This article provides definitions for common terms that appear in Personio. For a lexicon of HR terms, visit our HR Glossary.

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To search for a specific term, use the keyboard shortcut Control + F (or Command + F on a Mac).

 

A

Accrual policy

A set of rules and guidelines that dictate how many times an employee can take a specific time off type, such as vacation, over a given period. You must create an accrual policy in Personio if there is a limit on the number of times an employee can take a specific time off type.

Learn more about creating accrual policies.

 

Anonymization

The process of removing any personally identifiable candidate information when it is no longer needed. You can set this up automatically in your Recruiting settings to ensure data privacy and compliance.

Learn more about candidate anonymization in Personio.

 

API

An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of functions and protocols that enables two software components to communicate with each other. For example, in Recruiting, this can be used to transfer candidate information to Personio.

For more information about the different Personio APIs, read our articles on our Personio public APIs and Recruiting API.

B

Bonus (salary component)

A bonus is an additional amount of money given as a reward for good performance or as expected compensation, such as a Christmas or referral bonus.

In Personio, a bonus is always either a variable or a goal bonus. 

C

Categories (Recruiting)

A set of criteria that allows you to group job postings in Recruiting. Categories can be created based on various criteria such as job type, office or legal entity, and department.

Learn how to create recruiting categories.

 

Carryover

Time off entitlement employees can take from one cycle to the next.

 

Carryover limit

Date after which a time off entitlement from the previous cycle expires. Learn how to change a carryover limit that has been previously defined.

 

Contract ends date

Refers to the last day of employment as set in an employee's fixed-term employment contract. This date is for internal use only and does not end employment automatically.

Learn about the differences between ending an employee's contract and terminating their employment.

 

Custom CSS

Cascading Style Sheets is a computer language used to change the elements of a website's design. You can use it to personalize your Personio career page.

Learn how to customize your career page with CSS.

 

D

No glossary items.

 

E

No glossary items.

 

F

Flexible workers

Employees with flexible working arrangements who require a suitable work schedule and specific settings to be assigned.

Learn more about managing flexible workers in Personio.

 

FTE

FTE stands for Full-Time Equivalent. It is a calculation of the total number of hours a full-time employee works in a company. It compares the working hours of part-time employees to a full-time schedule.

Learn about the FTE system report in Personio.

 

G

No glossary items.

 

H

Hiring team

Refers to a group of employees in charge of hiring for a specific role, for example, a hiring manager, a recruiter, or a peer.

You can define the hiring team when creating a job in Personio.

 

Homepage

The landing page users see when they log in to Personio. It contains snippets of Personio features in the form of widgets.

Learn more about the homepage.

 

I

No glossary items.

 

J

No glossary items.

 

K

No glossary items.

 

L

Legal entity

An organization or any sub-part that has legal rights and responsibilities, including tax filings. The types of legal entities depend on the location-specific jurisdiction where they are based.

Learn about how legal entities impact features in Personio.

 

M

My direct report (Meine Mitarbeiter)

Employees who report directly to you, and appear directly below you in the Personio Org Chart. Learn more about my direct reports in Personio.

 

N

No glossary items.

 

O

Onboarding

A process in Personio involving several steps and features designed to facilitate the integration of new employees.

Learn about creating onboarding workflows.

 

Offboarding

A process in Personio involving several steps and features designed to facilitate the disengagement of employees. Offboarding occurs once the employee has decided to leave the company or has terminated their contract.

Learn about creating offboarding workflows.

 

 

P

Performance meeting

A structured discussion scheduled with employees at the end of a review cycle to discuss their results and plan the next phases of their development.

Learn how to create and manage a performance meeting in Personio.

 

Placeholder

A piece of text that is temporarily placed in a document before the final text is added, either automatically by Personio or manually by you. It is used in preconfigured emails, documents, workflows, and reports.

Learn how to use placeholders in document templates and in Recruiting emails.

 

Proration

The adjustment of an employee's pay or benefits based on the actual time worked for the period of eligibility.

 

Q

No glossary items.

 

R

No glossary items.

 

S

SLA

An SLA (Service-Level Agreement) is an agreement that sets expectations for service delivery time. In Personio Conversations, it defines the timeframe within which a specific team must respond to and resolve issues.

Learn how to use SLAs in Personio Conversations.

 

SMTP

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a way of sending email messages between servers. In Recruiting, it allows you to send emails from Personio that show your recruiting mailbox as the sender's address.

Learn how to set up an SMTP connection between Personio and frequently used email providers.

 

Supervisor

An employee who is responsible for a group of people, and appears in their report’s employee profile as well as above them in the Org Chart.

Learn about the responsibilities of supervisors in Personio.

 

T

Teams

Small, flexible groups that work on specific projects or tasks and can include members from various departments.

Learn how to set up teams in Personio.

 

U

Upward review

A type of review in Personio that allows employees to provide feedback to people who manage them, for example, their supervisors.

Learn more about upward reviews.

 

V

Variable bonus

A variable bonus in Personio is a flexible bonus that allows for payments in variable amounts at defined intervals, such as monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly. For example, a Christmas bonus.

Learn how to create or terminate a variable bonus.

 

W

Workflow

A sequence of automated tasks that can be managed from the Automations area, such as onboarding an employee and granting them access to the apps.

To learn more, refer to our article on understanding workflows.

 

X

XML

XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a way of marking text to be shown in computer systems. You can use it to define, store, and share data. In Personio, an XML file can be created with your open jobs to be shared with your IT department or your web designer.

 

Y

No glossary items.

 

Z

No glossary items.