5 Human Resource Terms You Should Learn

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Five Popular HR Buzz Words

  • 360 Survey
  • Abandonment Rates
  • Family Medical Leave Act
  • Bereavement Leave
  • Exit Interview

There are many different roles associated with a human resource professional. Regardless of what company that you work for, your job is to help represent and assist the employees within a company. You are also tasked with finding great talent, hiring and sometimes, releasing employees. The goal is to keep a business well staffed with qualified personnel. If you are working in the human resource field, there are some terms that you are likely very familiar with whether it relates to employee benefits, company success, etc. Let’s take a look at five human resource terms that you should learn about whether you are just starting out or you have been working in the field for a couple of years now.

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1. 360 Survey

A 360 survey is basically an employee satisfaction survey that is usually given to an entire company of people. The goal of this survey is to find out what is working for employees and what they don’t like about their job, the location or the company. This allows human resources to work closely with upper management in the company to determine what can be improved upon and what is needed in order to attract the best talent in the area and to help retain everybody.

2. Abandonment Rates

This is a term that refers to the number of people that begin the application process for a company, but they don’t follow through with other interviews or don’t return phone calls from HR representatives. The reason for these abandonment rates varies but can include things like better offers elsewhere or issues with management. The first interview might not have been appealing to the potential employee and they decided to move on.


3. FMLA, or Family Medical Leave Act

The government has put into place something called the Family Medical Leave Act, or FMLA. The goal of this program is to allow employees to take a leave of absence from work because of a family-related matter. This could be to take care of a sick family member, take care of a spouse who has recently needed surgery, to care for a child, etc. The approval for FMLA occurs within the human resource sector of a company.

4. Bereavement Leave

When an employee has recently had a death occur in their family, they are eligible for bereavement leave. These are days off that do not count against an employee that they can use to make funeral arrangements and attend services. Each individual company is different in the overall amount of time they allow.

5. Exit Interview

Before an employee will complete their last day of work prior to moving on to another job or company, they must complete an exit interview. This interview is used to complete an employee’s record and to have on file why someone left. This interview can also help a company determine how to do better in the future to retain talent.

For more information on the terms that are associated with the human resource profession, you can visit HRmarketer’s glossary. Working in this field is very fast paced and you get to meet with a lot of different people over the course of a week or month. It is imperative that you understand the terms and duties expected of you as a professional in order to achieve success in your career.

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