Plain English first.
Gross pay, carry over, gratuity, span of control. Each term is a few sentences you can use when someone asks what it actually means in the week.
A dictionary
The words, in plain English.
HR, payroll and compliance terms explained in plain English. Search for a word, jump to a letter, or open a section to read every definition inside it.
Type a word and jump straight to its full explanation. Try:
Know the word? Go straight to it.
Every term opens on its section page, where the full explanation lives.The working vocabulary
One section per discipline,
from records to reward.
Plain English
Assets and Equipment
Laptops out, laptops back: assignment, custody, depreciation and disposal for the kit your people carry.
Opens with Asset assignment, Asset disposal, Asset lifecycle.
Open the sectionPlain English
Finance
Enough finance to hold your own at month end: accruals, variances, the payroll journal and gross to net.
Opens with Accounts payable, Accrual, Budget.
Open the sectionPlain English
Hiring and Talent
The recruiter’s working set, from writing the requisition to closing the offer, with the sourcing jargon translated.
Opens with Background check, Candidate experience, Candidate pipeline.
Open the sectionPlain English
HR Technology
A buyer’s phrasebook for HR software: what each acronym stands for and the standards that let systems talk.
Opens with AI in HR, API (application programming interface), ATS (Applicant Tracking System).
Open the sectionPlain English
Learning and Development
For whoever owns the training plan: paths, certifications, mandatory courses and what the delivery jargon really means.
Opens with 70 20 10 model, Adaptive learning, Blended learning.
Open the sectionPlain English
Operations
The process vocabulary HR keeps meeting: SOPs, SLAs, approvals, escalations and how work stays on the rails.
Opens with Approval workflow, Audit trail, Bottleneck.
Open the sectionPlain English
Organisation Design
For anyone redrawing the chart: layers, dotted lines, job architecture and the planning terms behind a sound structure.
Opens with Cost centre, Dotted line, Flat structure.
Open the sectionPlain English
Pay, Payroll and Benefits
For whoever explains the payslip: what the deductions mean, how variable pay works and where final settlements come from.
Opens with 13th month pay, 401(k), Base salary.
Open the sectionPlain English
People Analytics
The dashboard decoder: what each workforce metric actually measures, how it is calculated and when it misleads.
Opens with Absence rate, Attrition, Bradford factor.
Open the sectionPlain English
People Operations
Start here if HR landed on your desk: probation, notice, grievances and the other moments every employer eventually handles.
Opens with Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Employee engagement, Employee experience.
Open the sectionPlain English
Performance and Growth
Reviews without the dread: goals, feedback, calibration and the bias traps that quietly skew ratings.
Opens with 360 degree feedback, Calibration, Career pathing.
Open the sectionPlain English
Time, Leave and Absence
For rota builders and leave approvers: accruals, carry over, TOIL and the difference between absence and absenteeism.
Opens with Absence management, Absenteeism, Annual leave.
Open the sectionCompliance, by jurisdiction
The law where your people are,
in the words it is written in.
Each jurisdiction keeps its own section, because gratuity in Dubai, PAYE in London and provident fund in Karachi are different obligations wearing similar clothes. Guidance for operators, not legal advice.
BahrainPlain English
Bahrain HR and Payroll Compliance
LMRA permits, Bahrainisation and the flexible work permit: how Bahrain regulates its labour market.
Opens with Absence of personal income tax, Allowances, Annual leave.
Open the sectionCanadaPlain English
Canada HR and Payroll Compliance
CPP, EI, T4s and records of employment, plus the federal and provincial split that decides which rules apply.
Opens with Business Number, Canada Labour Code, Canada Pension Plan.
Open the sectionEUPlain English
EU HR and Compliance
Directives, works councils, posted workers and the data rules that follow EU employees wherever they are managed.
Opens with Adequacy Decision, Cross-border Data Transfer, Data Protection Officer.
Open the sectionGCCPlain English
GCC HR and Payroll Compliance
Kafala, free zones, Hijri dates and the other machinery the six Gulf states share, worth reading before any single country section.
Opens with End of Service Benefits, Expatriate Workforce, Free Zone.
Open the sectionIndiaPlain English
India HR and Payroll Compliance
PF, ESI, gratuity and Form 16: the statutory stack behind every Indian payslip and CTC breakdown.
Opens with Aadhaar, Basic Salary, Casual Leave.
Open the sectionKuwaitPlain English
Kuwait HR and Payroll Compliance
End of service indemnity, sponsorship transfers and social security: the terms behind hiring and parting ways in Kuwait.
Opens with Absence of personal income tax, Allowances, Annual leave.
Open the sectionOmanPlain English
Oman HR and Payroll Compliance
Omanisation, labour clearance and social insurance: what employing in the Sultanate involves in practice.
Opens with Allowances, Annual leave, Basic wage.
Open the sectionPakistanPlain English
Pakistan HR and Payroll Compliance
EOBI, provincial social security and the Standing Orders: employment law that changes at the provincial border.
Opens with Annual Leave, Apprenticeship, Bonus.
Open the sectionQatarPlain English
Qatar HR and Payroll Compliance
Post-reform Qatar: the minimum wage without nationality tiers, exit permits, heat protection and dispute committees.
Opens with Allowances, Annual leave, Basic wage.
Open the sectionSaudi ArabiaPlain English
Saudi Arabia HR and Payroll Compliance
Saudisation quotas, GOSI, Qiwa and the platforms that now run employment in the Kingdom.
Opens with Absher, Ajeer, Annual leave.
Open the sectionUAEPlain English
UAE HR and Payroll Compliance
Gratuity, Emiratisation, mainland versus free zone and the contract rules of the Emirates, decoded.
Opens with Abu Dhabi Global Market, Allowances, Annual leave.
Open the sectionUKPlain English
UK HR and Payroll Compliance
From RTI filings to redundancy and right to work checks, the terms HMRC and Acas expect you to know.
Opens with Acas Code of Practice, Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, Apprenticeship Levy.
Open the sectionUSPlain English
US HR and Payroll Compliance
At-will employment, FLSA overtime, I-9s and COBRA: what each statute covers and which employers it catches.
Opens with 401(k) Retirement Plan, Affordable Care Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
Open the sectionHow this dictionary works
A word you can say in a meeting.
Then the product, if we ship it.
Some terms end with where that work lives in HarmoniHRM. If we cannot point at a screen, we do not invent one so the dictionary looks complete.
By country when the law is.
PAYE, GOSI and WPS are not the same obligation. Each jurisdiction keeps its own section. Guidance for operators, never a substitute for counsel.
Search, then a section.
Type the word, jump by letter, or open the category. A term that names a real module links once. A term with no screen stays a definition.
Who opens it
The person who was asked the question.
Payroll
The person explaining the slip.
Someone asks why the deduction moved. You need the word, then the run that calculated it, not a second spreadsheet of definitions sitting beside the slip.
A manager
The person holding the request.
Leave, overtime, cover. You need the difference before you approve. The queue is your team. Cover should already be named, not guessed in the corridor.
HR
The person writing the policy.
Probation, notice, right to work. The term has to match the country the person works in, or the policy is theatre and the record will fight it.
A new HR lead
The person who inherited words.
The job arrived with acronyms. Search, jump to a letter, or open the section. You should not need a vendor deck to understand your own week.
Keep reading
From the word to the work.
GuideWhat an HRIS isOne record, not a stack of copies. The test a buyer should run before another tool forks the same person.
GuidePayroll accuracyWhy two versions of the same person is how a pay run goes wrong, and what a single record prevents.
ProductHarmoni PayrollThe run that reads the same record HR already maintains. The slip is that calculation, not a second file.
ProductHarmoni OrganoSpan, layers and vacancies drawn from the live people. Nobody redraws a slide to keep up with a hire.Questions people actually ask.
Is this legal advice?
No. Country sections are written for operators. They name the words and the work. They are not a substitute for counsel.
Why are some terms linked to a product page?
Only when that work already exists in HarmoniHRM. A term with no screen stays a definition.
Can I search from my phone?
Yes. Type the word in the search on this page, or jump by letter, then open the full explanation.
Does this list every course or report you have?
No. We do not publish catalogue tallies. We name the kind of work and who it is for.
Your people, not a sample glossary
Now watch the words
land on a named person.
Span of control on the chart. Carry over on the leave ledger. Final settlement on the leaving record. Import your people and read your own organisation instead of the definitions.
Lead with intelligence.