Allowance
A recurring or one-off addition to pay such as transport, housing or responsibility allowance.
Glossary
The words behind
every pay cycle.
Plain-language definitions of the HR, payroll and hiring terms your team meets in the register, the portal and the reports.
A
Attrition
The rate at which employees leave over a period, expressed as a share of average headcount.
Applicant tracking
The structured pipeline that moves a candidate from application through interviews to offer and hire.
Accrual
Leave or benefit entitlement earned gradually over time rather than granted in full at the start of a year.
Audit trail
The immutable record of who changed what and when, kept so a completed pay run can always be explained.
B
Basic pay
The contracted monthly or hourly amount an employee earns before allowances, overtime and deductions are applied.
C
Cost to company
The full employment cost for a period: gross pay plus employer contributions and any employer-borne benefits.
D
Deduction
Any amount withheld from gross pay, whether statutory (tax, social security) or voluntary (loans, welfare).
G
Gross pay
Basic pay plus every taxable and non-taxable addition for the period, calculated before any deduction.
H
Headcount
The number of active employees at a point in time, usually reported by department, location or contract type.
M
Monthly inputs
The per-employee values captured for a specific pay period. A blank value inherits from the profile; an explicit zero overrides it.
N
Net pay
What lands in the employee's account after statutory and voluntary deductions are taken from gross pay.
O
Onboarding
Everything between a signed offer and a productive first month: documents, accounts, equipment and introductions.
P
PAYE
Pay As You Earn: income tax withheld by the employer from each employee's pay and remitted on their behalf.
Payroll register
The full working sheet for a pay period, showing every earning, deduction and statutory line per employee.
Pay run
One complete cycle of preparing, reviewing, approving and paying a period's payroll.
Proration
Adjusting pay for a partial period, for example a mid-month joiner or unpaid absence recorded through attendance.
Payslip
The per-employee statement for a period, listing earnings, deductions, employer contributions and net pay.
Probation
An agreed initial period during which either party can end employment on shorter notice, usually with a review at the end.
R
Requisition
An approved request to hire for a specific role, carrying the budget, level and hiring team.
S
SSNIT
The national social security contribution split between employer and employee and remitted monthly.
Shift roster
The published plan of who works when, used to compare planned hours against attendance.
Self-service
The employee-facing portal for payslips, personal details, leave requests and documents.
T
Tier 2
The mandatory occupational pension portion of the social security contribution, held with a private scheme.
Tier 3
Voluntary provident fund contributions made by the employee, the employer or both, on top of the mandatory tiers.
Timesheet
A record of hours worked in a period, used to validate attendance and prorate variable pay.