52+ HR, attendance, payroll, and workforce management terms defined in plain English.
HRMS stands for Human Resource Management System — software that automates HR processes including attendance, leave, payroll, employee records, and performance management. HRMS is used interchangeably with HRIS (Human Resource Information System) and HCM (Human Capital Management).
HRIS stands for Human Resource Information System — a database-focused system for storing employee records, hierarchy, and HR compliance data. HRIS is the record-of-truth component of a broader HRMS.
HCM stands for Human Capital Management — enterprise-grade HR software covering the full employee lifecycle: recruitment, onboarding, performance, development, and offboarding. HCM systems (Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle HCM) target large enterprises.
ATS stands for Applicant Tracking System — software that automates recruitment: posting jobs, receiving applications, filtering candidates, scheduling interviews, and tracking offers.
Onboarding is the process of integrating a new employee into the company: paperwork, system access, training, orientation, and cultural integration. Structured onboarding typically spans 30-90 days.
Offboarding is the process of transitioning a departing employee out of the company: exit interview, knowledge transfer, revoking system access, final paycheck, and documentation.
An org chart (organizational chart) is a visual diagram showing the reporting structure of a company — who reports to whom. Modern HRMS platforms generate org charts automatically from employee records.
Employee self-service (ESS) is functionality that allows employees to update their own profile, request leave, view payslips, and access documents without HR intervention. Reduces HR workload dramatically.
A performance review (or appraisal) is a structured evaluation of an employee's work performance over a defined period. Modern reviews use goals (OKRs, KPIs), peer feedback, and self-assessment.
OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results — a goal-setting framework used to define measurable outcomes. Popularized by Google, OKRs cascade from company-level down to team and individual level.
KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator — a measurable value that reflects how effectively an employee, team, or company is achieving its objectives.
360-degree feedback is a performance review method where an employee receives feedback from multiple sources: managers, peers, direct reports, and self-assessment. Provides a comprehensive view of performance.
Attrition is the rate at which employees leave a company over a period, expressed as a percentage. Also called turnover. High attrition signals problems with culture, compensation, or management.
Retention is the ability of a company to keep its employees over time. High retention indicates strong culture and employee satisfaction. The inverse of attrition.
Statutory compliance means meeting all legal obligations imposed by government regulations — tax withholdings, social security contributions, employment law, safety standards. HRMS platforms automate much of this.
Employee engagement measures how emotionally invested employees are in their work and company. Engaged employees are more productive, stay longer, and produce better outcomes. Measured via surveys and behavior.
An employee handbook is a written document outlining company policies, expectations, benefits, and procedures. Should be signed by every new hire and updated regularly.
A probation period is a defined initial phase (typically 3-6 months) during which a new employee's performance is evaluated before confirming permanent employment. Terms of probation should be in the employment contract.
Notice period is the amount of time an employee (or employer) must give before ending employment. Typically 30-90 days for salaried employees, defined in the employment contract.
An audit trail is a chronological record of all actions taken on data — who did what, when, and from where. Essential for HR compliance, dispute resolution, and legal defense.
GPS attendance is a method of recording employee clock-in and clock-out events using the phone's GPS coordinates. It verifies the employee is physically at an approved work location before accepting the clock-in.
A geofence is a virtual boundary drawn around a physical location. In attendance systems, geofences restrict clock-ins to specific approved areas — clock-ins from outside the boundary are automatically rejected.
Buddy punching is a form of time theft where one employee clocks in on behalf of another absent employee. It costs US businesses an estimated $373 million per year. GPS attendance with selfie verification eliminates buddy punching.
Selfie verification requires an employee to take a photo of themselves at the moment of clock-in. The photo is attached to the attendance record as proof of identity, preventing buddy punching.
Mock location is a phone setting or app that fakes GPS coordinates. Modern attendance apps detect and block mock-location spoofing to prevent employees from faking their location.
Time theft is any practice where employees are paid for time they did not actually work, including buddy punching, extended breaks, personal errands, and inflated timesheets. GPS attendance eliminates most forms of time theft.
Clock-in is the recorded event marking the start of an employee's work session. In modern systems, clock-in captures timestamp, GPS location, and often a selfie photo.
A timesheet is a record of hours worked by an employee over a specific period, typically weekly or biweekly. Timesheets are used to calculate payroll, overtime, and project billing.
A shift is a scheduled block of working hours assigned to an employee. Shift management tracks who works when, calculates overtime, and prevents scheduling conflicts.
Overtime is time worked beyond an employee's standard scheduled hours. Overtime is typically paid at 1.5x or 2x the regular rate depending on jurisdiction and day (weekday vs weekend).
BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device — a policy where employees use their personal phones/laptops for work. GPS attendance apps like Zilonex are BYOD-friendly, requiring no company-issued hardware.
Real-time attendance is a system where clock-in events appear on the admin dashboard instantly, without delay. Enables managers to see who is present, late, or absent at any given moment.
Attendance regularization is the process of correcting missed or incorrect clock-in events. Employees submit a regularization request with reason, and managers approve or reject.
Leave is any time an employee is absent from work with or without pay. Common leave types include annual, sick, casual, unpaid, maternity, paternity, and bereavement.
Annual leave is paid time off granted to employees for personal use, typically 10-30 days per year depending on jurisdiction and tenure. Also called paid time off (PTO) or vacation leave.
Sick leave is paid or unpaid time off for illness. Extended sick leave (typically 2+ consecutive days) usually requires a medical certificate.
Leave accrual is the process by which employees earn leave gradually over time (e.g. 1.25 days per month for a 15-day annual entitlement). Accrual protects the business from employees taking leave they haven't yet earned.
Leave carryover is the practice of moving unused leave from one year to the next. Common policies: full carryover (creates liability), capped carryover, or use-it-or-lose-it.
An approval workflow is the sequence of steps required to authorize a request (leave, expense, timesheet). Modern HRMS platforms automate approval workflows with push notifications and one-tap approvals.
Payroll is the process of calculating and disbursing employee compensation. Includes gross pay, allowances, deductions, taxes, overtime, and payslip generation.
A payslip (or pay stub) is a document showing an employee's earnings and deductions for a pay period. Modern HRMS platforms distribute payslips digitally via mobile app or email.
Gross pay is an employee's total earnings before deductions — base salary plus overtime, bonuses, allowances, and any other additions.
Net pay (take-home pay) is what an employee actually receives after all deductions from gross pay: taxes, insurance, loans, and other withholdings.
An allowance is a fixed or variable payment added to an employee's gross pay for specific purposes (housing, transport, meal, etc.). Allowances may be taxable or non-taxable depending on jurisdiction.
A deduction is any amount subtracted from an employee's gross pay to calculate net pay. Includes taxes, insurance premiums, loan repayments, and salary advances.
A bonus is a one-off payment beyond regular salary, typically tied to performance, milestones, or annual review. Bonuses are usually taxable as ordinary income.
Freemium is a business model where a product's core features are free forever, with advanced features locked behind a paid tier. Zilonex uses a freemium model — mobile app free for up to 10 employees, paid tiers unlock advanced features.
SaaS stands for Software as a Service — cloud-hosted software accessed via web or mobile app, billed on subscription. Modern HR platforms are almost universally SaaS.
Multi-tenant refers to SaaS architecture where multiple customer organizations share the same software instance while their data remains completely isolated. Standard for modern HR platforms.
SLA stands for Service Level Agreement — a formal commitment from a SaaS vendor about uptime, response time, and support. Common commitment: 99.9% uptime (43 minutes of downtime per month).
A push notification is a message sent from an app to a phone that appears even when the app is closed. Modern HR apps use push notifications for leave approvals, clock-in reminders, and payroll alerts.
Row-level security (RLS) is a database feature that restricts which rows a user can see or modify based on their identity. Zilonex uses PostgreSQL RLS via Supabase to enforce data isolation between organizations.
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