From the October 2008 issue of Ceridian Connection

Read the want ads, look at text messages, check emails or walk down the street. Between the bombardment of acronyms, texting and abbreviations, there is no escape from the new shorthand in communications.

For human resources and payroll professionals, understanding the unique acronyms, abbreviations and jargon of the industry -- and the related technology -- is a constant challenge and critical to effective business practices. Some of the biggest issues to impact payroll professionals over the last decade can be summed up with just a few letters: FMLA, HIPAA, I-9, SQL, SAS70, SaaS.

"Acronyms have become a part of our vocabulary and are very different now from when they first came into use," according to Charlene Kalka, Ceridian's manager of training and development for HR/Payroll. "The ability to learn new acronyms comes naturally to younger people who have grown up using abbreviated forms of language, such as texting."

Acronyms can help streamline communications, as long as everyone understands the full meaning. For example, there are abbreviations on Form W-2 that typically are explained in the notices to employees and employers. The use of an acronym, such as HIPAA, is far more acceptable than writing out Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Acronyms driven by legislation and technology
Like HIPAA or the older acronym COBRA, many acronyms used in human resources and payroll processing arise out of legislation. Congress develops and passes complex legislation that broadly affects employers and employees. Employers and human resource professionals must quickly communicate the impending effects of the legislation on policies, compliance and payroll processes. Acronyms develop as a means to cope with the complexity of the subject matter and facilitate faster communication.

Acronyms affecting HR and payroll professionals can also come from the technology platforms on which they operate. In the last ten to fifteen years, human resource information systems have been referred to by acronyms from MS-DOS to CD-ROM to SQL. One of the newer technology acronyms bandied about is SaaS, referring to Software as a Service, or software and data that are hosted and maintained by a vendor.

Use acronyms effectively
At Ceridian, Kalka manages the development of both customer and employee training. She asks her instructional designers to be conscious in both written and verbal communications that the individuals they are communicating with have a complete grasp of the topic. Kalka offers several suggestions for communicating and using acronyms in the workplace:

• Never assume that the audience understands. This is especially true with new employees and customers.
• Always explain abbreviations in documents at the first reference.
• Use acronyms familiar to the professionals you are training. One example is FMLA, the Family and Medical Leave Act that was passed in 1993 and is well-known by HR professionals and most employees.
• Leave your company-specific acronyms at the door in verbal and written communication.
• Limit acronyms and abbreviations to situations where they enhance communication.
• Avoid alphabet soup! Too many acronyms can leave the listener or reader confused.

Look it up!
One option to help employees become familiar with the abbreviations used at your company is to create an acronym look-up tool, such as the one Ceridian offers on this Web site. According to Ceridian's intranet content manager, Molly Buck, the tool is a way to enhance customer service by providing expertise to help clarify the complexities of the payroll business. Employers who want to train or help their payroll employees can use available tools and then build upon them to support their own language and culture. These tools can also be helpful to introduce new hires to a common language and culture.

In addition, there are many Web sites, such as www.webopedia.com and www.netlingo.com, to help individuals interpret the language being used in emails and text messages.

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What's in an acronym?
The word acronym came into the English language in the early 1940s thanks to Bell Laboratories, Inc., the research organization of Alcatel-Lucent and AT&T.* Originally the term referred to abbreviations created from initials and pronounced as words, such as NATO, AIDS and laser. Another term, initialism, referred to words such as FBI and HTML where the words could not be pronounced. Then along came combinations of letters and words, JPEG and MS-DOS, as well as abbreviations that could be pronounced as either initials or words, SQL and IRA. Today most people refer to all forms of abbreviated words as acronyms unless they have become their own word, such as laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation).

*Fischer, Roswitha. (1998). Lexical change in present-day English: A corpus-based study of the motivation, institutionalization and productivity of creative neologisms. Tübingen: G. Narr.