For some business owners “HR speak” can be almost indecipherable. If you’re struggling to understand some of the more confusing terms thrown around in a HR environment = see our list of 8 HR terms every small business leader should know.

Bradford Factor

The Bradford Factor is a simple system that is used to calculate an employees attendance “Score” for a given period – the higher the score, the more disruptive the employees absences are for the company.

The formula is as follows:

B = S2 X D

– B is the Bradford Factor score

– S is the total number of instances of absence of an employee over the time period

– D is the total number of days of absence of that individual over the same set period.

The Bradford Factor works on the theory that frequently unplanned absences of a single day are more disruptive then a longer single absence.

Resilience Training

Resilience is the human capacity to deal with and overcome adversity. Resilience is a skill, and Resilience Training aims to develop that skill to produce better employees that are tougher mentally. Evidence suggests the training could help employees stave off anxiety and depression.

This is useful for small businesses looking to give themselves the edge in a competitive marketplace. The theory put forward is that people with more resilience will find it easier to bounce back after mistakes and will remain more optimistic – both good qualities for your management.

FTE (Full Time Equivalent)

FTE or Full Time Equivalent is usually used as a way of measuring job benefits in comparison to a standard full time employee – you may already know of it under the name “Pro Rata”. The idea is that if a person works 80% of the hours of a job, they also get 80% of the pay, holiday and benefits.

SMART

SMART is a key acronym for developing Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and are key to setting attainable goals for your employees.

SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely – by ensuring all of these conditions are met when setting targets for employees.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence is an umbrella term that refers to a broad range of inter and intra-personal skills. Emotional Intelligence can mean being aware of emotions and how they can affect and interact with more traditional intelligence skills, like impairing or augmenting a persons judgement.

Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement is an attempt to provide a measurable metric to the concept that an “engaged” employee is more valuable than an un-engaged employee. Engaged employees are expected to be enthusiastic and heavily involved with their work, and will act in a way that betters the company.

Talent

Key to talent management, Talent is an attempt at measuring an employees value as an employee, and their skills. Talent Management is especially important in hard economic times, and the idea is that each employee should be performing at an optimal level. By regular talent reviews you can assess where employees are skilled and how well they are performing.

SaaS (Software as a Service)

Software as a Service is a software delivery model where software and its associated data are centrally hosted centrally via a cloud. SaaS is often access by users using a thin client via a web browser.

Author Bio | This is guest post was provided by a leading human resource software provider Cezanne OnDemand – leaders in intergrated SaaS (Software as a Service)