Plain-English HR definitions for faster manager and founder decisions.

Bonus pool

The total amount set aside for bonuses before allocation across employees or teams.

Compa-ratio

An employee's salary divided by the midpoint of the pay range for their role or grade.

ESOP

Employee Stock Ownership Plan

A plan that gives employees ownership interest in the company, usually through shares or trust structures.

Market midpoint

The middle point of a salary range, usually aligned to a target labour market percentile.

Merit increase

A salary increase linked to performance, contribution, skills, or position in range.

Pay band

A salary range assigned to a level, grade, or role family.

Pay compression

A pay problem where differences between employees, levels, or tenures become too small to reflect value fairly.

RSU

Restricted Stock Unit

An equity award that converts into shares after vesting conditions are met.

Salary benchmarking

The process of comparing roles and pay against market data to set or validate compensation.

Total rewards

The full value of employment including cash, equity, benefits, time off, recognition, flexibility, and growth.

ADA

Americans with Disabilities Act

A United States law prohibiting disability discrimination and requiring reasonable accommodation for qualified individuals.

ADEA

Age Discrimination in Employment Act

A United States law prohibiting age discrimination against workers aged 40 and older.

CCPA

California Consumer Privacy Act

A California privacy law that can affect employee and applicant data obligations.

EEOC

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The United States federal agency that enforces major anti-discrimination employment laws.

ERISA

Employee Retirement Income Security Act

A United States law regulating many private employer retirement and benefit plans.

FLSA

Fair Labor Standards Act

A United States law covering minimum wage, overtime, child labour, and exempt versus non-exempt classification.

GDPR

General Data Protection Regulation

The European Union data protection law governing collection, use, transfer, and rights over personal data.

IR35

UK tax rules for assessing whether contractors are effectively employees for tax purposes.

OSHA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

The United States agency enforcing workplace safety and health standards.

WARN Act

Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act

A United States law requiring advance notice for certain large layoffs and plant closures.

Final written warning

A serious disciplinary warning that usually precedes termination if the issue continues.

Gross misconduct

Serious misconduct that may justify dismissal without normal progressive discipline, depending on law and facts.

Just cause

A legally sufficient reason for discipline or dismissal, often requiring evidence and fair process.

Loudermill hearing

A pre-termination due process meeting required for many US public-sector employees.

Misconduct

Behaviour that breaches policy, contract, standards, law, or reasonable workplace expectations.

Progressive discipline

A discipline approach that escalates through coaching, warnings, final warning, and termination unless severity requires faster action.

Show-cause letter

A formal letter asking an employee to explain alleged misconduct before a decision is made.

Suspension pending investigation

A temporary removal from work while serious allegations are investigated, ideally neutral and documented.

Verbal warning

A spoken warning that should still be documented with facts, expectations, and follow-up.

Written warning

A formal document setting out a conduct or performance concern, required improvement, support, timeline, and consequences.

Adverse impact

A selection or employment practice that disproportionately harms a protected group, even without intent.

Affinity bias

A bias where people favour candidates or colleagues who feel similar to themselves.

DEI

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Work focused on representation, fairness, access, inclusion, and belonging across employee groups.

Diversity dimensions

Characteristics and experiences that shape identity, such as gender, ethnicity, disability, age, class, religion, and caregiving.

Equal opportunity

A commitment and legal principle that employment decisions should not be based on protected characteristics.

Equity audit

A review of pay, promotion, hiring, ratings, or access to identify unfair differences between groups.

Halo effect

A bias where one positive trait distorts judgment about unrelated qualities.

Inclusive language

Language that avoids unnecessary exclusion, stereotypes, ableism, gender-coding, and culture-specific assumptions.

Indirect discrimination

A neutral rule or practice that disadvantages a protected group and cannot be justified.

Pay equity

Fair pay for comparable work after accounting for legitimate factors such as role, level, location, tenure, and performance.

Belonging

The experience of feeling accepted, respected, included, and able to contribute at work.

Culture add

A hiring and culture concept focused on what difference a person adds, instead of whether they match existing norms.

Employee engagement

The level of connection, commitment, motivation, and discretionary effort employees bring to work.

Employee lifecycle

The full journey of an employee from attraction and hiring through onboarding, development, retention, and exit.

eNPS

Employee Net Promoter Score

A survey metric asking how likely employees are to recommend the company as a place to work.

ERG

Employee Resource Group

A voluntary employee group organized around shared identity, experience, interest, or allyship.

Meritocracy

A system that claims rewards are based on merit; in HR, it should be tested for fairness and hidden bias.

Psychological safety

A team climate where people can speak up, ask questions, and admit mistakes without fear of humiliation or punishment.

Pulse survey

A short recurring employee survey used to monitor sentiment, workload, engagement, or change impact.

Recognition program

A structured way to acknowledge employee contributions through praise, awards, points, bonuses, or public appreciation.

Document retention

Rules for how long employee records must be kept before secure deletion or archiving.

Employee file

The official personnel record containing employment documents, changes, performance records, and required acknowledgments.

Employee ID

A unique identifier assigned to an employee for HRIS, payroll, access, reporting, and records management.

Form 16

An Indian tax certificate issued by employers showing salary paid and tax deducted at source.

Form I-9

Employment Eligibility Verification

A United States form used to verify an employee's identity and authorization to work.

HRIS

Human Resources Information System

A system used to store employee records and manage HR workflows such as profiles, leave, payroll, and reporting.

HRMS

Human Resources Management System

A broad HR platform covering employee data, workflows, payroll integrations, time, performance, and reporting.

P11D

A UK form used to report certain employee benefits and expenses to HMRC.

Personnel record

Any official record relating to an employee's employment, pay, performance, leave, conduct, or exit.

W-2

Form W-2

A United States tax form reporting wages paid and taxes withheld for an employee.

Accommodation

Reasonable accommodation

A change to work, tools, schedules, or process that enables a qualified employee to perform their role.

ADR

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Methods such as mediation or arbitration used to resolve disputes outside formal litigation.

Bullying

Workplace bullying

Repeated unreasonable behaviour that undermines, humiliates, intimidates, or harms a worker.

Conflict resolution

A structured process for resolving workplace disagreements before they damage performance or trust.

ER specialist

Employee Relations Specialist

An HR professional focused on conduct, grievances, investigations, accommodations, and workplace conflict.

Grievance

A formal employee complaint about treatment, working conditions, policy application, or workplace conduct.

Mediation

A facilitated conversation where a neutral person helps parties reach a workable resolution.

Retaliation

Adverse treatment because someone reported a concern, participated in an investigation, or exercised a protected right.

Speak-up culture

A workplace environment where people can raise concerns without fear of punishment or dismissal.

Workplace investigation

A structured fact-finding process used to assess complaints, misconduct, harassment, fraud, or safety concerns.

Attrition rate

The percentage of employees who leave during a period, often used interchangeably with turnover rate.

Cost per hire

Total recruiting cost divided by number of hires in a period.

Dashboard

HR dashboard

A visual report that shows key HR metrics such as headcount, attrition, hiring, absence, and demographics.

Headcount

The number of people employed or engaged by an organization, often split by status, department, country, or level.

Lagging indicator

A metric that reports an outcome after it has happened, such as turnover after employees have left.

Leading indicator

A metric that predicts or influences a future outcome, such as pipeline quality before hiring results appear.

P90

90th percentile

The value below which 90 percent of observations fall, often used for time-to-hire or pay analysis.

People analytics

Using workforce data and analysis to answer HR and business questions.

Regression analysis

A statistical method for estimating relationships between variables, often used in pay equity analysis.

Time to fill

The number of days between opening a role and accepting an offer or filling the vacancy.

Acceptable use policy

A policy defining permitted and prohibited use of company systems, devices, networks, and data.

Acknowledgment form

A signed or electronic confirmation that an employee received, read, or agreed to a policy or document.

Anti-harassment policy

A policy defining harassment, reporting routes, investigation commitment, manager duties, and no-retaliation protections.

Code of conduct

A policy that turns values into expected behaviours, prohibited conduct, escalation routes, and consequences.

Employee handbook

A central document explaining employment basics, policies, expectations, benefits, conduct, and procedures.

Policy owner

The person or function accountable for keeping a policy accurate, reviewed, and operational.

Remote work policy

A policy defining eligibility, location rules, equipment, security, expenses, working hours, and approval for remote work.

Social media policy

A policy covering work-related online conduct, confidentiality, harassment, advocacy, and protected employee speech.

Travel and expense policy

A policy defining business travel, approvals, expense limits, receipts, reimbursement, and audit rules.

Whistleblower policy

A policy that enables reporting serious concerns with confidentiality, no retaliation, and investigation commitments.

Burnout

A work-related state of exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced efficacy caused by chronic unmanaged workplace stress.

EAP

Employee Assistance Program

A confidential support service that may offer counselling, referrals, crisis support, and wellbeing resources.

Ergonomics

Designing work, tools, and workstations to reduce strain, injury, and fatigue.

Hazard assessment

A process for identifying workplace hazards and controls to reduce safety risk.

Incident report

A record of a workplace accident, injury, near miss, security event, or serious safety concern.

Mental health day

A day off used to manage mental wellbeing, either as sick leave or a separate policy category.

Near miss

An unplanned event that could have caused injury, damage, or loss but did not.

Reasonable adjustment

A UK-style term for changes that remove disadvantage for disabled workers or applicants.

Return-to-work plan

A structured plan for an employee returning after illness, injury, parental leave, or extended absence.

Workers' compensation

A system providing benefits for employees injured or made ill through work, with country-specific rules.

ADDIE

ADDIE model

A learning design model covering analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation.

Career pathing

The process of defining possible career moves, skills, and milestones for employees.

Competency framework

A structured set of skills, behaviours, and expectations used for hiring, development, and performance.

Kirkpatrick model

A four-level model for evaluating training reaction, learning, behaviour change, and business results.

LMS

Learning Management System

Software used to assign, deliver, track, and report learning activities.

Mentorship

A development relationship where a more experienced person supports another person's growth and judgment.

Reskilling

Training employees for substantially different work as business needs or technology change.

Skills matrix

A table showing which employees have which skills, proficiency levels, or certifications.

Succession planning

Identifying and preparing people for critical roles before vacancies or leadership transitions happen.

Training needs analysis

A structured assessment of capability gaps and learning priorities.

Absenteeism

Regular or repeated absence from work, usually tracked as a percentage of scheduled working time.

Accrued leave

Leave earned over time based on service, hours worked, or policy rules.

Annual leave

Paid time off for rest or vacation, often subject to statutory minimums and company policy.

Bereavement leave

Time off after the death of a family member or close relation, paid or unpaid depending on law and policy.

Bradford Factor

An absence formula that weights frequent short absences more heavily than fewer long absences.

Carryover

Leave carryover

A rule that allows unused leave to move into the next leave year, often with caps or expiry dates.

FMLA

Family and Medical Leave Act

A United States law giving eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for certain reasons.

Parental leave

Leave for parents after birth, adoption, surrogacy, or placement, with rules varying widely by country.

PTO

Paid Time Off

A paid leave bank that may combine vacation, personal, and sometimes sick time.

Sick leave

Time off when an employee is ill, injured, attending medical care, or unable to work for health reasons.

1:1

One-on-one meeting

A recurring meeting between a manager and direct report focused on priorities, feedback, support, and development.

Delegation

Assigning ownership of work with clear outcomes, authority, constraints, and support.

Feedback culture

A team norm where timely, specific, respectful feedback is expected and used for improvement.

Manager enablement

Training, tools, templates, and support that help managers lead people well.

Manager self-service

HR systems or workflows that allow managers to complete routine people tasks directly.

Performance coaching

Manager support that helps an employee improve skills, habits, judgment, or delivery before formal discipline is needed.

Skip-level meeting

A meeting between an employee and their manager's manager, often used to understand team health and leadership gaps.

Span of control

The number of direct reports a manager has.

Team charter

A document that defines a team's purpose, operating norms, decision rights, roles, and communication rules.

Trust equation

A model that frames trust through credibility, reliability, intimacy, and self-orientation.

Exit interview

A structured conversation with a departing employee about their experience and reasons for leaving.

Final pay

The wages, accrued entitlements, deductions, expenses, and payments due when employment ends.

Garden leave

A notice-period arrangement where an employee remains employed but is told not to work or access systems.

Knowledge transfer

The planned handover of information, processes, relationships, and decisions before a person leaves or changes role.

Offboarding

The process of managing an employee's exit, including handover, access removal, final pay, documents, and feedback.

Outplacement

Support offered to departing employees, such as career coaching, CV help, job search support, and workshops.

Redundancy

A role elimination caused by business needs rather than employee conduct or performance.

Resignation

An employee's voluntary notice that they intend to end employment.

Severance

Pay or benefits provided when employment ends, required in some countries and discretionary in others.

Termination

The ending of employment by employer decision, employee resignation, contract expiry, redundancy, or mutual agreement.

30-60-90 plan

30-60-90 day plan

A phased onboarding plan that defines learning, contribution, and independence goals for a new hire.

Buddy system

A peer support arrangement that helps a new hire learn informal norms, tools, contacts, and day-to-day practices.

Induction

The formal process of introducing a new hire to the organization, policies, role expectations, and required training.

New hire checklist

A checklist covering preboarding, day-one setup, training, access, policy acknowledgments, and manager actions.

Onboarding cliff

The drop in confidence or performance that happens when early support disappears before a new hire is fully productive.

Preboarding

The period between offer acceptance and day one, used for paperwork, equipment, welcome messages, and expectation setting.

Probation period

An initial employment period used to assess role fit and performance; legal meaning varies heavily by country.

Ramp time

The time it takes a new hire to reach expected productivity in the role.

Role clarity

A shared understanding of responsibilities, decision rights, success measures, and boundaries for a role.

Welcome pack

A set of documents, messages, equipment, and practical information sent to a new hire before or on day one.

13th month salary

An extra salary payment expected or required in some countries, often paid near year end.

Deductions

Payroll deductions

Amounts withheld from pay for tax, social security, pensions, benefits, loans, or lawful recoveries.

EOR

Employer of Record

A third party that legally employs workers in a country while the client directs day-to-day work.

Gross pay

Total earnings before taxes, employee contributions, deductions, and withholdings.

Net pay

The amount an employee receives after required and voluntary deductions.

PAYE

Pay As You Earn

A payroll withholding system where employers deduct income tax from employee pay and remit it to the tax authority.

Payroll cadence

The schedule on which employees are paid, such as weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly.

Payroll register

A payroll report listing employees, earnings, deductions, taxes, and net pay for a pay period.

Pension contribution

Employer or employee payments into a retirement or pension scheme.

Tax equalization

An expatriate pay approach designed so an assignee pays roughly the same tax as they would at home.

360 feedback

360-degree feedback

Feedback collected from multiple sources such as manager, peers, direct reports, and stakeholders.

9-box grid

A talent review tool that maps performance against potential to guide development and succession decisions.

BARS

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale

A rating scale that defines each score with observable behaviours instead of vague labels.

Calibration

A process where managers compare evidence and ratings to improve consistency across teams.

Goodhart's Law

The principle that when a measure becomes a target, it can stop being a good measure.

KPI

Key Performance Indicator

A measurable indicator used to track whether an employee, team, or organization is achieving an important objective.

OKR

Objectives and Key Results

A goal-setting framework that pairs an objective with measurable key results, often set quarterly.

PIP

Performance Improvement Plan

A structured plan documenting performance gaps, expected improvement, support offered, timelines, and consequences.

SBI model

Situation-Behavior-Impact model

A feedback structure that names the situation, describes observable behaviour, and explains impact.

SMART goal

A goal written to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

ATS

Applicant Tracking System

Software used to post roles, receive applications, track candidates, and manage hiring workflows.

Candidate experience

The full experience a candidate has with an employer, from first contact to offer, rejection, or onboarding.

Competency interview

An interview that tests specific skills or behaviours using consistent questions and evidence-based scoring.

Employee referral

A hiring source where employees recommend candidates from their network, often with a referral bonus.

Employer brand

The reputation and promise an employer has in the labour market, shaped by culture, work, leadership, and employee stories.

EVP

Employee Value Proposition

The mix of pay, benefits, growth, culture, purpose, flexibility, and working conditions that makes people join and stay.

Job description

A role document explaining why a job exists, what it owns, required skills, reporting line, and working conditions.

Offer acceptance rate

The percentage of job offers accepted by candidates during a period.

Reference check

A structured conversation with a former manager or colleague to verify role-relevant work history and behaviours.

Structured interview

An interview where every candidate is assessed using the same competencies, questions, rating scale, and evidence rules.

Asynchronous work

Work that does not require people to be online or respond at the same time.

Core hours

Agreed hours when employees should normally be available for meetings and collaboration.

Digital nomad

A person who works remotely while moving between locations, often creating tax, immigration, and employment risks.

Distributed team

A team whose members work from multiple locations, often across time zones.

Hybrid work

A work arrangement combining remote work with regular office or site attendance.

Permanent establishment

A tax concept where business activity in a country can create corporate tax obligations.

Remote stipend

A payment or allowance for remote work costs such as internet, equipment, coworking, or ergonomics.

Right to disconnect

A legal or policy right to disengage from work communications outside working time.

Virtual onboarding

Onboarding delivered through remote tools, documentation, meetings, and structured manager support.

Work from anywhere

A policy allowing work from many locations, subject to tax, immigration, security, and employment-law controls.

Critical role

A role whose vacancy or poor performance creates outsized operational, financial, customer, or compliance risk.

FTE

Full-Time Equivalent

A workforce measure that converts hours worked into full-time-equivalent units.

Job architecture

The framework of job families, levels, titles, career paths, and pay structures in an organization.

Job family

A group of related jobs with similar work, skills, and career paths.

Leveling

Defining role levels based on scope, impact, autonomy, skills, and complexity.

Org design

Organization design

The deliberate design of structures, roles, decision rights, processes, and reporting lines.

Position management

Planning and controlling approved roles or seats independent of the current employee occupying them.

RACI

Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed

A responsibility matrix clarifying who does, owns, advises, and is notified about work.

Scenario planning

Planning workforce needs under multiple plausible business futures.

Workforce plan

A forward-looking plan for the headcount, skills, roles, timing, and cost needed to deliver business goals.