The department that turned firing into a growth opportunity.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging—an expanded framework adding belonging as essential to organizational culture. The latest evolution acknowledging that diversity without belonging just makes people feel unwelcome.
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.
A narrow legal exception under Title VII that allows an employer to consider a protected characteristic when it is genuinely necessary to the job. Courts read it very narrowly, so 'we've always done it this way' does not qualify.
A defined range of salaries for a job level, with minimum, midpoint, and maximum amounts. It is the company's official statement of how much it values a role, enforced with the seriousness of a legal document.
A recruiting search method that uses operators like AND, OR, and NOT to build precise candidate queries. It is logic applied to hiring, named after the mathematician who never imagined LinkedIn.
The US Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which generally requires employers with 100 or more employees to give 60 days' notice before a mass layoff or plant closing. It is the law that makes 'surprise, you're fired' an expensive surprise.
An absence-scoring formula that squares the number of separate absence spells and multiplies by total days absent, so frequent short absences score worse than one long one. It is a mathematical way of saying 'you've been off a lot, and we noticed'.
A layoff that eliminates positions for business reasons, rather than because of individual performance. It is the corporate euphemism that tries to make 'your role no longer exists' sound like an organizational improvement.
A visual diagram showing the hierarchy and relationships within an organization. It's the corporate version of a family tree, except everyone is usually resentful.
The formal end of employment, often with a financial package (severance) in exchange for signing away legal claims. It's the corporate equivalent of a 'we mutually agree to never speak of this again' agreement.
A formal request to fill an open position, approved before recruiting begins and tracked as an official ticket. Once approved, a req becomes the magic number that makes a job officially exist, budget and all.
A survey metric that asks employees how likely they are to recommend the company as a place to work, scored from -100 to +100. It borrows the customer NPS formula, which is handy for turning feelings into a single number that can be tracked in a slide deck.
A contractor, freelancer, or temporary worker who isn't a permanent employee and typically lacks benefits or job security. They're the people your company would love to hire but with none of the legal responsibilities.
An initiative offering bonuses or incentives to employees who refer external candidates who are hired. It's basically paying your staff to bring their friends into the workplace.
Software that stores job applications, moves candidates through hiring stages, and sometimes rejects résumés before a human has read them. It is the bouncer of the hiring process, and it is strict about formatting.
A secondary reporting relationship drawn as a dashed line on an org chart, where a person takes input from someone outside their direct chain of command. It is a matrix structure in miniature, and it causes confusion in equal measure.
The way a company actually operates as perceived by current and former employees, often revealed through honest online reviews. It's your company's report card, written by people who don't care about your feelings.
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.
Cognitive bias where initial impressions (usually positive) disproportionately influence overall assessment. It's why attractive, charismatic candidates often get hired regardless of actual qualifications.
A US guideline stating that a selection rate for one group below 80 percent of the rate for the highest group suggests adverse impact. It is a rule of thumb used by regulators and lawyers, who treat it as a warning light rather than a verdict.
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.
A workplace benefit offering free, confidential counseling and support services for mental health, substance abuse, or personal crises. It's like a therapist, but provided by your employer and not always confidential.
Employment arrangements offering flexibility in when, where, or how much time employees work. It's the modern promise that lets you ignore emails from home instead of in the office.
Employment where workers perform their duties from home or locations outside a physical office. It's what everyone demanded during the pandemic, only to realize their home office is also their bedroom, kitchen, and self-care space.