20 Terms Your Boss Expects You To Understand

By Susan Gitonga

There’s nothing more embarrassing than getting to your first job and asking what every word or phrase means.

Being green is not that attractive. That said, here are 22 terms your boss expects you to know, as you are likely to hear these words being used every now and then.

20 Key Terms You Should Know At The Work place

1. Circle Back: It means that you will pick up the subject or the topic at a later time. If you don’t hear from them, it’s okay to remind them.

2. Table: For example, you will hear a person say that you are going to table the discussion. They simply mean that they are going to put it off and discuss it at a later date. Most of the time, they say this because it’s not a priority, and they will pick it up when they have the time.

3. Sync-Up: This word means getting on the same page about something. This could mean sharing information about a subject matter and ensuring that everyone is updated on what is going on.

4.Deck: A deck is a presentation usually made in power point or slides.

5. Cal Invite/Calendar Invite: A cal invite simply means creating an event on Google Calendar that is shared so that everyone is informed about it and receives the invite. For example,  a meeting with your boss can be followed up with a Cal invite to remind them out it and to make the meeting more efficient and formal.

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6. One Sheeter: This is a one sheet page filled with information about a certain topic, yourself or a project. It’s an easy way to brief someone.

7. Benefits: These are forms of compensation outside your regular wage. Includes things like Insurance, Paid sick leave, day care etc.

8. PTO: Paid Time Off. This is simply any day that you are not working but you are still getting paid. It is often outlined in your contract.

9. OOO: Out of office. You’ll see this in Emails when someone is not in the office.

10. DD: Direct Deposit. This is when your employer deposits your salary in your Bank account instead of giving you cheque.

11. EOD/EOW/EOM/EOY: These terms refer to End of Week, End of Month, and End of Year etc.

12. Touch Base: It means that you’ll talk about it soon. You might hear something like “We’ll touch base before EOD.”

13. Delegate: This is to give someone a task or give someone a specific task to perform. Work can be delegated to you, or you can delegate it to someone.

14. Wage: A wage is basically the amount of money you are paid when you take the amount of hours you work times the amount you are paid per hour.

15. Salary: A salary refers to the fixed compensation you are paid on a monthly basis.  A wage changes dependant on the hours you work, but a salary doesn’t.

16. A bonus: This is money made for an individual project or accomplishment that’s above and beyond the typical salary you earn. It’s also referred to as a variable

17. Band Width: This term refers to your ability to handle a certain project or task for a given period of time. It usually refers to your work load in the relative short term.

It’s the term you use when you can’t handle too much workload where you say, “I don’t have the band width for that task right now.”

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18. C-Level: Means the corporate executives at the top of the ladder who have the C-Letter in front of their titles eg. CEO, CFO, CIO, CDO

19. A performance review: This is a recap with your superior or colleagues about how you have performed over time. It often comes accompanied with something like a Score, or a grade and is usually what precedes raises and promotions.

20. Self-Assessment: Any performance review will have a self assessment component to it. It’s a chance for you as an employee to evaluate and reflect on the things that you do well and those you don’t. It’s very good for you to write them down before your supervisor gives you feedback.

And there you have it, 20 terms you should familiarize yourself with as you are likely to use them at the work place.

Susan is a Communications Officer at Career Point Kenya. Email: susan@www.careerpointkenya.co.ke