The department that turned firing into a growth opportunity.
The panicked attempt by a company to keep an employee from leaving by suddenly remembering they're worth something after they've accepted another job.
Compensation that's supposedly aligned with market rates for similar positions in similar industries. It's what companies claim when they're actually paying 15% below market.
The framework determining how and how much employees are paid, including base salary, bonuses, commissions, and equity. The secret formula you'll never fully understand because HR refuses to make salary bands public.
The times you must be working even with flexible schedules, usually 10 AM to 4 PM, which defeats the purpose of flexibility.
Information gathered about competitors' compensation, benefits, and practices to inform HR strategy—corporate espionage but legal and boring.
Compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay; a way for companies to avoid paying while pretending to care about balance.
A shortage of employees with skills essential to organizational survival or competitive advantage, requiring urgent action. When you realize your entire roadmap depends on a skill set exactly two people on Earth have.
A meeting where managers gather to debate whether their employees are actually 'proficient' or just seem competent compared to others, achieving nothing conclusive.
The department responsible for managing salaries, bonuses, health insurance, and all the perks that make you feel almost adequately paid for your work.
A 1986 U.S. law allowing employees to continue health insurance after leaving their job, though at full premium cost (ouch). It's basically the government saying 'you can keep insurance, just pay what we were subsidizing.'
The practice of publicly identifying and criticizing individuals for perceived misconduct or insensitivity—workplace accountability that bypasses HR and goes straight to social media.
Short for compensation and benefits—the stuff HR tangles into incomprehensible benefits packets while bragging about how awesome your health insurance is.
The distinction between hiring someone who fits your existing culture versus someone who adds diversity of thought to it, with 'culture fit' sometimes being code for 'hire people like us.'
A career track for technical or specialist employees to advance and earn senior titles without becoming managers, recognizing that not everyone wants to manage people.
A meeting where managers discuss and align on employee performance ratings to ensure consistency and eliminate bias, often degenerating into political negotiation.
The HR department's way of packaging salary, health insurance, and the promise of work-life balance into one tidy compensation package.
What HR says when they're actually paying you 10% below market rate. It's competitive in the sense that they're competing to keep costs low.
A flexible career progression model allowing lateral moves, not just vertical climbs. Corporate acknowledgment that not everyone wants to manage people.
A legal arrangement in which two entities, such as a client company and a professional employer organization, share responsibility for the same worker. It creates a shared liability situation that both parties discover only when something goes wrong.
The total package of salary, bonuses, health insurance, retirement plans, and perks offered to employees. It's the stuff they don't mention in the job posting until you've already fallen in love with the role.
The process of ensuring consistent and fair compensation across similar roles and experience levels. It's when HR pretends pay equity isn't a problem by making everyone's unfairness mathematically consistent.