10 Need-to-Know HR Terms

Managing human resources is one of the most complicated aspects of running any business. Fact is, the people element of many companies is often the most important single factor, but also the hardest to manage. When it comes to HR assessment, employee on-boarding, fractional HR, and human resources support, many factors must be considered.

HR also comes with another unique challenge: terminology. Every skilled profession has its own terminology to understand. While HR terms might not seem as intimidating as other professions, say healthcare, the nuances of HR terminology can be important. If you’re unfamiliar with the terms, we’ll catch you up to speed with some of the most common HR terms.

Corporate Culture
What makes Google Google and Apple Apple? Beyond the gadgets and technology, many argue that their corporate culture is, in fact, what makes them so unique. So, what is corporate culture? Corporate culture is the beliefs and behaviors that influence and guide employees and management as they carry out business practices. Corporate culture is often reflected in mission statements and encouraged through team building exercises. However, corporate culture often grows organically as well.

On-boarding
The employee on-boarding process development is no easy task, but it’s a vital one. Remember corporate culture? One of the most critical aspects of corporate culture is how employees interact with each other. You can help set the right tone for these interactions with a well-developed employee on-boarding process. Through the onboarding process, new employees will learn about the company, expectations, and the company’s culture, among other things.

Talent Management
A company is only as good as its employees. The best companies in the world attract, develop and retain the best employees. Talent Management is the process of selecting, managing, enhancing and building the capabilities of your employees.

Emotional Intelligence
Intelligence isn’t just about academic/business knowledge, data, and understanding processes. Understanding how other people think and act emotionally is also very important. Emotional intelligence is the capability of individuals to recognize their own emotions and those of others, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, and manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt to environments or achieve one’s goals. Often this is the trump skill of great leaders.

Key Performance Indicators (or KPIs)
A KPI refers to a performance measurement. Employees and managers will agree upon various objectives and deadlines. Perhaps that means making 10 sales per week or finishing XYZ report within X days, calculating actual interview costs, or the actual versus budgeted cost of hire.

Behavioral Based Interview
A behavioral based interview refers to an interview technique that attempts to deeply analyze a job candidate or employee’s behavior based on past experiences, skills and abilities, knowledge, and other factors. The goal is to see how people act and to predict future reactions and actions, as well as performance.

Seat at the Table
Imagine a company boardroom filled with the business’s c-suite. Everyone is sitting around discussing high-level strategies. These people have a seat at the table. In the HR world, managers often emphasize having a “seat at the table” in order to ensure that every perspective is taken into consideration and that stakeholders are being properly considered.

Gross Misconduct
Everyone makes mistakes. No employee, even the best employee, is perfect. Gross misconduct, however, refers to activities that require immediate and severe punishment. Often, this means firing the employee, usually “with cause.”

Work-life Balance
Even the hardest working employees will have a life outside of work. Many employees have families to raise, hobbies to pursue, and other activities. Work-life balance refers to making sure that employees are not regularly overwhelmed with work. Often, employees now want a measure of control over their work schedules. Many companies are also giving employees more say in when and where they work. For example, some companies will allow workers to work from home for a set number of days per week or month.

Balanced Scorecard
A balanced scorecard seeks to examine circumstances holistically. Often, a balanced scorecard is divided up into four perspective quadrants: the financial, the customer, the business, and learning/growth.

•  Financial: Often renamed Stewardship or other more appropriate name in the public sector, this perspective views organizational financial performance and the use of financial resources
•  Customer/Stakeholder: This perspective views organizational performance from the point of view the customer or other key stakeholders that the organization is designed to serve
•  Internal Process: Views organizational performance through the lenses of the quality and efficiency related to our product or services or other key business processes
•  Organizational Capacity (originally called Learning and Growth): Views organizational performance through the lenses of human capital, infrastructure, technology, culture and other capacities that are key to breakthrough performance

What are “Core Competencies”
Core competencies are the main strengths or strategic advantages of a business, including the combination of pooled knowledge and technical capacities that allow a business to be competitive in the marketplace. Theoretically, a core competency should allow a company to expand into new end markets as well as provide a significant benefit to customers. It should also be hard for competitors to replicate.

You’re Just Getting Started
There are many, many more human resource terms. You’ve been introduced to some of the most common and important terms. However, there are other concepts to learn along the way. Often, the meaning and use of terms within HR will take on different meanings than when used in other fields.
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For this reason, it’s essential to develop a basic understanding of HR terms. If you want to learn more about how to use these and other HR concepts, please reach out to Lauber Business Partners. At Lauber Business Partners, our focus is on helping you succeed by ensuring you have both the best offense and defense in the management of your human capital. Understanding terms is vital, however, what’s even more important is understanding the deeper concepts and theories behind each term.