100 Words Every Office Worker Should Know

No.	Term	Definition
1.	Action item	Specific task assigned with owner and due date.
2.	Agenda	Planned list of meeting topics in order.
3.	Alignment	Shared understanding of goals, priorities, and approach.
4.	Annual review	Yearly performance evaluation and development discussion.
5.	Asynchronous	Not happening at the same time; delayed responses.
6.	Bandwidth	Available time and capacity to do work.
7.	Benchmark	Standard used to compare performance or quality.
8.	Best practice	Proven method generally producing superior results.
9.	Blocker	Issue preventing progress on a task.
10.	Board meeting	Formal meeting of directors for governance decisions.
11.	Brainstorming	Generating many ideas quickly without immediate judgment.
12.	Budget	Planned allocation of money for a period.
13.	Business case	Justification outlining benefits, costs, and risks.
14.	Calendar invite	Meeting request sent through a scheduling tool.
15.	Capacity planning	Forecasting resources needed to meet expected demand.
16.	Change management	Process to adopt new systems or ways of working.
17.	Client	Customer receiving services or deliverables from you.
18.	Compliance	Following laws, regulations, and internal policies.
19.	Confidentiality	Keeping sensitive information private and protected.
20.	Conflict of interest	Personal interest that could bias professional decisions.
21.	Consensus	General agreement acceptable to all participants.
22.	Contract	Legally binding agreement defining obligations and terms.
23.	Core hours	Time window when everyone is expected available.
24.	Cost center	Department tracked for expenses, not direct revenue.
25.	Cross-functional	Involving multiple departments or specialties working together.
26.	Daily stand-up	Brief daily check-in on progress and obstacles.
27.	Dashboard	Visual summary of key metrics and status.
28.	Data privacy	Protecting personal data from misuse or exposure.
29.	Deadline	Latest date or time a task is due.
30.	Decision log	Record of decisions, rationale, and responsible parties.
31.	Delegation	Assigning tasks and authority to others.
32.	Deliverable	Tangible output produced for a project or client.
33.	Dependencies	Tasks or conditions required before work can proceed.
34.	Discovery	Early phase to understand needs and constraints.
35.	Documentation	Written records explaining processes, decisions, and instructions.
36.	Due diligence	Careful investigation before committing to a decision.
37.	Efficiency	Achieving results with minimal waste of resources.
38.	Email etiquette	Professional norms for clear, respectful email communication.
39.	Escalation	Raising an issue to higher authority for resolution.
40.	ETA	Estimated time when something will be completed.
41.	Executive summary	Brief overview of key points and recommendations.
42.	Feedback	Information to improve performance, behavior, or output.
43.	Fiscal year	Twelve-month accounting period for financial reporting.
44.	Follow-up	Next communication to confirm actions or progress.
45.	Forecast	Prediction of future performance, demand, or results.
46.	Governance	Structures and rules for oversight and decision-making.
47.	Hand-off	Transfer of responsibility between people or teams.
48.	Headcount	Number of employees in a team or company.
49.	Hybrid work	Mix of remote and in-office working arrangements.
50.	Inbox zero	Method aiming to keep email inbox empty.
51.	Incident	Unplanned event disrupting normal operations or service.
52.	Inclusion	Ensuring people feel valued and able to contribute.
53.	Initiative	Planned effort to achieve a specific improvement.
54.	Internal stakeholder	Employee or team affected by your work.
55.	Knowledge base	Central repository of helpful articles and answers.
56.	KPI	Key metric tracking progress toward a goal.
57.	Lead time	Time from request to delivery completion.
58.	Lean	Approach focused on reducing waste and improving flow.
59.	Lessons learned	Documented insights from successes and failures.
60.	Meeting minutes	Written record of meeting decisions and actions.
61.	Milestone	Significant checkpoint marking progress in a project.
62.	Mission statement	Short description of an organization’s purpose.
63.	MoM	Minutes of meeting; summary of discussion and actions.
64.	Morale	Overall confidence, enthusiasm, and satisfaction at work.
65.	Net profit	Earnings after all expenses, taxes, and costs.
66.	Non-disclosure agreement	Contract preventing sharing of confidential information.
67.	OKR	Goals framework: objectives with measurable key results.
68.	Onboarding	Process of integrating and training a new employee.
69.	One-on-one	Private meeting between manager and employee.
70.	Operating expense	Ongoing cost to run day-to-day operations.
71.	Org chart	Diagram showing reporting lines and team structure.
72.	Out of office	Automatic reply indicating unavailability and return date.
73.	Ownership	Taking responsibility for results and follow-through.
74.	Performance plan	Documented steps and goals to improve performance.
75.	Pipeline	Sequence of work items moving toward completion.
76.	Policy	Formal rule guiding decisions and acceptable behavior.
77.	Prioritization	Ordering tasks by importance and urgency.
78.	Process	Repeatable steps to produce consistent outcomes.
79.	Project charter	Document defining scope, objectives, and authority.
80.	Project scope	Boundaries of what a project will deliver.
81.	Proposal	Suggested plan offered for approval or selection.
82.	Quarterly review	Three-month performance and results check-in.
83.	RACI	Roles matrix: responsible, accountable, consulted, informed.
84.	Remote work	Working from outside the office using digital tools.
85.	Reporting line	Who you report to in the organization.
86.	Resource allocation	Assigning people, time, and budget to tasks.
87.	Retrospective	Team reflection to improve after a work cycle.
88.	Risk register	List of risks with impact, likelihood, and mitigations.
89.	Roadmap	Planned timeline of initiatives and deliverables.
90.	ROI	Return compared to cost of an investment.
91.	SLA	Service agreement defining response and resolution targets.
92.	Stakeholder	Person affected by or influencing a project.
93.	Status update	Brief report on progress, risks, and next steps.
94.	Strategic plan	Long-term goals and actions to achieve them.
95.	Synergy	Combined effort producing greater results than separately.
96.	Team charter	Agreement on team purpose, norms, and roles.
97.	Timeline	Schedule of tasks and milestones over time.
98.	Touch base	Briefly connect to share updates or align.
99.	Training	Learning activities to build job-related skills.
100.	Turnaround time	Time taken to complete and return a request.