We’ve all been there. It’s that moment in the discussion that goes from business as usual to a game of conversational ping pong. Back and forth you go, racking your internal encyclopedia as you desperately try to follow every unfamiliar buzzword and acronym. While you nod in agreement, pretending to check your email, you are really frantically typing into Google -- SOS. 

Within each professional discipline, you can anticipate having to navigate its own unique and complex language, and the staffing industry is no exception to that rule. With the Staffing Industry Analyst’s Contingent Workforce Strategies (CWS) Summit on the horizon, we wanted to equip you with the ultimate cheat sheet for staffing acronyms; with a brief explanation of each phrase included.

Don’t drown in a sea of uncertainty. Use Yoh’s Ultimate Cheat Sheet to Staffing Acronyms Part 1 to brush up on the industry’s established and newest buzzwords to avoid making someone LOL for all of the wrong reasons.

The Ultimate Cheat Sheet to Staffing Acronyms Part 1 (A-H)

Applicant Tracking System (ATS): An applicant tracking system (ATS) is a software application that enables the electronic handling of recruitment needs. An ATS can be implemented or accessed online on an enterprise or small business level, depending on the needs of the company.

Approved Supplier List (ASL): Supplier evaluation is a term used in business and refers to the process of evaluating and approving potential suppliers by quantitative assessment. The purpose of supplier evaluation is to ensure a portfolio of best in class suppliers is available for use. Supplier evaluation is also a process applied to current suppliers in order to measure and monitor their performance for the purposes of reducing costs, mitigating risk and driving continuous improvement.

Asia Pacific (APAC): Asia-Pacific or Asia Pacific (abbreviated as Asia-Pac, AsPac, APAC, APJ, JAPA or JAPAC) is the part of the world in or near the Western Pacific Ocean. The region varies in size depending on context, but it typically includes much of East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania.

Business Intelligence (BI): Business intelligence (BI) is the set of techniques and tools for the transformation of raw data into meaningful and useful information for business analysis purposes.

Business As Usual (BAU): An unchanging state of affairs, despite difficulties or disturbances.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO): Business process outsourcing (BPO) is the contracting of a specific business task, such as payroll, to a third-party service provider. Usually, BPO is implemented as a cost-saving measure for tasks that a company requires but does not depend upon to maintain their position in the marketplace.

Business Technology Optimization (BTO): Business Technology Optimization is the ongoing process of aligning IT operations with business goals and identifying opportunities for optimizing the business outcome produced by the services IT provides. Business Technology Optimization is a key ingredient needed to transform IT from cost center to a critical partner for success within the enterprise.

Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA): Estimates and totals up the equivalent money value of the benefits and costs to the community of projects to establish whether they are worthwhile. 

Change Order Request (COR): In project management, a Change Order Request (COR) is a component of the change management process whereby changes in the Scope of Work agreed to by the Owner, Contractor and Architect/Engineer are implemented.

Critical to Quality (CTQ): Critical to quality is an attribute of a part, assembly, sub-assembly, product, or process that is literally critical to quality or more precisely, has a direct and significant impact on its actual or perceived quality.

Contingent Workforce Management (CWM): A contingent workforce is a provisional group of workers who work for an organization on a non-permanent basis, also known as freelancers, independent professionals, temporary contract workers, independent contractors or consultants. Contingent Workforce Management (CWM) is the strategic approach to managing an organization's contingent workforce in a way that it reduces the company's cost in the management of contingent employees and mitigates the company's risk in employing them.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is business management software—typically a suite of integrated applications—that a company can use to collect, store, manage and interpret data from many business activities, including product planning, manufacturing or service deliver, marketing and sales, Inventory management, and shipping and payment.

Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA): EMEA (or EMEIA if India is included), is a shorthand designation meaning Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It is used by institutions and governments, as well as in marketing and business. Its usage is particularly common amongst North American companies.

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE): Full-time equivalent (FTE) or whole time equivalent (WTE) is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable., across various contexts. FTE is often used to measure a worker's or student's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization. 

Human Resource Information System (HRIS): The Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is a software or online solution for the data entry, data tracking, and data information needs of the Human Resources, payroll, management, and accounting functions within a business.

Human Capital Supply Chain Management (HCSM): Human Capital Supply Chain (HCSM) refers to the integration of business planning, strategic workforce planning, staffing and recruiting processes and technology to enhance corporate productivity and profitability. Employing methods of common manufacturing and distribution supply chain management principles to human resources and human capital, corporations create an end-to-end, human capital supply chain.

Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO): Human resource outsourcing (HRO) occurs when a business instructs an external supplier to take responsibility (and risk) for HR functions and perform these tasks for the business. Payroll outsourcing is commonly outsourced for two reasons: it’s a time-consuming administrative task for employers, and there are many specialist companies with the technology and knowledge to run it efficiently and compliantly.

When it comes to navigating rough waters, Yoh has the experience and know-how to sail you into calmer seas. As a leading provider of contingent labor management services, Yoh is out front and partnering with you to evolve and optimize your contingent labor sourcing, recruiting and hiring processes, tools and data to prepare you for tomorrow, today.

Still looking for more? Check out Part 2 and Part 3!