Definition

The corporate equivalent of hitting the reset button on your career because your skills have become as obsolete as a floppy disk. It's when companies decide to teach old dogs new tricks rather than hiring new dogs, usually after technology has rendered your expertise irrelevant. Often involves uncomfortable Zoom sessions where you pretend to understand AI while secretly Googling basic terms.

Example Usage

After the company automated half the department, HR offered to retrain everyone in 'digital transformation'—which apparently means learning to use Slack without crying.

Source: Common industry terminology

Related Terms

Advanced

above-the-line

Compensation components included in base salary calculations, as opposed to 'below-the-line' benefits and perks. It's the money that counts for calculating everything from bonuses to retirement contributions—the stuff that actually matters.

👥 Human Resources
Beginner

Team Building

Mandatory fun activities designed to make coworkers bond through shared awkwardness. Options include escape rooms where you discover your boss can't solve puzzles, trust falls that reveal trust issues, and cooking classes where Karen from accounting reveals she's a tyrant.

👥 Human Resources
Intermediate

change agent

An individual tasked with driving organizational transformation and getting people to embrace new processes. Usually the most hated person in the department until the change actually works.

👥 Human Resources
Intermediate

stay bonus

A financial incentive paid to critical employees to prevent them from jumping ship during uncertain times like mergers, acquisitions, or major restructuring. Essentially bribing people to not abandon the sinking ship—or at least to stay aboard until it reaches port.

👥 Human Resources
Beginner

Open Door Policy

A management claim that anyone can walk into the boss's office anytime to discuss anything, which is technically true if you enjoy career suicide. The door is open but the welcome mat is made of eggshells.

👥 Human Resources
Beginner

behavioral interview

An interview technique asking candidates to describe specific past situations rather than hypotheticals, based on the radical theory that past behavior predicts future performance. Questions always start with 'Tell me about a time when...'

👥 Human Resources

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