Resources
Glossary
Plain-English definitions of common workplace terms and acronyms you’ll come across at Nexus Group.
A
- ABN
- Australian Business Number — a unique number identifying a business to government and the community.
- Action item
- A specific job assigned to a person with a due date, often recorded in meeting minutes.
- Agenda
- A list of items to cover in a meeting, sent out beforehand so people can prepare.
C
- CSAT
- Customer Satisfaction — a measure of how happy customers are with a product or service, often as a percentage.
D
- Duty of care
- The responsibility to take reasonable steps to avoid harming the people around you.
E
- EAP
- Employee Assistance Program — free, confidential counselling and support available to staff.
- EEO
- Equal Employment Opportunity — fair treatment in employment based on merit, free from discrimination.
- Escalate
- To pass an issue to someone with more authority or expertise when it can’t be resolved at first contact.
- E-waste
- Electronic waste — old IT and electrical equipment that must be recycled responsibly, not binned.
F
- Fair Work
- The national workplace relations system, including the National Employment Standards (NES).
- First aider
- A trained staff member who can give first aid until further help arrives.
- Fire warden
- A trained staff member who helps people evacuate safely in an emergency.
G
- GST
- Goods and Services Tax — a 10% tax added to most goods and services in Australia.
H
- Hazard
- Anything that has the potential to cause harm to a person.
- HSR
- Health and Safety Representative — a worker elected to represent their team on safety matters.
I
- Invoice
- A bill from a supplier listing what was provided and the amount owed, usually including GST.
K
- KPI
- Key Performance Indicator — a measure used to track progress toward a goal.
L
- Ledger
- The record of an organisation’s financial transactions, used to track money in and out.
M
- MFA
- Multi-Factor Authentication — a second check (like a phone prompt) when logging in, for extra security.
- Minutes
- A short written record of a meeting — who attended, what was decided and the actions agreed.
N
- Near miss
- An event that could have caused harm but didn’t. Reporting near misses helps prevent future incidents.
- NDIS
- National Disability Insurance Scheme — funds support for eligible people with disability.
- NES
- National Employment Standards — 11 minimum entitlements for employees under the Fair Work Act.
- NPS
- Net Promoter Score — a measure of how likely customers are to recommend us.
O
- Onboarding
- The process of getting a new starter set up, informed and ready to work.
P
- PCBU
- Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking — the legal term for the employer’s safety duties.
- PDCA
- Plan–Do–Check–Act — a simple cycle for continuous improvement.
- PPE
- Personal Protective Equipment — gear like gloves or hi-vis that protects a worker from harm.
- Phishing
- A scam email or message that tries to trick you into clicking a link or giving away information.
- Plain English
- Clear, everyday language that’s easy for the reader to understand.
- Probation
- An initial period in a new role with extra support and feedback while you settle in.
- Petty cash
- A small amount of cash kept on hand for minor purchases, tracked in the petty-cash book.
R
- Reconciliation
- Checking that two sets of records agree — for example, the cash book against the bank statement.
- Reconciling item
- A timing difference (like an unpresented payment or a bank fee) that explains a gap between two records.
- Record owner
- The team or person responsible for keeping a particular record accurate and up to date.
S
- SLA
- Service Level Agreement — an agreed target for how quickly something will be done (e.g. ticket response times).
- Stakeholder
- Any person or group with an interest in a piece of work — customers, staff, suppliers and more.
- SOP
- Standard Operating Procedure — agreed steps for doing a piece of work safely and consistently.
- Source document
- The original paperwork behind a transaction — an invoice, receipt, docket or statement.
T
- Toolbox meeting
- A short, regular team meeting about safety and how the work is going.
- Triage
- Sorting requests by urgency and importance so the most pressing are handled first.
V
- VPN
- Virtual Private Network — a secure, encrypted connection used to access work systems remotely.
W
- WHS
- Work Health and Safety — keeping people safe and healthy at work.