Business, Management, Human Resources Dictionary: D

Dental insurance is an insurance policy that will pay specified amounts of money to cover dental and oral hygiene expenses or treatments. Employer-provided dental insurance policies offer employees many different options for insurance coverage. Employer-provided dental insurance policies vary in their approaches to coverage. Find out more about...

Departments are the entity organizations form to organize people, reporting relationships, and work in a way that best supports the accomplishment of the organization's goals. Departments are usually organized by functions such as human resources, marketing, administration, and sales. Find out more about a department.

Long term disability insurance (LTD) is an insurance policy that protects an employee from loss of income in the event that he or she is unable to work due to illness, injury, or accident for a long period of time. Some estimates state that the average employee with a long term disability misses 2.5 years of work. Find out more about long term...

Progressive discipline is a process for dealing with job-related behavior that does not meet expected and communicated performance standards.

Discretionary energy is the energy that an employee chooses to exert in service to coworkers or customers at work - or not. An employer pays for the fundamental tasks that he hires an employee to perform. The employee's willingness to perform above and beyond the basic requirements of the job is a reflection of the employee's willingness to engage his or her discretionary energy. Find out more ab…

Discrimination is adverse work treatment of an employee or prospective employee based on a class or category of which the employee is a member. This is differentiated from employment treatment that is based on the employee's individual merit. Discrimination in the workplace is the act of treating a particular group or person differently based solely on his or her protected classification.

Documentation is the written record of employees actions, discussion, performance coaching, witnessed policy violations, disciplinary action, positive contributions, reward and recognition, employee contributions, and more. Documentation allows the employer or employee to preserve a written record of the happenings and discussions that occurred around a specific event. Learn more about documentat…

Downsizing means to reduce the number of employees in an organization. Downsizing or lay-offs reduce the size of a work force. Used sparingly, and with planning, downsizing can be an organizational lifesaver, but when layoffs are used repeatedly without a thoughtful strategy, downsizing can destroy an organization's effectiveness. Also known as: reduction in force.

A dress code is a set of standards that companies develop to help provide their employees with guidance about what is appropriate to wear to work. Dress codes range from formal to business casual to casual. The formality of the workplace dress code is normally determined by the amount of interaction employees have with customers. Learn more...

Even if you work in a casual dress code environment or a business casual work environment, the rules may change when you hit the road for your company with a business mission. Whether you are exhibiting at a trade show, attending a conference or training session, or visiting a customer, the dress code in effect at your \office may change for...

In a drug-free workplace, the employer has taken steps and initiated policies to ensure that employees are not taking or using alcohol or drugs, selling drugs, or affected by the after effects of indulging in alcohol or drugs outside of the workplace. The goal of a drug-free workplace program is to encourage an employee with a substance abuse...