ApplicantStack HR Glossary
The ApplicantStack HR Glossary provides clear definitions of key human resources terms such as the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), Applicant Tracking System, attrition, background checks, benefits administration, churn rate, diversity hiring, EEO reporting, employee onboarding, retention, turnover, employer branding, and the role of the hiring manager to help users stay informed about recruitment and workforce management concepts.
Applicant Tracking Defined
It's far too easy to get lost in terminology. The Swipeclock HR Glossary is here to help you stay fluent and up-to-date with current terms and ideas in the world of human resources.
Glossary Terms
- Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA): A federal law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places open to the general public.
- Applicant Tracking System: Software that manages the recruitment and hiring process, including posting job openings, receiving applications, and tracking candidates through the hiring workflow.
- Attrition: The gradual reduction of a workforce by employees leaving and not being replaced, rather than by layoffs.
- Background Check: The process of verifying a candidate's history, including employment, education, criminal records, and other relevant information.
- Benefits Administration: The management of employee benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off.
- Churn Rate: The rate at which employees leave a company within a certain period.
- Diversity Hiring: Recruitment practices aimed at increasing the diversity of an organization's workforce.
- EEO Reporting (Equal Employment Opportunity Component 1): The process of submitting required data on workforce composition to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
- Employee Onboarding: The process of integrating a new employee into an organization, including orientation and training.
- Employee Retention: Strategies and practices aimed at keeping employees engaged and reducing turnover.
- Employee Turnover: The rate at which employees leave a company and are replaced by new hires.
- Employer Branding: The process of promoting a company as an employer of choice to attract and retain top talent.
- Hiring Manager: The person responsible for making the final hiring decision for a position.
- Hiring Processes: The steps involved in recruiting, interviewing, and selecting new employees.
- Job Board: An online platform where employers post job openings and job seekers search for opportunities.
- Job Description: A written statement outlining the duties, responsibilities, and qualifications for a specific job.
- Recruiting: The process of finding and attracting qualified candidates for employment.
- Talent Acquisition: A strategic approach to identifying, attracting, and onboarding top talent to meet organizational needs.
- Video Interview Software: Technology that enables employers to conduct interviews with candidates remotely via video.
- WOTC (Work Opportunity Tax Credit): A federal tax credit available to employers for hiring individuals from certain target groups who have consistently faced significant barriers to employment.
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Diversity Hiring Glossary and Compliance Guide
The Diversity Hiring Glossary and Compliance Guide explains that the EEO Component 1 report mandates private employers with 100+ employees and federal contractors with 50+ employees to annually collect and report workforce data on race/ethnicity, gender, and job category to comply with anti-discrimination laws enforced by the EEOC, while the OFCCP enforces affirmative action and non-discrimination requirements specifically for federal contractors and subcontractors, ensuring they do not discriminate based on protected characteristics or retaliate against employees discussing compensation.
OFCCP and EEO-1 Reporting: Compliance and Guidelines
The OFCCP and EEOC both enforce workplace anti-discrimination laws, with the OFCCP specifically requiring federal contractors to submit annual EEO-1 reports detailing employee demographics by race/ethnicity, gender, and job category to ensure affirmative action and non-discrimination compliance, while the EEOC oversees broader federal anti-discrimination enforcement for all employers.
Workplace Diversity: Reducing Hiring Bias and Improving Inclusion
The content explains that diversity hiring aims to create a workforce reflecting societal demographics by recruiting underrepresented groups and highlights six common cognitive hiring biases—halo effect, expectation bias, confirmation bias, anchoring bias, social comparison bias, and ingroup bias—that organizations must identify and eliminate to reduce hiring bias and improve workplace inclusion.
Background Screening: How To Stay Compliant
The article emphasizes the critical importance of partnering with a knowledgeable background screening provider to navigate the complex and varying federal, state, and local regulations—such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Ban the Box laws—that govern when and how employers can conduct background checks and use applicant information to ensure compliant and effective hiring practices.
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Reporting and Compliance Overview
The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Component 1 report is an annual mandatory workforce demographic data collection on race/ethnicity, gender, and job category required from private employers with 100+ employees and federal contractors with 50+ employees, enforced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) which prohibits workplace discrimination, while the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) enforces similar reporting and affirmative action compliance specifically for federal contractors and subcontractors.