Helps provide for the cost of long-term care beyond a predetermined period, and is generally not covered by health insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid.

LIFO (Last In, First Out):A method of determining who should be laid off in which the most recent hires are laid off first.

Loyalty Programs: Programs that reward and therefore encourage loyalty. In a workplace setting these programs are often called Employee Rewards and Recognition Programs. 

- M –

Major Life Activities: Activities that an average person can perform with little or no difficulty. Examples are walking, speaking, breathing, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, learning, caring for oneself, working, sitting or standing.

Make Whole Relief: Remedies for discrimination that restore the victim of discrimination to his or her rightful place, i.e. the position, both economically and in terms of employment status, that the victim would have occupied had the discrimination never taken place. Common elements of make whole relief include an award of the position the individual was wrongfully denied, back pay with interest, and retroactive seniority.

Managed Care: A health care system in which the provider manages the care of the individual for a fixed fee. The opposite of this preventive intervention (or, population-based) approach is fee-for-service. Managed care emphasizes wellness and prevention.

Management by Objective (MBO): A process of defining objectives within an organization so that management and employees agree on the overall goals and objectives for the organization. The employees determine and set goals for themselves based on the overall goals and objectives for the organization.

Managed Service Provider (MSP): Outsourced agency that manages the contingent worker program (temporary staffing) of a business. It consists of a team that helps the client company source and manage temporary workers.

Mandatory Affirmative Action: Action taken by an employer on the basis of a self-analysis to investigate and correct its employment practices in order to receive or qualify for a federal contract or grant. Also see: "Remedial and Voluntary Affirmation Action." 

Marketing PR: Marketing PR is the combining of what are traditionally two separate departments, public relations and marketing, to one integrated front whereby all marketing and PR activities focus on reaching buyers directly. Marketing PR incorporates both traditional marketing and PR tactics with social media and other Internet-based initiatives that support the measurable goals of online publicity, increased web site traffic, search-optimization (SEO) and, lead generation. A key difference between traditional PR and Marketing PR is the use of a press release. Traditional PR writes and distributes a press release for the sole purpose of securing media placements. Marketing PR does this as well but also uses the press release to enhance website SEO, increase web site traffic and generate qualified sales leads.

Matrix Organization: Used primarily in the management of large projects, a horizontal authority structure in which teams are created from various departments and report to more than one boss.

mCommerce: Commerce carried out over a mobile device.

Mean wage: The average wage for a worker in a specified position or occupation, which may be skewed up or down if there are a few extreme examples in the sample.

Median Wage: The margin between the highest paid 50 percent and the lowest paid 50 percent of workers in a specific position or occupation. It is often more representative of the average wage than a mean would be, as it can account for extreme outliers.

Mediation Services: The use of a trained third party to settle an employment dispute. The third party has no legal authority and so must use persuasion to settle the dispute.

Medical savings account (MSA): A savings account funded by employees in which tax-deferred deposits can be made for use as medical expenses, co-payments, or deductibles.

Mental Disability: Any mental or psychological disorder, such as mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities.

Mentoring: An informal training process between a more experienced person and a junior employee.

Merit Pay: Performance-related pay which provides bonuses or base pay increases for workers who perform their jobs effectively, according to measurable criteria.

Merit Principles: The basic tenets of public personnel administration, including such concepts as open competition for entry; selection on the basis of relative knowledge, skills, and abilities; advancement based on relative performance and ability; and fair treatment of applicants and employees in all aspects of personnel administration without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age, disability, or political affiliation. 

Millennials:The demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates when the generation starts and ends. Researchers and commentators use birth years ranging from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.

Minimum Wage:The lowest amount an employer can pay an hourly employee. This rate is set by the federal government.

Minority: For EEO official reporting purposes, the term "minority" includes people who are Black, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander and American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Minority Business Enterprise:A business which is at least 51% owned, operated and controlled on a daily basis by one or more African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, or Native American citizens.

Mission Statement:A description of an organization’s purpose: what it does, what markets it serves and what direction it is going in.

Motivational Theories:Psychological models that attempt to explain what motivates people. These theories can help employers design incentive strategies.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI):A well-known personality type assessment designed to measure people’s psychological preferences. The personality is divided into four dichotomies, with 16 personality types possible. The system is partly based on the theories of psychologist Carl Jung.

- N -

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: Persons having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. Does not include individuals who are native to the State of Hawaii by virtue of being born there. This group would also include the following Pacific Islander groups: Fijian; Kosraean; Melanesian; Micronesian; Northern Mariana Islander; Palauan; Papua, New Guinean; Ponapean; Polynesian; Solomon Islander; Tahitian; Tarawa Islander; Tokelauan; Tongan; Trukese; and Yapese.

Negotiation: Bargaining between two or more parties with the goal of reaching consensus or resolving a problem.

Nepotism: Preferential hiring of relatives and friends, even though others might be more qualified for those positions.

Nondisclosure Agreement: A contract restricting an employee from disclosing confidential or proprietary information.

Nonexempt Employee: An employee who does not meet any one of the Fair Labor Standards Act exemption tests and is paid on an hourly basis and covered by wage and hour laws regarding hours worked and overtime pay.

Nontraditional Employment: Any occupation in which women or men comprise less than 25% of the workforce. Non-traditional careers refer to jobs that have been traditionally filled by one gender.

Non-Traditional Benefits: Non-traditional benefits include various types of life management benefits such as EAPs, child care, elder care counseling, on-site gym, intern benefits, pet benefits, college tuition, parental assistance, wellness stipends, etc. 

Null hypothesis (N/H): Based on the underlying assumption that employers are hiring or have selected persons from the population of available qualified persons on a random basis, such that each person is equally likely to be selected regardless of race, sex, or ethnic identification. Operating from this assumption of random selection, it is appropriate to hypothesize that for a specific race, sex, or ethnic group within a given occupation that the proportion of workers in an agency is equal to the proportion of workers in the relevant labor market for that occupation, such that any deviation may be attributed solely to chance. In the State Affirmative Action Plan Guide for Equal Employment Opportunity, a .05 (20%) level of significance has been adopted. (Adverse impact is defined as occurring when the selection rate for a racial, sex, or ethnic group is less than four-fifths (80%) of the rate for the group with the highest selection ratio.) Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected if the probability of obtaining the observed difference, by chance, is more than 5% and an inference of underutilization is made.

- O -

Objective: A statement of a program goal which is to be accomplished through related action items.

Observation interview: A method of assessing job requirements and skills by observing the employee at work, followed by an interview with the employee for further assessment and insight.

Offshoring: The act of moving work to an overseas location to take advantage of lower labor costs. Offshoring usually involves manufacturing; information technology and back-office services like call centers and bill processing. Companies can build its own work center abroad, establish a foreign division, or create a subsidiary in remote locations.

Onboarding: The process of moving a new hire from applicant to employee status ensuring that paperwork is done, benefits administration is underway, and orientation is completed.

Organic Search Results:Search results returned by search engines that are based purely on the content of the pages and page popularity. Organic search results are not categorized directory results, or pay-per-click advertising results. According to MarketingSherpa.com, total money spent on search engine optimization represents only 12% of what is spent on pay-for-click advertising (PPC). What makes this statistic so startling is that it is that organic search engine results (those that show up in natural “free” listings) are better noticed, read, and clicked on than the paid listings.

Organizational Culture:The values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that characterize an organization. It is the unwritten workplace ethos that is picked up by new employees.

Organizational Development:A planned organization-wide effort to improve and increase the organizations effectiveness, productivity, return on investment and overall employee job satisfaction through planned interventions in the organization’s processes.

Orientation:Introducing new hires to the organization and its policies, benefits and culture. Training and familiarization with each department are sometimes included.

OSHA:The Occupation Safety and Health Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor. The agency’s goal is to promote health and reduce accidents, injury and death in the workplace.

Outplacement:A benefit offered by a downsizing employer to assist former employees in re-entering the job market. Assistance can include job training, resume workshops, interview practice and career counseling.

Outsourcing: Contracting out non-core functions, such as payroll, benefits administration or manufacturing, to save money and focus on what the company does best.

- P -

Paid Time Off:PTO is a policy that allows employees to receive a set of paid time off allowances, including vacations, holidays, sick days, jury duty, short-term military service, funeral leave, and severance pay. Total time off (TTO) combines many of the above categories into a single annual allowance.

Pareto Chart: A quality assurance tool that ranks information, like reasons for certain problems, in descending order. The goal is to identify the most serious problems so improvements can be made.

Pattern or Practice Discrimination: Employer actions constituting a pattern of conduct resulting in discriminatory treatment toward the members of a class. Pattern or practice discrimination generally is demonstrated in large measure through statistical evidence, and can be proven under either the disparate treatment or disparate impact model. 

Payroll: Documentation created and maintained by the employer containing such information as hours worked, salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, vacation/sick pay, contributions to qualified health and pension plans, net pay and deductions.

Peer appraisal: A performance assessment given by an employee’s peers who have observed the employee’s job performance.

Performance Appraisal: A periodic review and evaluation of an individual’s job performance.

Performance Improvement: A plan to improve an employee’s performance in which the performance problem is identified, modified and monitored.

Performance Management: The process of maintaining or improving employee job performance through the use of performance assessment tools, coaching and counseling. The ultimate goal is to better meet organizational objectives.

Performance Planning: An organization-wide plan to manage employees and their performance wherein goals are set for employees, departments and the organization as a whole.

Physical Disability: Any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems: neurological, musculoskeletal, special sense organs, respiratory (including speech organs), cardiovascular, reproductive, digestive, genitor-urinary, hemic and lymphatic, skin and endocrine.

Plan Sponsor: An entity that has adopted and has maintained an employee-benefit plan. The plan sponsor is often an employer, but may be a union or a professional association. The Plan Sponsor is responsible for determining employee participation and the amount of benefits involved

Position: A group of duties and responsibilities, assigned or delegated by an appointing authority, requiring the services of an employee on a full-time basis or, in some cases, on a less than full-time basis. 

Position Description: A narrative explanation of the duties and responsibilities of a position, and the education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the duties and responsibilities of the position in a satisfactory manner. 

Premium only plan (POP): Section 125 is part of the IRS Code that allows employees to convert a taxable cash benefit (salary) into non-taxable benefits, so they may pay for qualified benefit premiums before any taxes are deducted from their paychecks. The Premium only plan allows for certain employee paid group insurance premiums to be paid with pre-tax dollars.

Prima Facie Case: Refers to the initial burden of the complainant to show actions taken by the employer are more likely than not to be discriminatory, if such actions remain unexplained.

Probable Cause: A determination made by an enforcement agency, after an investigation of a charge of employment discrimination, that there is a basis "to believe that the charge is true." Also known as "reasonable cause." 

Probationary Arrangement: An agreement between an employer and employee that the employee will work for a set amount of time on a trial or probationary period.

Professional Employer Organization (PEO): A staffing service that is contracted to assume the employer’s responsibilities and risk for his/her workforce. Employees are legally co-employed by the PEO. The PEO is responsible for such actions as the preparation of accurate payroll checks, the remittance of payroll taxes to federal and state jurisdictions and the preparation of various tax information.

Profit Sharing: Profit sharing refers to various incentive plans introduced by businesses that provide direct or indirect payments to employees that depend on company's profitability in addition to employees' regular salary and bonuses. In publicly traded companies these plans typically amount to allocation of shares to employees.

Protected Concerted Activity: A legal term used in labor policy to define employee protection against employer retaliation in the United States. It defines the activities workers may partake in without fear of employer retaliation. The National Labor Relations Act, the main labor policy governing labor relations in the United States, defines concerted activity in Section 7. “Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection…”

Protected Group: Any legally recognized group that is specifically protected by statute from discrimination. 

 - Q -

Qualified individual with a disability: A person with a disability who satisfies the requisite skill, experience, education, and other job-related requirements of the employment position such individual holds or desires and who, with or without a reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the position.

Quality Management: A system to make sure that a product or service meets standards of excellence, and that the process by which the product or service is created is efficient and effective as well. The three key components of this system are quality control, quality assurance and quality improvement.

Quantified Self: A movement to incorporate technology into data acquisition on aspects of a person’s daily life in terms of inputs (e.g. food consumed, quality of surrounding air), states (e.g. mood, arousal, blood oxygen levels), and performance (mental and physical).

Quota: In employment law, court-ordered hiring and/or promoting of specific numbers or ratios of minorities or women in positions from which a court has found they have been excluded because of unlawful discrimination.

- R -

Race Code: A descriptive term used for reference when identifying a specific ethnic group: White, Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaskan Native.

Random Testing: Employer-administered drug and alcohol tests conducted at random intervals.

Reasonable Accommodation: Includes making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities; job restructuring; part-time or modified work schedules; reassignment to a vacant position; acquisition or modification of equipment or devices; appropriate adjustment or modifications of examinations, training materials, or policies; provision of qualified readers or interpreters; and other similar accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

Recruitment (or Relevant) Area: The geographic location(s) from which an agency or organization unit draws applicants for employment. 

Recruitment: The process of finding and hiring the best-qualified candidate for a position.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO): The outsourcing of the recruiting process to a third party.

Redundancy: Eliminating jobs or job categories as they become unnecessary to the functioning of an organization.

Regular Position: Any position other than a temporary position. 

Relevant Labor Market: Qualified persons in the recruitment area who are available for employment.

Remedial (ordered) Affirmative Action: Corrective action(s) deemed necessary by a court or enforcement agency to correct or overcome the effects of past discrimination. What the corrective actions consist of depends largely on the circumstances of the employer, or the discretion of the court or enforcement agency. See also "Mandatory and Voluntary Affirmative Action."

Reputation Management: The practice of monitoring the reputation of an individual or brand on the internet to address potentially or harmful content.

Request for proposal (RFP): A request sent by a company to a vendor to submit a bid for a product or service. The bid includes a timeline, a description of the good or service, the type of contract, cost and other specifics.

Resignation: The voluntary termination of employment by an employee.

Return on Investment (ROI): The percentage of profit on an investment compared to the cost of that investment. Also called the rate of return or yield.

Right to Manage: The “right” of management to conduct business without having to answer to internal or external forces for their decisions.

Risk Management: The use of insurance and other strategies to minimize an organizations exposure to liability in the event a loss or injury occurs.

Retention Strategy: In order to retain employees and reduce turnover managers must meet the goals of employees without losing sight of the organization’s goals, utilizing valence and expectancy theories.

- S -

Safe Harbor Regulations: Guidelines regulated by the Department of Labor, which, when fully complied with, may reduce or limit the liability of a plan fiduciary, on the condition that the party performed its actions in good faith or in compliance with defined standards.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002: SOX was enacted in response to the high-profile Enron and WorldCom financial scandals to protect shareholders and the general public from accounting errors and fraudulent practices in the enterprise. Among other provisions, the law sets rules on storing and retaining business records in IT systems.

Scalability: The degrees to which the system, network, or process of a computer’s hardware or software can be expanded in size, volume, or number of users served and continue to function properly. An analogous business model of economic growth refers to a business’s ability to expand to a greater capacity.

Selection Procedure: Any measure, combination of measures, or procedure used as a basis for any employment decision. Selection procedures include the full range of assessment techniques--from traditional paper and pencil tests, performance tests, physical, education, and work experience requirements through structured or unstructured interviews and unscored application forms.

Selection Rate: The proportion of applicants or candidates who are hired, promoted, or otherwise selected for a particular position.

Sensitivity Training: A form of individual or group counseling geared toward increasing self-awareness of one’s own prejudices and sensitivity to others.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization): The process of optimizing a web site (e.g., identifying and placing targeted keywords on web pages) to ensure the site places well when queried on search engines. It is important for corporate web sites to optimize their visibility on search engines.

Self-Funded (Self-Insured) Plan: A health care insurance program in which employers (usually larger companies) pay the specified health care costs of their employees rather than insuring them. Self-funded plans may be self-administered, or the employer may contract a third-party administrator (TPA) for administrative services only (ASO).

Separation: Severance of an employment relationship. The action to separate from employment may be taken by the employee, the employer, or both. 

Service/Maintenance: An EEO-4 category that encompasses those occupations in which workers perform duties which result in or contribute to the comfort, convenience, hygiene, or safety of the general public or which contribute to the upkeep and care of buildings, facilities, or groups of public property. Workers in this group may operate machinery. 

Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination and is defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.

Short-Term Disability: Disability income insurance designed to replace employee income for a temporary, specified time frame while they are unable to perform their duties due to illness or injury, before they return to work.

Situational leadership: A management theory stating that effective leadership varies, but is task-relevant, and the most successful leaders are those that adapt their leadership style to the maturity of their audience.

Six Sigma: Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven methodology used to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes. It also cuts costs from manufacturing by creating a special infrastructure of people that are experts in these methods.

Skill: A present, observable competence to perform a learned act.

Skills Gap: The difference between the skills required for a job and the actual skills possessed by the employee.

Social HR: The extent to which human resource departments leverage social media tools (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) to conduct human resource activities (recruiting, employment branding, etc.) aimed at aligning HR goals to the company’s business goals.

Social Media Background Screening: Employers undertaking social media background checks will search Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other online profiles to try to get a better sense of who a job candidate is.

Social Recruitment: The process of recruiting potential job candidates through the use of social networking platforms and/or websites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Social recruitment software is used to search social networks for passive candidate information, manage active social recruiting efforts, as well as distribute job postings and information related to open positions to job posting websites.

Sourcing: The developing of lists of potential candidates. Also relates to the task of requisitioning, or creating job descriptions, approval workflows and actual job postings. Most e-recruitment software providers include modules for requisitioning.

SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources): Senior Professional in Human Resources (PHR) is an industry certification for people working in the human resource management profession, awarded by the Human Resource Certification Institute. It is the senior-most human resources certification for those who have also demonstrated a strategic mastery of the HR body of knowledge.

Staffing: A method of finding, evaluating, and establishing a working relationship with future employees. They may be current employees or future employees.

Standard Deviation: A statistical measure used to describe the probability that differences between similarly situated groups (such as in selection rates, wages, etc.) occurred by chance.

Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system: Federal statistical standard used by federal agencies to classify workers into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, or disseminating data. All workers are classified into one of 867 detailed occupations according to their occupational definition. 

Strategic HRM: Aligning human resource management (HRM) with the strategic goals of an organization.

Strategic Planning: The process of considering an organization’s future, usually three to five years ahead, and then working backward to create strategic plans and allot resources to realize this desired future state. This includes a hiring strategy.

Stay Interviews: A “stay" interview is a one-on-one interview between a manager and a valued employee. Its aim, quite simply, is to learn what makes employees want to keep working for you. Likewise, it's designed to elicit what might make key employees want to leave

Succession Planning: The process of identifying long-range needs and cultivating a supply of internal talent to meet those future needs. Used to anticipate the future needs of the organization and assist in finding, assessing and developing the human capital necessary to the strategy of the organization.

Subjective Criteria/Procedures: Employment qualifications, selection standards or processes that require judgment in their application, such that different persons applying such criteria/procedures would not necessarily reach the same conclusion. A criterion is subjective if it is not fixed or measurable.

Substantially Limits: Unable to perform, or be significantly limited in the ability to perform, an activity compared to an average person in the general population.

Sub-Unit (As in the State Affirmative Action Plan): A group of organizational elements that together constitute an agency. 

Supervisor: An employee who (a) performs some work that is different from that of the employee's subordinates; and (b) has the responsibility to authorize or recommend in the interest of the employer a majority of the following actions: 1) Hire, transfer, suspend, promote, demote, dismiss, and discipline other employees; 2) address employee grievances; and 3) assign, direct, and conduct performance reviews of the work. The exercise of this authority and responsibility shall not be of a merely routine or clerical nature but shall require the use of independent judgment. 

Summary Dismissal: The immediate firing of an employee, usually due to an act of gross misconduct.

Summary Material Modifications: A summary of modifications or changes made to an employee benefit plan that is not included in the summary plan description.

Summary Plan Description: A document that explains the fundamental features of an employer’s defined benefit or defined contribution plan, including eligibility requirements, contribution formulas, vesting schedules, benefit calculations, distribution options, participation, coverage and employee rights for any ERISA-covered benefit plan. ERISA requires that the SPD be easy to understand and that each participant receive a copy within 90 days of joining the plan.

Supplemental Unemployment Benefits (SUB): Pay benefits which are taxable payments that form a fund, which can be combined with state unemployment insurance benefits. Typically found in collective bargaining agreements, they provide a higher level of unemployment benefits during periods of temporary layoff.

Suspension: An employee is sent home for a period of time, usually without pay, as a disciplinary measure.

Systemic Discrimination: Employment policies or practices that serve to differentiate or to perpetuate a differentiation in terms or conditions of employment of applicants or employees because of their status as members of a particular group. Such policies or practices may or may not be facially neutral, and intent to discriminate may or may not be involved. Systemic discrimination, sometimes called class discrimination or a pattern or practice of discrimination, concerns a recurring practice or continuing policy rather than an isolated act of discrimination.

- T -

Talent Management: Also called Human Capital Management, the process of recruiting, managing, assessing, developing and maintaining employees.

Targeted Recruiting: Any recruitment activity directed toward any person or group of persons based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin, or age that is not also equally and coincidentally directed toward all other persons.

Tangible Rewards: Gifts in the form of merchandise, gift certificates, etc. that can be physically held or touched.

Team Building: A philosophy of job design which fosters teamwork to create a work culture that values collaboration. It is a training program designed to encourage employees to view themselves as members of interdependent teams instead of as individual workers, in which people understand and believe that thinking, planning, decisions and actions are better when done cooperatively.

Temporary Disabilities: Non-chronic disabilities of short duration that usually have little or no long-term impact. For example, broken limbs, sprains, concussions, appendicitis, common colds, or influenza.

Temporary Position: A position limited to a certain stated time period.

Test: Any performance measure used as a basis for any employment decision.

Third-Party Administrator (TPA): An organization that is responsible for the administration of insurance for a self-insured group. It does not have any responsibility for paying claims. The self-insured group is financially responsible. (See self-insured group)

Title VII: Normally refers to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended. Title VII generally prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Total Remuneration: An employee’s complete annual pay package, including benefit and pension plans, bonuses, incentives, and paychecks.

Total Compensation: Total Compensation is the complete pay package for employees, beyond just salary. This includes all forms of money, benefits, services, and other “perks”. Total compensation is often defined as all of the resources available to employees, which are used by the employer to attract, motivate and retain employees.

Total Quality Management: An integrative philosophy of management for continuously improving the quality of products and processes. Practices and systems include: cross-functional product design, process management, supplier quality management, customer involvement, information and feedback, committed leadership, strategic planning, cross-functional training, and employee involvement.

Traditional Employee Benefits: Traditional benefits include life, retirement, health, and disability benefits. 

Training: Programs that are planned in a systemic fashion and related to events in the work environment. The training process is the systematic acquisition of skills, rules, concepts, or attitudes that result in improved performance in the work environment. Training efficacy stems from a strategically designed learning atmosphere based up a careful evaluation of job requirements and the capabilities of trainee

Training and Development: Providing information and instruction that equips employees to better perform specific tasks or attain a higher level of knowledge.

Training Needs Analysis: An assessment to determine the training needs of a group of employees, taking into account the employees’ prior education and skills and the desired outcome once training is completed.

Transfer: A change by an employee from one position to another position with a close similarity of duties, essentially the same basic qualifications, and the same pay grade.

Transformational Leadership:A systematic form of leadership that enhances the motivation, morale and performance of followers through change, innovation, and group dynamics.

Transitional Employment:The arrangement of lessened or altered duties for an employee who has been absent from the workplace because of illness or injury, but has been given leave by their medical provider to return.

Turnover:The number of employees lost and gained over a given time period.

 - U -

Unconscious Bias: Implicit or unconscious bias happens when our brains make quick judgments and assessments of people, or situations, without us realizing. Unconscious bias can heavily influence recruitment and selection decision.

Underrepresentation (Underutilization): A lower representation of a group of persons in an occupational category's workforce than would reasonably be expected by their presence in the relevant labor market.

Unemployed: Under the criteria established by the Bureau of the Census of the U. S. Department of Commerce, civilians 16 years old or over are considered unemployed if they were: (a) neither "at work" nor " with a job" during the reference week; (b) looking for work during the last 4 weeks; and (c) available to accept a job. Also included as unemployed are persons who did not work at all during the reference week and were waiting to be called back to a job from which they had been laid off.

Unemployment Compensation: A US federal-state partnership created by the Social Security Act to protect workers who have lost their job due to no fault of their own. Each state administers its own unemployment programs that typically specify partial income replacement for up to 26 weeks. Benefits are funded by an employer tax (employees contribute in some states) that is essentially tied to involuntary terminations and layoffs.

Unfair labor practice (ULP):An action carried out by an employer or union that violates the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, part of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), and would be investigated by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures: Principles designed to assist employers, labor organizations, employment agencies, and licensing and certification boards comply with federal laws prohibiting employment practices that discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. They are designed to provide a framework for determining the proper use of tests and other selection procedures.

Uniformly Applied: Applying employment criteria and processes in the same manner to members of a particular race, color, religion, sex, or national origin group and others.

Union: Workers who organize a united group, usually related to the kind of work they do, to collectively bargain for better work conditions, pay or benefit increases, etc.

Unjustifiable Dismissal: Firing an employee in a way that the courts do not find justifiable (i.e. unfairly or in violation of the employment contract).

Upward Mobility: A system for training, educating, or otherwise preparing employees for more responsible, higher- paying positions of employment.

Utilization Analysis: An analysis conducted by an employer to determine whether minorities, women, and persons with disabilities are employed in each major job category at a rate comparable to the availability of qualified minorities, women, or persons with disabilities in the relevant labor market for the positions covered by each job category.

- V –

Validity: Correctness of a measure, i.e., that it does in fact measure what it purports to measure. 

Veteran of the Vietnam Era: A person who (a) served on active duty for more than 180 days, any part of which occurred between August 5, 1964, and May 7, 1975, and was discharged or released therefrom with other than a dishonorable discharge; or (b) was discharged or released from active duty for a service-connected disability if any part of the active duty was performed between August 5, 1964, and May 7, 1975.

Virtual HR: The use of various types of technology to provide employees with self-serve options. Voice response systems, employee kiosks are common methods.

Visual Disability: A condition in which a person has loss of vision for ordinary life purposes. 

Voluntary Affirmative Action: Actions taken by an employer on the basis of a self-analysis to investigate and correct its employment practices or practices that appear to have had a disparate impact on the employment of protected group members.

Voluntary Benefits:Benefits that are paid for by the employee through payroll deductions. The employer pays for administration. Examples of these benefits include life insurance, dental, vision, disability income, auto insurance, long-term care coverage, medical supplement plans and homeowner’s insurance.

- W –

Wage Drift: The difference between basic pay and total earnings, due to a variety of possible factors such as overtime, bonuses, gender, age and performance.

Wellness Programs: programs offered by an employer that are designed to promote health or prevent disease. According to HealthCare.gov wellness programs are intended to improve and promote health and fitness that’s usually offered through the work place, although insurance plans can offer them directly to their enrollees. The program allows an employer or plan to offer individuals premium discounts, cash rewards, gym memberships, and other incentives to participate.

Whistle Blower: An employee who publicly reveals a perceived wrongdoing, misconduct or unethical activity within an organization to the public or to those in positions of authority. Whistle blowers are protected from retaliation by the Protected Disclosures Act of 2000.

White (not of Hispanic origin): All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East.

Work Behavior: Any activity performed to achieve the objectives of the job. Work behaviors involve observable (physical) components and unobservable (mental) components. A work behavior consists of the performance of one or more tasks. Knowledge, skills, and abilities are not behaviors, although they may be applied to work behaviors.

Workers Compensation: A form of accident insurance paid by employers. No payroll deductions are taken out of employees' salaries for this insurance. If you’re injured on the job or acquire a work-related illness, workers’ comp will pay your medical expenses, and if you can’t work, it will also cover wage-loss compensation until you’re able to return to work.

Work-life Balance: The attempt to balance work and personal life in order to have a better quality of life. A person with a balanced life is an asset to his or her business, as he or she experiences greater fulfillment at work and at home.

Work/Life Employee Benefits: Work/Life benefits are “non-traditional” employee benefits that assist employees in managing their lives. Employers purchase these services from vendors and they are offered to employees as benefits. These services can make the difference in attracting and retaining employees. Common life management benefits include: child and elder care referral services, employee assistance program (EAP), concierge, legal assistance, and emergency back-up childcare.

Workforce Analysis: An analysis that reveals the composition of employees in a workforce by protected group status and occupational category.

Workforce Planning:The assessment of the current workforce in order to predict future needs. This can consist of both demand planning and supply planning. Many e-recruitment software providers include modules for workforce planning.

Wrongful Termination:A legal term referring to when an employee was fired for an illegal reason.

- Other Terms –

360 Survey: An employee feedback program whereby an employee is rated by surveys distributed to his or her co-workers, customers, and managers. HR departments may use this feedback to help develop an individual’s skill or they may integrate it into performance management programs.

401(k) Plan:An employer-sponsored retirement plan that has become an expected benefit and is therefore important in attracting and retaining employees. A 401(k) plan allows employees to defer taxes as they save for retirement by placing before-tax dollars directly into an investment account. Employers also contribute to the plan tax-free, for instance by matching contributions. Some plans enable employees to direct their own investments. These plans can be expensive and complex to manage. It is common for companies to outsource all or part of their plan.