The world of staffing, or as it is more commonly known today, Human Resources (HR), is no different than any other business process. Like supply, marketing, sales and facilities management, the industry has taken a basic concept and developed it into a fully-fledged area of ​​study and practice.

At one time, “staffing” simply referred to the process of hiring new staff and firing existing staff. However, as modern business models and management methods developed during the economic and technological booms of the 1960s, the problem became much more complicated. New technologies, new divisions of labor, new business models in the form of multinational corporations, and most importantly, new labor laws that protect the rights of workers in this brave new world have made staffing It was much more complex than it had been before.

This has led to staffing simply becoming a part of the general term Human Resources, although it is obviously particularly vital. Even so, even though it has become absorbed into a broader field, staffing retains its own particular vocabulary, a terminology built to describe the very specific situations and processes involved.

For those unfamiliar with this niche lexicon, here’s a quick guide to some of the more specific terms:

• Induction: This business management term describes the process of turning new employees into productive members of the workforce. This has a big crossover with “orientation” where employees are shown around the workplace and given a brief description of their duties. However, many within HR would argue that onboarding describes a more systematic process, where staff are given a certain period of time to acquire new knowledge, adapt to new methods, and assimilate new goals before taking on all their responsibilities.
• Rotation: In staffing, “turnover” is used in reference to labor, the rate at which an employer gains and loses employees. At the simplest level, this could be described as “the average time an employee stays with the company.” This is a vital measure of staff performance and a key factor for long-term strategies in hiring and associated costs. You can calculate the turnover rate through a simple three-step calculation: 1) Calculate the average number of employees, 2) calculate the number of departures among staff within the given period (usually one year), and finally 3) divide the departures by the number of employees.
• Catering: This refers to the process of generating candidates for a vacant position, “searching” interest among those with the right qualifications, experience and interest, and making the application process available to them. It includes advertising the job in the media, as well as more proactive measures, such as headhunting or active application through job search engines or events such as talent fairs at universities.
• put on screen: At the most basic level, pre-employment screening typically consists of checking whether or not an applicant has been honest in the statements made on their CV through the simple measure of contacting their references. In more complex cases, it may involve a credit check (particularly demanded by those in the financial sector) or a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check, which may actually be required by law in some sensitive positions, such as medical professions. or legal. In either case, though, it’s all about double-checking that the person you want to hire is who they said they were during the application process.