SHRM-SCP key terms

The process of ensuring that HR priorities, workforce capabilities, and people programs directly support the organization's mission, goals, and long-term business plan.

A performance framework that tracks progress across financial, customer, internal process, and learning-and-growth perspectives, linking operational measures to strategy and long-term goals.

Quantifiable measures of workforce and HR program performance, such as turnover rate, cost per hire, and engagement scores, used to guide decisions and show HR's business impact.

The systematic process of forecasting the number, skills, and locations of employees needed to meet future business demand, then closing gaps through hiring, development, or redeployment.

The shared values, beliefs, norms, and behaviors that shape how people interact and make decisions, often described as how work really gets done in a place.

The deliberate effort to shape how current and prospective employees perceive the organization as a place to work, communicating its value proposition to attract and retain talent.

A systematic process of gathering information about a job's duties, tasks, responsibilities, and required knowledge, skills, and abilities; it underpins job descriptions, selection criteria, and pay decisions.

A selection interview in which all candidates receive the same predefined, job-related questions and are rated with a consistent scoring guide, improving reliability and legal defensibility.

Providing candidates with accurate, balanced information about both the attractive and difficult aspects of a job and organization, helping them self-select and reducing early turnover.

The structured program that integrates a new hire into the organization, covering orientation, role clarity, relationships, and early performance support during the first weeks and months.

The degree to which employees commit discretionary effort, feel invested in their work, and are willing to advocate for the organization, shaped by purpose, recognition, and management quality.

The total package of rewards, opportunities, culture, and experience an employer offers in exchange for employees' performance, commitment, and continued membership in the organization.

A structured conversation with a current employee about what keeps them engaged and what might cause them to leave, used to address retention risks before they become exits.

The rate at which employees leave an organization, typically calculated as separations divided by average headcount and often split into voluntary and involuntary categories.

The unwritten set of mutual expectations between an employee and employer about contributions, rewards, and treatment; breaches can erode trust and drive disengagement or departure.

The process of identifying performance gaps and determining whether instruction is an appropriate solution by analyzing the organization, the tasks, and the people involved.

A five-phase instructional design framework-analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation-used to build learning programs in a systematic, repeatable way.

An evaluation framework that measures training effectiveness through reaction, learning, behavior change, and results, moving from immediate participant reactions to business outcomes.

A development guide suggesting that roughly 70 percent of learning comes from challenging work experience, 20 percent from relationships and coaching, and 10 percent from formal courses.

A framework defining the knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors required for success in roles or across the organization, used for selection, development, and performance management.

The combined value of all forms of employee compensation and benefits-pay, incentives, benefits, work-life programs, development, and recognition-that an employer offers.

A pay metric calculated by dividing an employee's salary by the midpoint of the pay range; a value of 1.0 means pay at midpoint, below 1.0 below midpoint.

A systematic process of determining the relative worth of jobs within an organization to establish internal pay hierarchies and equitable pay ranges.

A situation in which pay differences between employees at different levels or with different tenure become too small, often because new hires are paid near or above experienced staff.

Compensation that varies based on performance or results, such as bonuses, commissions, and gain-sharing, rather than being guaranteed as fixed base pay.

The process in which a union and employer negotiate over wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, aiming to produce a binding labor agreement.

A defined, step-by-step process for employees or their union to raise and resolve complaints about contract interpretation or treatment, often culminating in binding arbitration.

A discipline standard requiring an employer to show that action is for a legitimate reason, proportionate, consistently applied, and based on a fair investigation before imposing serious penalties.

A graduated approach to correcting behavior, typically moving from coaching or verbal warning to written warning and then termination, giving employees notice and a chance to improve.

The right of a unionized employee to request a union representative during an investigatory interview that the employee reasonably believes could lead to discipline.

The Civil Rights Act provision prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and establishing the EEOC enforcement framework.

A form of discrimination in which a neutral policy or practice disproportionately excludes members of a protected group and is not job-related or consistent with business necessity.

A change to the work environment or the way work is performed that enables a qualified individual with a disability to perform essential functions, absent undue hardship.

The Family and Medical Leave Act requires covered employers to provide eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for specified family and medical reasons.

The Fair Labor Standards Act's classification of employees as exempt from overtime, typically salaried and meeting duties tests, or non-exempt and entitled to minimum wage and overtime.

An integrated software system that stores and manages employee data and supports HR processes such as payroll, benefits, time tracking, and reporting.

A delivery model that centralizes transactional HR activities-such as benefits administration and employee inquiries-in a service center, freeing HR business partners for strategic work.

The use of workforce data and statistical methods to understand patterns, predict outcomes, and inform decisions about talent, productivity, cost, and risk.

A systematic review of HR policies, practices, records, and compliance to identify risks, gaps, and opportunities for improvement against legal and organizational standards.

Legal and ethical rules governing the collection, storage, use, and sharing of employee personal data, including notice, consent, security, and retention requirements.