This document defines 50 common HR jargons, providing their meaning and an example usage for each. Some key terms include: strategy (construction of plans to achieve goals), attrition (gradual reduction in workforce), acquisition (purchasing another business), absenteeism (voluntary absence from work without reason), benchmark (standards to compare or evaluate results), brainstorming (group discussion to generate new ideas), competency (level of mastery of skills to perform successfully), workforce (total number of employees), and talent acquisition (identifying and utilizing employee skills). The document is intended to help HR professionals and others understand commonly used terminology in human resources and personnel management.

1. S.No: HR Jargons Meaning Usage
1 Strategy
Construction of plans or
methods in the course of
achieving goals.
The company has come up with new
Strategy to reduce attrition and boost
employee’s interest towards their job.
2 Attrition
A gradual reduction of
workforce due to retirement,
resignation or death.
Due to acquisition the company is facing
high Attrition rate.
3 Acquisition
The act of gaining possession
by purchasing someone else
business enterprise.
The fastest way to expand one’s business is
through Acquisition with competitors.
4 Absenteeism
Voluntaryabsence fromwork
withno validreason.Itisan
inclinationof disinteresttowards
theirjob.
The Absenteeism of employees is a sheer
warning for a company to look at into what
makes employees absent to reduce further
attrition.
5 Benchmark
A set of standards to compare
or evaluate the actual result. It
is a reference with which
undertaken actions are
compared.
Company has come up with new
Benchmark to measure actual
performance and future potential of an
employee.
6 Brainstorm
It is a sort of group discussion
on which new ideas or
solutions come forth.
Before company launched a new product
they Brainstorm with employees on how
to promote its new product in the market.
7 Carrot & Stick
approach
It is a motivational approach
were carrot stands for rewards
and stick stands for penalties.
In the issue of performance, managers tend
to use Carrot & Stick approach to bring
employee in full potential.
8 In-Basket
It is a kind of role play on
descriptions and
responsibilities to find out how
a trainee responds in a
stipulated period of time.
As a part of training, trainees are put into
In-Basket techniques to assess and
develop knowledge, skills and attitude.
9 Role-Play
It is types of act were trainees
are given with simulated
situation to determine how
they respond to such
circumstances.
Trainee was given with Role-Play on to
deal with team conflict situations.
10 Presenteeism
It is an attempt of reporting to
work despite of sickness or
injury. Employees do come to
work but the productivity is
low.
The Presenteeism of employees despite
their inability will be considered has lost
productivity.
11 Layoff
The employees are temporarily
suspended or permanently
terminated.
During recession many companies did a
massive Layoff due to financial
difficulties.

2. S.No: HR Jargons Meaning Usage
12 Competitive
Advantage
A firm gains superiority in
providing the same value to
that of competitor or generates
higher value at lower price.
Retaining top talents gives company an
unbeatable Competitive Advantage over
other competitors.
13 Leverage
To incur small amount of cost
and gaining high level of
returns.
HR needs to be more strategic on how to
Leverage the strength of an employee by
providing training needs.
14 Reverse Mentoring
It is the process in which junior
level employees pass ideas,
expertise and experience to the
senior level employees.
Many companies follow Reverse
Mentoring to bridge skill gap so as to
expand business and boosting profits.
15 Competency
It is the level of mastery of
skill to do job successfully
resulting in superior
performance.
Describing a Competency will help
recruiters to have a clearer picture while
selecting a candidate.
16 Flexi-Staffing
Also called as temporary
staffing is a temporary hiring
of candidate to do the job for a
stipulated period of time.
After recession companies prefer more on
recruiting Flexi-Staffing.
17 Workplace
A place to work where people
are employed such as factory
or office premise.
Safety measures at Workplace ensure
avoidance of any catastrophic events.
18 Workforce
Total number of employees in
a company.
The company has come up with increasing
the Workforce to equip its newly
expanded business.
19 Workplace Culture
It defines the organization’s
characteristics of how business
looks like. It is visible through
how employees dress, the
attitude and so on.
HR department plays an important role in
defining the Workplace Culture of the
organization by setting policies.
20 Talent Acquisition
It means identifying and
utilization of employee’s skills.
It focuses more on talent of the
individual.
To achieve success company has to adapt
Talent Acquisition group as a part of
recruiting and retaining extraordinary
talents to remain competitive.
21 Employee Turnover
It is the percentage of
workforce who left the
organization during certain
period of time.
Due to unattractive salary component the
company has witnessed a high rate of
Employee Turnover.
22 Employee Engagement
It is a corporate initiative to
motivate employees and
maintain interest in doing their
job.
A: Employees seems to be more dedicated
in doing their job!!!
B: Yes, it’s all because of new Employee
Engagement Plans.

3. S.No: HR Jargons Meaning Usage
24 Change Management
It is a proactive approach of
dealing with change usually
during updated technologies or
changes in the policy.
It is important to understand the effect of
Change Management at employee side
as humans tend to resist change.
25 Workforce Diversity
It is the people from all walks
of life with different
characteristics and differences
such as age, sex, religion or
different cultural background,
work to achieve common
organizational goal.
Companies encouraging on Workforce
Diversity will have the edge over its
competitors to remain innovative and
competitive.
26 Compensation
It is an act of being
compensated usually through
money made as payment for
the service rendered or to
cover up the loss.
The victims who suffered injuries during
work have been given with fair
Compensation.
27 Redundancy
It is a course of action taken
with which employee’s
position is no longer made to
exist. It is due to genuine
commercial reason and does
not indicate mere incapability
or performance issue of an
employee.
To streamline the structure of the
company, the firm is terminating
employees under Redundancy.
28 Performance
Appraisal
It is a systematic procedure of
evaluating the performance of
employees to that of standards
followed in the company
resulting in promotion, hike or
even demotion.
A: I’ve to get a new mobile this month,
Aren’t you getting one?
B: Yes, I badly need one, but am waiting
for my Performance Appraisal, hope I’ll
get a hike!!
29 Induction
It is the process with which
employee gets introduced to
the company, its history,
policies, objectives, the
reporting person and the work
environment.
To create a positive outlook among new
hires Induction process is necessary to
explain the company’s background and
how it functions.
30 Orientation
It is an introductory program
with an initiative to make new
hires familiar with their
department, job role, team
members, about clients and lot.
Orientation program is the best way to
make new hires to get along with his/her
new workplace.
31 Exit Interview
A procedure with which
employees are interviewed
when separating from the firm.
Many companies conduct Exit Interview
to know the reason for leaving the firm.

4. S.No: HR Jargons Meaning Usage
32 Retrenchment
It is an act of cutting down the
expenses of a firm through
forced lay-off of employees.
Recession was unexpected, but
consequently Retrenchment was certain.
33 Summary Dismissal
It is the action taken against an
employee to terminate him/her
due to his/her misbehavior or
something illegal done.
To avoid further damage the company has
decided to terminate the employee under
Summary Dismissal as a result of his/her
negative behavior.
34 Sourcing
It is a proactive search for the
most suitable candidate for a
particular job role.
Sourcing candidate’s profile is done
through various channels so as to get the
best applicant.
35 Talent Pipeline
It is a pool of potential
candidate capable of assuming
newly created job position or
accept position available due
to retirement or promotion.
The organization doesn’t have to strive
much as talent acquisition department fill
vacancies with right candidate through
Talent Pipeline that they have created
over a period of time.
36 Metrics
Parameters or measurement
required to calculate data
quantitatively mostly to keep
track of performance or
production.
Usually KPI is measured with the help of
Metrics for determining the actual
performance to that of standard one.
37 Cold-Calling
Calling up candidate without
prior meeting and inquire
about their interest in job
opening.
Recruiters do Cold-Calling has a part of
searching potential candidate to fill
vacancies.
38 Head Hunting
It is a systematic way for
searching a candidate with
special skill sets, work
experience and matching
academic background.
Head Hunting is a great source to search
candidates for top level positions.
39 Recareering
When a person makes a career
change in his/her later life
(usually above 50 years of
age).
Organization can benefit Recareering as
older people bring experience and skills
from their previous work life.
40 Organizational
Change
Alteration of organizational
structure or process or
functions so as to bring
changes in overall work
scenario.
When a company faces disturbances due
to internal or external factors, it prefers to
have Organizational Change to maintain
equilibrium.

5. S.No: HR Jargons Meaning Usage
41 Delegation
Assigning work to others to
achieve quick result.
Effective Delegation will lead to
speedy completion of work and act has
a great tool for enhancing employee
engagement.
42 Interpersonal
Relationship
Maintaining professional bond
with people working together
who share common
organizational goals.
To have a positive ambience at
workplace a strong and healthy
Interpersonal Relationship is
essential.
43 Collective Bargaining
It is a co-ordinated effort to solve
problems arising in workplace
between employer and workers.
Collective Bargaining is a source to
get overall view point of all employees
about their problem facing during work
and resolve them collectively.
44 Grievance
It is the dissatisfaction among
employees with one’s work
situation which may hamper day
to day activities.
When employees feel disturbed or
discontent during his/her employment,
they have a Grievance.
45 Talent Crisis
A situation when demand for
talented employees is less when
compared to that of supply.
Due to Talent Crisis many companies
adopt strategies to retain talented
workforce to remain competitive in the
market.
46 Talent Pool
It is a small group consisting of
potential employees already
working in the company
possessing specialized
competency who are already pre-
screened, pre-assessed and are
ready to undertake other jobs.
By developing Talent Pool recruiters
can fill the position with their current
workforce with matching qualities
required to perform a job.
47 Corporate Values
The policies or protocol act as a
guide to establish peaceful
working relationship among
employees or outsiders within
the organization premise.
We have to establish right Corporate
Values to avoid chaotic situation.
48 Employee Value
Proposition
Providing employee with
balanced reward and recognition
for their superior performance
during the work.
To attract right talent in achieving
organization success Employee Value
Proposition should be unique and
compelling to those of other
companies.
49 Employer Branding
Effective communication or
company’s culture and values
create a desired perception
among employees and potential
candidate to apply.
By promoting organization through
Employer Branding, the company can
increase job application rate and have
scope to widen its talent pool.
50 Synergy
Two or more people working
together that result in greater
achievement than working
individually.
Employees working together for a
common project have possibility to
reach Synergy for greater result.

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