Workplace vocabulary

Are you up on the latest lingo regarding the workplace? Most of us know that “reduction in force” is a fancy euphemism for layoffs, but there are several other terms you might not be familiar with.

The folks at outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas offer a glossary to workplace language. Here are some of the highlights, many of which have to do with terms regarding recent graduates and older workers:

*20/20 Workforce: Workers who split time evenly between two part-time jobs.

*Age neutral: Dynamic mix of younger, older employees; age no issue.

*Boomerang workers: Retirees returning to former employers.

*Border crossers: Multi-skilled employees, comfortably crossing from job to job within company.

*Corporate Wake: Ritual sendoff given to retirees.

*Cyberboosting: Creating bogus, Web-generated technical credentials.

*Cyberseniors: Retirees returning to fill high-tech jobs.

*Earlybird mentors: younger workers imparting computer and Internet knowledge to older workers.

*Enroned: Reputation undermined due to questionable employer.

*Fresh-outs: New graduates who require job training.

*Graduate grandeur: Unrealistic salary expectations by new grads.

*Hideouts: Those enrolling in graduate schools to avoid the tight job market.

*No-faults: Job cuts resulting from closure of an entire company or department, where personal performance was not a factor.

*Permtemps: Forever part-time.

*Pinkslip perks: Benefits beyond the traditional severance package, such as company-paid technology training or tuition reimbursement.

*Re-Generation: Over 65 and working.

*Rung jumper: Someone who enters a new position at least two or three levels above his or her previous position.

*Sad-grad: Recent college graduate living with parents, with credit card and school loan debt, and no job prospects.

*Senior entry-level: Job seekers over 50 who earn a degree toward a second career vs. leisure-time pursuits upon retirement.

*Sitting bull: Retirement-age worker who, due to stock market and other savings losses, will not leave, thus blocking younger workers from advancing.

*SuperSeniors: People still working in their 70s, 80s and beyond.

*Up-titling: Giving employees a better job title in lieu of a pay raise.