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25 Modern Workplace Vocabulary Terms

to return to an issue at a later time
Ex. "Let's circle back on this discussion next week."

to work together on something (it's the short version of "to collaborate")
Ex. "Let's collab on this project to impress the boss."

bosses, executives, the company leadership
Ex. "The higher-ups are making some changes to our department."

short for Work From Home
Ex. "I'm WFH until next Monday"

refers to available time and resources.
Ex. "Do you have the bandwidth to take on another project?"

to put something together with little or no money. (This term comes from the Silicon Valley startup world.) 

Ex. "I bootstrapped a prototype for this product in my spare time"

a separate, smaller meeting that takes place during or after a larger meeting. 

Ex. "Our team had a breakout session to discuss the earnings results after the all hands meeting"

refers to a meeting or event where the whole company is required to participate. 

Ex. "Chuck said he'd meet us after the all hands meeting later today."

an existing position that opens due to someone being fired or leaving the company. (Can be a noun or a verb)

Ex. "We'll get a temp to backfill Chuck's position"

refers to someone who has too much work.

Ex. "I'm completely buried. I can't take another task now."

the end of the business day, when some employees stop work. 

Ex. "I'll have that file to you by COB today."

to talk face-to-face. 

Ex. "Can we connect offline about the payroll information? It's confidential."

to include someone in a conversation, either by email or in-person. 

Ex. "I need to loop Carol in on the payroll conversation because she's the CFO."

to keep someone informed of new developments in the office.

Ex. "Please keep me in the loop about the meeting schedule for this week."

calm, relaxed. 

Ex. "We have a laid-back office culture here."

a reorganization of employees and responsibilities. (Typically this includes firing people)

Ex. "After the reorg, Trudy became my new boss."

to fire someone

Ex. "The entire IT department was let go."

to contact someone for networking purposes.

Ex. "Richard and I connected to discuss a new job at his company."

to change directions and business strategy; can refer to a person or a company.

Ex. "Maybe Uber will pivot to being a delivery service."

to have a second job doing something else. 

Ex. "Maria has a gig on Task Rabbit in her free time to make extra money."
Ex. "Paul is moonlighting as an Uber driver."

a fancy way to say the internet is down.

Ex. "Our team had connectivity issues this morning so we missed the Zoom meeting."

to convince someone that something is valuable or good. 

Ex. "Jim was talking up the position to me over the phone."

to send an email.

Ex. "Can you shoot those requests to me in an email? Thanks."

a written record of communications, usually in an email.

Ex. "I want to write this all down in an email to management so we have a paper trail."

refers to gossip or general communications.

Ex. "We've been hearing a lot of chatter about a reorganization and we want to be prepared."