Glossary
Workplace and HR glossary
51 terms used in workplace recognition, culture assessment and people management, defined in plain language. Terms that belong to the Culture Crest method are defined as this site uses them.
A
- Adjusted pay gap
- A comparison of pay between groups after accounting for role, level, tenure and location. It shows whether comparable people are paid comparably. Pay equity guide.
- Anonymity threshold
- The smallest group for which survey results are reported. Below it, results are suppressed so that individuals cannot be identified. Culture Crest uses a minimum of 10 respondents. Engagement survey guide.
- Attrition rate
- The number of people who leave in a period divided by the average headcount in that period, multiplied by 100. Attrition guide.
B
- Band (performance band)
- A grouping of composite scores. In India's Most Loved 250 Workplaces the bands run from A1 to B3; in the Workplace Value Index they run from V1 to V6. The ranking.
- Belonging
- The felt sense of being accepted and valued as part of a group, and able to contribute without hiding who you are. Trust and belonging guide.
- Benchmark
- A reference point, such as a sector or cohort average, against which an organisation's result is compared.
- BRSR
- The Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report, which large listed companies in India file with their annual report. Its workforce sections disclose headcount, turnover, grievance mechanisms and related data. How to read a BRSR.
- Burnout
- An occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, marked by exhaustion, mental distance from the job and reduced effectiveness. Wellbeing and burnout guide.
C
- Calibration
- A step in performance evaluation where managers compare their assessments against shared criteria and evidence to make sure the same standard was applied. Performance management guide.
- Composite score
- A single score built from several components. In India's Most Loved 250 Workplaces it combines the five pillar scores on a scale of 0 to 100. Methodology.
- Confidence interval
- The range within which a true value is likely to lie. A score of 68 with a margin of 3 is best read as between 65 and 71. When a pulse score moves.
- Cronbach's alpha
- A measure of whether the questions meant to capture one idea hang together. Culture Crest requires a value of at least 0.70 before a pillar score is reported. Why we publish our thresholds.
- Culture audit
- A structured review of how an organisation actually works: what is rewarded, tolerated and decided, and whether its systems match what it says. Culture assessment guide.
D
- Detractor
- In eNPS, a person who answers 0 to 6 on the likelihood-to-recommend question. eNPS guide.
- Diversity
- Who is present in an organisation: the make-up of its people across levels, functions and locations. DEI guide.
E
- Employee engagement
- The degree to which people are invested in their work and organisation, with energy, dedication and absorption, and able to do their best work. Engagement guide.
- Employee experience
- Everything a person encounters and feels across their relationship with an organisation, from hiring to exit. Employee experience guide.
- Employee recognition
- How an organisation shows people that their work is seen and valued. Not to be confused with workplace recognition, which is an acknowledgement of an employer from outside. Recognition guide.
- Employee value proposition (EVP)
- The set of things an organisation offers people in return for their work: pay, growth, culture, purpose and conditions.
- Employer brand
- What an organisation says, and what the market believes, about what it is like to work there. Employee experience guide.
- eNPS
- Employee Net Promoter Score. The percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors on a 0 to 10 likelihood-to-recommend question, giving a score from -100 to +100. eNPS guide.
- Equitable opportunity
- One of the five pillars of the WCRC Equity Index: whether hiring, pay and promotion follow performance rather than identity or proximity. Promotion fairness guide.
- Equity (workplace)
- Whether the processes that decide hiring, pay and promotion are fair, given differences in people's situations. Not the same as equality. DEI guide.
- Exit interview
- A conversation with a person who is leaving, to learn why. Most useful when read for patterns across many exits. Attrition guide.
F
- Flexible work
- Arrangements that give people choice over when and where they work, including hybrid patterns, compressed weeks and part-time work. Hybrid and flexible work guide.
G
- Grievance redressal
- The process by which an organisation receives, investigates and resolves formal complaints from its people. Employee voice guide.
H
- Hybrid work
- A pattern in which people split their time between an office and another location, on a set or chosen schedule. Hybrid and flexible work guide.
I
- Inclusion
- Whether everyone in an organisation can contribute fully: be heard, access opportunity and belong. DEI guide.
- Internal Committee
- The body that employers with ten or more employees must set up under the POSH Act, 2013, to receive and inquire into complaints of sexual harassment. POSH Act guide.
M
- Measurement invariance
- The property that different groups read a survey question in the same way, so that their answers can be fairly compared. Culture assessment guide.
O
- Onboarding
- The process of bringing a new employee into an organisation and helping them become productive and connected.
P
- Pay equity
- The aim that differences in pay between people doing comparable work are explained by legitimate factors, not by personal characteristics. Pay equity guide.
- Pay transparency
- How much an organisation shares about how pay is set: the criteria, the bands, an individual's position and aggregate results. Pay equity guide.
- Performance management
- How an organisation sets goals, gives feedback, evaluates results and develops people. Performance management guide.
- Pillar (WCRC Equity Index)
- One of five dimensions of workplace equity scored in the WCRC Equity Index: Psychological Safety, Representation & Inclusion, Equitable Opportunity, Transparency & Accountability, and Trust & Belonging. The ranking.
- POSH Act
- The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, the Indian law on preventing and addressing sexual harassment at work. POSH Act guide.
- Primary research
- Evidence gathered first-hand from the organisation being studied, such as its employees, systems and records. Culture assessment guide.
- Promoter
- In eNPS, a person who answers 9 or 10 on the likelihood-to-recommend question. eNPS guide.
- Proximity bias
- The tendency to favour people who are physically present or more visible, in opportunity, feedback and recognition. Hybrid and flexible work guide.
- Psychological safety
- The shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking: asking a question, raising a concern, disagreeing or admitting a mistake without being punished. Psychological safety guide.
- Pulse survey
- A short survey on a few topics, run often, to see whether actions have moved anything between full surveys. eNPS and pulse surveys.
R
- Regretted attrition
- Attrition of people the organisation wanted to keep. It is the part of attrition that does the most damage. Attrition guide.
- Representation
- The share of people from a given group at each level, function or location of an organisation. DEI guide.
S
- Secondary research
- Evidence drawn from sources that already exist, such as reports, disclosures and public records, rather than gathered first-hand. India's Most Loved 250 Workplaces is built from it. Methodology.
- Span of control
- The number of people who report directly to one manager. Manager effectiveness guide.
- Stay interview
- A conversation with a person who is staying, to learn what keeps them and what might make them leave, while there is time to act. Attrition guide.
T
- Trust (workplace)
- The expectation that you will be treated fairly, that what you are told is true and that leaders will keep their commitments. Trust and belonging guide.
V
- Voice (employee)
- People's ability to raise ideas and concerns, to be heard and to see a response. Employee voice guide.
W
- Workplace Analysis
- Culture Crest's primary assessment, which measures the five pillars of the WCRC Equity Index from inside one organisation. Workplace Analysis.
- Workplace recognition
- A public acknowledgement that an organisation is a good place to work, such as a ranking, a certification or a thematic list. Workplace recognition in India.
- Workplace Value Index
- The ten-factor index behind Most Valuable Workplaces. It scores what a workplace is worth, from three kinds of evidence, into one composite and one profile spread. Methodology.
Culture Crest Workplace Analysis
Measure it inside your organisation
A published ranking shows how a workplace reads from outside. An assessment measures it from within: a survey, an audit of systems and verified outcome data.
