Labor Management Institute: 5001 American Blvd. Suite 505 - Bloomington, MN 55437 612 - 216 - 1102

Labor Management Institute
5001 American Blvd. Suite 505 • Bloomington, MN 55437

612 • 216 • 1102
Glossary of Terms
As of July 13, 2009
A
Absent or Absence (Scheduled Time Off): An absence is the scheduled time off from work that occurs
when an employee is not present at work during a normally scheduled work period.
Absence or Absent (Unscheduled) Definition for the Human Resources Glossary: Definitions of
unscheduled absence or absent for the human resources glossary of human resources related terms.
Absenteeism Policy: Absenteeism policy is a policy that provides guidance within an organization about
how to manage the state of chronic absence from work.
Accountability: Acceptance for the responsibility and the outcomes for staffing for the performance of a
task, department, or unit with the authority to lead the work and with the expectation of being evaluated on
the performance according to recognized standards.
Accounting: A system for keeping track of the financial status of an organization and the financial results
of its activities; provides financial information for decision-making.
Activity: The accumulated patient traffic admissions, discharges, transfers in and out of the unit by a 24-
hour period.
Actual Cost: The accumulated patient traffic admissions, discharges, transfers in and out by 24-hour
period (including death).
Actual Staff : A term used to compare workload requirements against those staff actually available to meet
needs.
Actual Workload: Actual workload volumes expressed in the unit of service for the unit type for a given
pay period. Examples include census, visits, procedures, deliveries, surgical cases, triage, holding or
observation hours etc.
Acuity: A measurement of patient severity of illness that is related to the amount of resources required to
care for the patient.
Acuity Sub-category: The amount that would have been budgeted for the actual output level if the actual
acuity level had been correctly forecast.
Acuity Variance: The variance resulting from the difference between the actual acuity level and the
budgeted level; the difference between the flexible budget and the value of the acuity subcategory.
ADC: See Average Daily Census
Adjusted Procedure - DRG (APR-DRG): A measurement of the severity of illness based on the adjusted
procedure by diagnosis related group.
Adjusted Patient Days: The number of patients in the hospital counted at midnight and adjusted for
Observation or Holding hours. There are a number of formulas used. The most common is to divide the
total number of observation or holding hours by 24 and add that number to the midnight census.
© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

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Administrative Control: The plan of organization and all methods and procedures that help management
planning and control of operations- often referred to as feedback systems. Generally viewed more with
respect to inefficiency than intentional misuse of resources.
Admission, Discharge, Transfers: (ADT) Admission is a new patient admitted into the hospital;
Discharge is an existing patient discharged to leave the hospital. Transfer is an existing patient that is
moved from one unit to another within the hospital.
ADT Index: Number of admissions, discharges and transfers/24 hours divided by the midnight census X %
gives a percentage of the unit's work intensity for 24 hours. The higher the ADT Index% the shorter the
Length of Stay.
ADT: See Admission, Discharge, Transfer
Agency (Healthcare Staffing): an establishment engaged in providing healthcare staffing by the hiring of
nurses and other healthcare staff usually local to the area to rent for an hourly fee to a hospital or other
healthcare business. Refer to External Agency and Travelers.
ALOS: See Average Length of Stay.
Allocation (overhead): (Accounting) methods for attaching to revenue-producing services the costs
associated with non-revenue producing activities (overhead) by formulas that spread overhead costs
equitably; for example, utility costs are often allocated to cost centers on the basis of the square feet of the
cost center as a proportion of total institutional square feet, such statistics are allocation statistics.
Application of Overhead: See Overhead Application
Assets: Valuable resources. May be either physical, having substance and form, such as a table or building,
or intangible, such as the reputation the organization has gained for providing high quality health care
services.
Attrition: A gradual natural reduction in membership or personnel through retirement, resignation,

reduction in hours or death.
Audit: An examination of the financial records of the organization to discover material errors, to evaluate
the internal control system and to determine if financial statements have been prepared in accordance with
generally accepted accounting principles.
Audit Trail: A set of references that allows an individual to trace back through accounting documents to
the source of each number used.
Auditor: A person who performs an audit.
Authorized Hours: The amount of time a position / person is budgeted to work each week.
Average Costs: Full costs divided by the number of units of service.
Average Daily Census: The average number of in patients on any given day; patient days in a given time
period divided by the number of days in the time period.
Average Daily Staff: Used to depict the average number of staff available to the unit on a daily basis
during the reporting period.

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Average Length of Stay: (ALOS) The average number of patient days for each patient discharged; the
number of patient days in a given time period divided by the number of discharges in that time period
Baby Boomers: Baby Boomers is the name given to the generation of Americans who were born in a
"baby boom" following World War II. Baby Boomers were born between 1944 and 1964.
Balance Sheet: See Statement of Financial Position
Behavioral Interview: A behavioral interview attempts to determine if you have the behavioral
characteristics that have been selected as necessary for success in a particular job. Behavioral interviews
ask the candidate to pinpoint specific instances in which a specific behavior was exhibited in the past. In
the best behaviorally-based interviews, the candidate is unaware of the behavior the interviewer is
verifying.
Benefits: Employers provide a package of additions to the base salary to employees. These benefits can
include health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, a severance package, tuition
assistance, and more. On average, organizations spend 41 cents for benefits for every dollar of payroll.
That’s 29 percent of the total employee compensation package.
Benefit/Cost Philosophy: The belief that one should never spend more to collect cost information than the
value of the information.
Benefit Hours: Hours accrued under Benefit categories, usually paid hours that are not worked.
Benefit Replacement FTE: FTEs budgeted to replace regularly scheduled employees on a patient care unit
while away on non-productive time. It is equal to the non-productive portion of the budget if all non-
worked paid hours are replaced
Block Schedule; a.k.a., Cyclical, Master, Repeating: A repeatable scheduling pattern that is equally
divisible into one year and which recurs every week, pay-period, schedule period, or other period within a
year.
Bonus Shift: A shift that, if worked, earns the worker additional pay or time off.
Bonus System: A method to provide an incentive for employees to improve their performance. Employees
receive a financial payment or shares of stock if certain targets are achieved or exceeded.
Breakeven Analysis: A technique for determining the minimum volume of output (e.g., census) necessary
in order for a program or service to be financially self-sufficient.
Breakeven Point: See Breakeven Volume.
Breakeven Time (BT): The amount of time before the present value of cash inflows is at least equal to the
present value of cash outflows.
Breakeven Volume: The volume just needed to break even. Losses would be incurred at lower volumes
and profits at higher volumes.
Budget: A plan that provides a formal, quantitative expression of management’s plans and intentions or
expectations.

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Budget/Core/Requirement Scheduling Methods: One of the four methods used to guide the scheduling
process. This method is a 28 day schedule providing a minimum of 85% of the core staffing needs based on
the unit’s budget and defined unit schedule requirements. It requires that weekend rotation patterns are pre-
assigned weekend patterns for all employees. Employee requests are superimposed based on the budgeted
non-productive time and approved within the budget structure allowing for seniority and first come/first
serve rules. Deficit demands are covered from a maximum of 15% unit-based casual/Per-diem/PRN staff
and the resource for float pool. The Labor Management Institute provides seminars and certification
programs in these scheduling and staffing methods and more information is available at
www.lminstitute.com/education
Budgeting: A process whereby plans are made and then an effort is made to meet or exceed the goals of
the plans.
Budget Hours: The number of paid hours estimated to be required to provide the service of the department
including a percentage expressed in dollars to pay for the labor to backfill hours used for unit based
vacation, holiday and sick time.
Budget Process: A plan undertaken to estimate work volume, revenue and expenses.
Budget Reports: Standard financial reports (usually produced monthly) which compare actual expenses
(costs) to budget by whatever categories of costs the organization deems appropriate (line items).
Budgeted Position: See Filled position. An allocation in the position control assigned to an employee in
the unit based on the budgeted FTE’s for full and part-time work agreement.
Budgeted Staff: Used to describe the fixed budgeted staff for the schedule unit and shift being reported.
Budgeted staff is expressed in “FTEs” or number of (8 hour) caregivers.
Budgeted Workload: Budgeted workload volume for a given pay period.
Business Plan: Detailed plans for a proposed program, project, or service, including information to be used
to assess the venture’s financial feasibility.
Call-in Absence: Any “called in” unanticipated absence that requires replacement (regardless of timecard
coding). Most common example is sick-calls. See Unexpected Absence and Sick Call-ins.
Capital Acquisitions: See Capital Assets.
Capital Assets: Buildings or equipment with useful lives extending beyond the year in which they are
purchased or put into service. Also referred to as long-term investments, capital items, capital investments,
or capital acquisitions.
Capital Budget: A plan for the acquisition of capital assets
Capital Budgeting: The process of proposing the purchase of capital assets, analyzing the proposal for
economic or other justification, and encompassing the financial implications of accepted capital items into
the master budget.
Capital Equipment: See Capital Assets.

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Capital Investments: See Capital Assets.
Capital Items: See Capital Assets.
Carrying Costs of Inventory: Capital costs and out of pocket costs related to holding inventory. Capital
cost represents the lost interest because money is tied up in inventory. Out of pocket costs include such
expenses as insurance on the value of inventory, annual inspections, and obsolescence of inventory.
Case Mix: The mix of different types of patients treated by a health care organization.
Case Mix Index: A measurement of the average complexity or severity of illness of patients treated by a
healthcare organization. A number based Case Mix Index per unit – (If available from medical records).
Cash Budget: A plan for the cash receipts and cash disbursements of the organization.
Cash Budgeting: Preparation of a cash budget
Cash Disbursement: The outflow of cash from the organization.
Cash Flow: A measure of the amount of cash received or disbursed over a given period of time, as opposed
to revenues or income that frequently are recorded at a time other than when the actual cash receipt or
payment occurs.
Cash Management: An active process of planning for borrowing and repayment of cash or investment of
excess cash on hand in order to optimize the organization’s benefit from its cash balances.
Cash Payment: See Cash Disbursement.
Cash Receipt: The inflow of cash into the organization.
Casual Per Diem Employee: An employee who does not receive benefits, who works in a PRN or as
needed status and to whom the hospital has no obligation.
Category: A staff member’s abbreviation for their job position or job title. For example, Registered Nurse
is RN.
Census: The number of patients occupying beds at a specific time of day. At a minimum it is midnight and
often includes the day, evening and night shifts.
Census Midnight: The count of patients in the hospital at midnight, reported by each hospital unit, floor or
setting (such as the ED).
Centralized Scheduling: A system in which one or more individuals in staff positions prepare and
maintain work schedules for employees working in a group of patient care units.
Certification: A process by which a member of the staff is regularly tested and certified to perform a
special procedure or duty.
Ceteris Paribus: All other things being equal.
Charge: See also cost. Charge is the “price” levied for a given product or service to the bill.

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Charge Master: A list of the organization’s prices for each of its services.
Charge Nurse: A clinical nurse designated to be the leader on each shift. He/she is responsible for
assessing and maintaining adequate staffing levels, making out assignments, bed management and shift
operations. Each unit should have written position description responsibilities for this role.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO): The manager responsible for all of the financial functions in the
organization.
Class: See Hour Class or Job Class
Clinical Process Improvement: Systematic analysis of a patient care process to reduce unnecessary
variation, eliminate unnecessary complexity, and improve the quality of services while decreasing cost.
Clinical Staffing Effectiveness Indicators: A minimum of two screening indicators of which at least one
clinical/service indicator must be from the Joint Commission list are selected. The focus is on the
relationship between human resource and clinical/service screening indicators, with the clear understanding
that no one indicator, in and of itself, can directly correlate with staffing effectiveness. Clinical Service
indicators include family complaints, patient complaints, patient falls, adverse drug events, injuries to the
patient, skin breakdown (pressure ulcers), pneumonia, post-operative infections, urinary tract infections,
upper gastrointestinal bleeding and shock/cardiac arrest.
Collaboration: A structured process where two or more people work together toward a common goal;
typically an intellectual endeavor to share knowledge, learning and building consensus. Collaboration does
not require leadership. Teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and
reward when facing competition for finite resources.
Comp. Time Earned/Used: Time taken off in lieu of overtime (check with your HR department to see if it
is allowed at your facility).
Compensation: Something given or received as payment, as for a service.
Competency(ies): Particular skills or abilities that are often formally taught and tested.
Continuity of Care: (1) Patients having the same caregivers over a period of time;
(2) If patients do not have the same caregiver, information about their care needs is seamlessly provided.
Continuum of Care: The entire range of care giving capacity, from outpatient to inpatient to extended care
(sub acute care, rehabilitation) to home care.
Control Limits: A statistical process where standards above and below the average of the measurements
that are the “tolerance” limits; control limits may be set by statistical rules (e.g. 5%; 2 standard deviations)
or they may be normative (e.g. a finger stick blood sugar reading no higher than 100 and no lower than 50).
Concurrent Data: Data that is real time
Contact Census: Expresses the number of patients cared for during a 24 hour period from midnight one
day to midnight the next (usually done for each patient care area. Also expressed as midnight census plus
discharges and transfers out of a patient area for one twenty four hour period.
Continuity of Care: (1) Patients having the same caregivers over a period, (2) If patients do not have the
same caregiver, information about their care needs is seamlessly provided.

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Core Patterns or Core Staffing Patterns: Schedule patterns developed for unit-based staff that comply
budgeted FTE's and position control, weekend and off-shift rotations. These patterns are often the basis for
the Cyclical, Pattern, Master Scheduling Method. The sum total of the core patterns result in scheduling the
required minimum staff to satisfy the budgeted HPPD. Additional staff is added as needed. Alternatively, it
may be the minimum pre-assigned shifts e.g., weekends, charge/other special requirements for all
permanent staff.
Core Scheduling: A method of scheduling the required minimum staff to satisfy the budgeted HPPD.
Additional staff added as needed. Alternatively, it may be the minimum pre-assigned shifts e.g., weekends,
charge/other special requirements for all permanent staff.
Core Staff: The target staff including both direct and indirect staff necessary for taking care of budgeted
numbers of patients.
Cost: Expense
Cost Accounting: The method or system of accumulating costs for the purpose of product costing,
operational planning, and management control.
Cost Center: An organizational entity in which costs can be identified and controlled by a specific
manager. Sometimes used interchangeably with department.
Cost of Care Per Day or Cost Per Unit of Service: A mathematical calculation of the cost of care per day
or unit of service using average salary costs by category of employee and HPPD (hours Per Patient Day).
Cost Type: Defined categories into which all department costs may be classified. They are comprised of:
Variable Direct Labor, Fixed Direct Labor, Variable Indirect Labor, Fixed Indirect Labor, Variable
Supplies, Fixed Direct Facilities, Variable Other, Fixed Direct Other and Fixed Direct Equipment
Cost Unit: The financial unit or code from which wages are paid. Accounting practice is to assign all labor
costs to the home cost centers and to allocate to all other cost centers the hours worked on those units. May
also be called Department number or MAS code.
Cross-trained Staff: Staff provided training in different tasks or skills to do alternate jobs to the one they
were hired for. In healthcare, this includes nursing assistants cross-trained to work as monitor techs or
charge nurses trained to work as supervisors.
CTO: Combined Time Off
Culture: Culture is made up of the values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, attitudes, and behaviors shared
by a group of people. Culture is the behavior that results when a group arrives at a set of - generally
unspoken and unwritten - rules for working together. An organization’s culture is made up of all of the life
experiences each employee brings to the organization.
Cyclical/Block/Master/Pattern-based Scheduling Methods: One of the four methods used to guide the
scheduling process. This method is a repeating 21 or 28-day schedule pattern based on the pay or 4-week
schedule periods. Requests and vacations are superimposed on the block/cycle or master schedule plan.
This method allows greatest predictability and stability for employees and staffing office, provides for pre-
planned weekend and shift balance that corresponds to the budget and position control and provides for
pre-balanced combinations of “experienced” and “in-experienced” staff to meet unit’s needs on all shifts.
The Labor Management Institute provides seminars and certification programs in these scheduling and
staffing methods and more information can be obtained at www.lminstitute.com/education.

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D
Data Access: Typically refers to software and activities related to storing, retrieving, or acting on data
housed in a database such as human resources, payroll, time and attendance, workload etc.
Day: A 24-hour period beginning at midnight and ending at midnight in which a patient received patient
care.
Day Shift: The 1st part of the 24-hour day, beginning on or after 5 a.m. and lasting for 4,5,6,7,8,10, or 12
hours.
Daily Staffing: Management of the schedule on a day-to-day basis. Scheduling around illness, no-shows,
etc. Adding or eliminating scheduled staff to reflect immediate changes in the workload.
Daily Staffing List: A list of staff scheduled to work a specific shift
Data Integration: Pulling together and reconciling dispersed data for analytic purposes that organizations
have maintained in multiple systems. The movement of data between two co-existing systems. The
interfacing of this data may occur once every hour, once a day, etc.
Decision-making Guidelines: The process of making an informed choice among the alternative actions
that are possible based on instructions given in order to guide or direct an action. Compares data from
different sources and past experience to draw conclusions and uses effective approaches for choosing and
presenting a course of action or developing appropriate solutions.
Deficit Demand: The human resources expressed in hours or FTEs required for replacement of any deficit
of hours to unit’s core staff.
Demand Elasticity: (See “Just in Time (JIT) Staffing”). A strategy for matching healthcare staff in general
and specifically nurses in response to fluctuating deficit demands and workload volumes at various times of
the day to avoid shortages of caregivers or excess costs due to excess staff hours, premium staff (agency or
Travelers) or overtime.
Demand Pattern, Deficit: The human resources expressed in hours or FTEs required for replacement of
any deficit of hours to unit’s core staff.
Demand Pattern, Service: The pattern of expected census by unit, day of week and week of the year.
Used to guide resource planning.
Department: Entity comprised of one or more cost centers.
Department: Departments are the entities 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. But, a
department can be organized in any way that makes sense for the customer.
Discipline: Progressive discipline is a process for dealing with job-related behavior that does not meet
expected and communicated performance standards.
Direct Cost: Those costs that are clearly and directly associated with the cost objective. They are generally
under the control of the manager who has overall responsibility for the cost objective.

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Direct Hours: The number of hours of direct labor used in making a product or providing a service. In
acute care, it is the hours of all staff providing direct care (hands- on care givers) to patients. If your
hospital does not separate direct and indirect hours, the Total Worked hours and direct hours are the same.
Downsizing: 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.
DSS: (Decision Support System) is a computer database and reporting system containing selected financial,
demographic and clinical data pertaining to provider activities. The system allows manager to query for
relational data that is used for the purpose of analyzing operations
Earning Codes: An Earning Code is the payroll or T&A code used to identify how time will be paid. For
example, Regular, Overtime, Education, Premium, Shift Differential, Benefit, FMLA and so on. Also
called Payroll Earning Codes.
Education Time: Employee time assigned to (usually) mandatory conference time, in-service education:
approved continuing education also included. Counts as paid time but not worked or “productive” time for
staffing purposes.
Employee Empowerment, Empower Employees, Empowered Employees: Empowerment is the process

of enabling or authorizing an individual to think, behave, take action, and control work and decisionmaking
in autonomous ways. It is the state of feeling self-empowered to take control of one's own destiny.
Empowerment rules as a development strategy. Learn more about what empowerment is – and is not.
Employee File: A file containing information related to a specific person, including the hours and shifts the
person works, the individual’s work preferences, their education history, and other relevant information.
Employee Involvement: Employee involvement is creating an environment in which people have an

impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs. Employee involvement is not the goal nor is it a tool,
as practiced in many organizations. Rather, employee involvement is a management and leadership
philosophy about how people are most enabled to contribute. Find out more about employee involvement.
Employee Requests: (See Schedule Request.) A request made by an individual to temporarily alter their
work patterns on current or future schedules. A schedule request is any request by the employee to work a
specific shift and date or not work a specific shift and date.
Employee Request-driven Scheduling Methods: One of the four methods used to guide the scheduling
process. This method is “Selfish scheduling” gone bad. Patient care needs, colleague and unit needs is
second to the employee’s requests. This method is the most costly, produces the most holes in the schedule,
creates the most overtime, provides the poorest continuity of care to the patient and is the most
dysfunctional of all scheduling methods. The Labor Management Institute provides seminars and
certification programs in these scheduling and staffing methods and more information is available at
www.lminstitute.com/education.
Employee Retention: A systematic effort by employers to create and foster an environment that
encourages current employees to remain employed by having policies and practices in place that address
their diverse needs.

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End of Shift (EOS) Overtime: All hours paid at 1.5 times or greater then the base rate. These hours are for
worked time in excess of 40 hours/week or 8/80-hours/pay period. In some states, overtime may be based
on 7 hour shifts and 30 hours/week or 7.5 hours and 37.5 hours/week.
Equitable Employee Requests: Requires a mutually acceptable definition of an employee request and a
maximum number allowed to each person per week, pay-period or year for the number of shifts to work on
weekdays, weekends and holidays that is characterized by justice or fairness and impartiality toward those
involved. Typically, more than 2 requests/person per week will limit the acceptable patterns of shifts that
can be scheduled to meet the definition of a “good” schedule.
Equitable Schedule: A schedule of assigned shifts to work on weekdays, weekends and holidays
characterized by justice or fairness and impartiality toward those involved and provides acceptable patterns
of shifts that meet the definition of a “good” schedule
Equity: Being just, impartial and fair.
Evaluation: The systematic comparison of results to plans, generally involving quantitative measurement
of observable phenomena.
Evening Shift: The second 3rd of a 24 hour day, beginning on or after 3 p.m. and lasting for 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
10, 12 hours.
Exception Reporting: Documentation system which requires a report and evaluation of measured events
that fall outside pre-set tolerance limits.
Exempt Employee: An exempt employee is an employee who, because of his or her positional duties and
responsibilities and level of decision making authority is exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair
Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Experience: Usually levels of experience acquired by each staff member in various tasks important to the
organization.
External Agencies: an establishment engaged in providing healthcare staffing by the hiring of nurses and
other healthcare staff usually local to the area to rent for an hourly fee to a hospital or other healthcare
business. Refer to Agency and Travelers.
Fair Labor Standards Act: The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), first enacted by the United States
Congress in 1938, sets standards for the basic minimum wage and overtime pay. The FSLA also sets
standards for recordkeeping and for child labor. The FLSA affects most private and public sector
employment, including state, local, and federal government.
The Family and Medical Leave Act: As most employers are now aware, the Family and Medical Leave
Act (FMLA) requires covered employers to provide twelve weeks of unpaid leave to eligible employees
within a 12-month period. The FMLA applies to private employers with 50 or more employees, and to all
public employers. Learn the answers to several common questions you may have about the Family and
Medical Leave Act.
Family Medical Leave of Absence (FMLA): The time an employee is absent away from work both
intermittently, short and long term for a variety of approved reasons, including family and personal medical

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leave, military duty and other reasons as defined by the Family Medical Leave Act. FMLA absence is both
paid and unpaid.
Fatigue Policies: Policies or guidelines for the replacement of employees whose fatigue is acute defined as
a condition characterized by a rapidly progressive reduction in work capacity and reduced efficiency of
accomplishment, usually accompanied by a feeling of weariness and tiredness that must be dealt with
urgently.
Fee Code: Code used to represent service or product to be billed to patient.
File: A file is a specific set of related information that is stored together, such as a group of records for a
database.
Filled Position: See Budgeted Position. An allocation in the position control assigned to an employee in
the unit based on the budgeted FTE’s for full and part-time work agreement.
Financial Analyst: Staff employee responsible for assisting department managers in explaining and
maintaining that department’s budget.
Fiscal: Financial.
Fiscal Period (Fiscal Year): A Fiscal Year (FY) is an accounting period of 366 days comprised of 26 pay-
periods of 14 days each. A Fiscal Period is an accounting period of 28 days comprised of 2-pay period
each. Usually the fiscal period and fiscal year will overlap a calendar month or year.
Fixed Costs: A cost entirely independent of the volume of activity. This term has been replaced by Indirect
Costs.
Fixed Staffing: An operational unit where volume and staffing do not move together. Staffing levels are
fixed at budget time and remain constant.
Flex Staffing: Changing the staffing to match volume.
Flexing Up (Down): Adding or subtracting staff as volume changes.
Float: A term used to describe the process of temporarily assigning a person to another unit.
Float Pool: A pool of staff without regular assignments who are kept in readiness to fill in for absentees or
to help meet extraordinary workloads
Float Staff: Full-time and part-time employees who are assigned to units on a daily basis to replace for
absence.
Forty-Hour Work Week: A federally mandated basis for overtime calculations. It is also the basis for an
FTE (e.g. a position budget for 40 hours per week equal 1.0 FTE). In some organizations definitions may
vary i.e. .9 FTE or 36 hours per week.
Full-Time Hours (FT Hours): The number of hours at or above which a person is considered to be
working full-time. On average, it is usually between 69 and 72 hours per pay period.

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Full-time/Part-time Ratios: A ratio of full time and part time staff based on the weekend requirements
used to define total number of positions in the position control budget. Best practice ratio is 70% full time
and 30% part time but the percentages will be influenced by the weekend Vs weekday needs of the unit.
Full-time/Part-time Status: Refer to Full-time hours and Part-time hours. Usually a category assignment
by the human resource system that determines the amount of benefits the employee accrues and scheduling
and request approval requirements for weekends, off-shift rotations and holidays worked.
Full-Time Equivalent (FTE), Worked: The equivalent of one full-time employee paid for one year, based
on productive (direct and/or indirect) time. Direct time is all hours the employee worked directly with the
patient as part of the Variable Staffing Plan and Indirect time is all hours the employee worked in the cost
unit in support of the patient but not directly with the patient. Hours Per Patient Day are based on the
Worked FTE
Full-Time Equivalent (FTE), Paid: The equivalent of one full-time employee paid for one year, including
both productive (direct and/or indirect) and non-productive (benefit or other paid but non-worked) time.
Paid Hours Per Patient Day are based on the Paid FTE.
FYD: Fiscal Year to Date, FYTD; YTD
Generation X: Generation Xers are people born between 1965 and 1976 – 1980, depending on the source.
Gen Xers are independent, enjoy Informality, are entrepreneurial, and seek emotional maturity. They are
the core of your current workforce. Learn about Gen-Xers.
Global: The sum of the charges of all services.
Gross Charges: The sum of the charges of all services.
Gross Expenses: Total expenses incurred by a department, on financial reports, this is the number prior to
the application of credits to expense.
GUI: Graphical User Interface. A software program that presents information to the user in a userfriendly
manner.
Hiring Plan: The position control budget for the unit defining open positions by FTE or Work Agreement
requirement, Full or Part-time status, shift and planned weekend for Human Resources, a recruiter and the
unit manager to hire into.
Historical Data: Last fiscal year (FY) or last 12 months.
Holding Hours: See “Less than 24-hour patients”. Patients held in the emergency room or other unit of the
hospital awaiting admission into the hospital.
Holes (Schedule): A variance between the required and actual number of staff to schedule to work on a
shift on a specific day. Schedule holes should not exceed 5% of the total shifts needed in the 28-day
schedule. Schedule holes in excess of 5% are associated to overtime and other premium pays and staff
dissatisfaction.

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Hospital: An institution that is managed, staffed and equipped for the provision of health care services.
Hospitals comprise facilities for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Hospital classification is based on
national reimbursement guidelines, profit or not-for-profit status and specialty e.g., acute, sub-acute, long-
term care and CMS guidelines. Refer to Department of Human Services.
Hospital Bed Definitions: Provides uniform terminology for organizations to track the availability of beds
in the aftermath of a public emergency. The following standardized definitions were developed by
AHRQsupported researchers at Denver Health in Colorado, and vetted by a working group
assembled by Denver Health with members from Federal and State governments, hospitals around the
Nation and the private sector. Refer to "AHRQ Releases Standardized Hospital Bed Definitions" September
2005. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/havbed/definitions
 Licensed Beds: The maximum number of beds for which a hospital holds a license to
operate.
 Occupied Beds: Beds that are licensed and physically available, staffed and occupied by
a patient.
 Physically Available Beds: Beds that are licensed, physically set up, and available for
use. These are beds regularly maintained in the hospital for the use of patients, which
furnish accommodations with supporting services. These beds may or may not be staffed
but are physically available.
 Staffed Beds: Beds that are licensed and physically available for which staff is on hand
to attend to the patient who occupies the bed. Staffed beds include those that are occupied
and those that are vacant.
 Unstaffed Beds: Beds that are licensed and physically available and have no current staff
on hand to attend to a patient who would occupy the bed.
 Vacant/Available Beds: Beds that are vacant and to which patients can be transported
immediately. These must include supporting space, equipment, medical material,
ancillary and support services, and staff to operate under normal circumstances. These
beds are licensed, physically available, and have staff on hand to attend to the patient
who occupies the bed.
Hospital Classification: A way of grouping hospitals for database comparisons. The Labor Management
Institute allows each hospital to determine their classification as Teaching, Community and Rural hospitals
for the PSS(TM) Annual Survey of Hours Report based on national reimbursement guidelines. Refer to the
following:
 Community: All short-term general, and specific hospitals whose facilities and services
are available to the public and generally has more than 100 beds. Based on national
reimbursement guidelines. Refer to Department of Human Services.
 Rural: All hospitals located outside of a metropolitan statistical area and generally has
fewer than 100 beds. Refer to Department of Human Services. Based on national
reimbursement guidelines. Refer to Department of Human Services.
 Teaching: All hospitals providing primary medical care, routine patient services and
medical training and generally has 250 or more beds. Based on national reimbursement
guidelines. Refer to Department of Human Services.
Hour: 60 minutes. Is used in quarter hour (or less) increments for payroll purposes.
Hour Change: Any change made to a scheduled (or worked) shift.
Hour Class: A distinct grouping used to classify hours, correlated with financial industry standards.
Standard hour classifications include direct, indirect, benefit and unpaid hours.

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Hours/2 Weeks: Defines the regular hours scheduled for a given two-week pay period, including tenth-of-
an hour fractions (i.e., 80, 40, 37.5, etc.). See Work Agreement.
Hours Paid: The actual number of hours paid per person which includes time not spent in assigned duties
such as education time, “benefit time”, etc.
Hours/Patient Day: (HPPD) A standard financial unit for the hours of care provided for the number of
patients in the hospital at midnight.
Hours per Unit of Service (HPUOS): A standard financial unit for the hours of care provided for the
number of patients served during the hours the unit is operational. Examples include:
 Hours per Delivery: A standard financial unit for the hours of care provided for the number of
deliveries in the obstetric units during the hours the unit is operational. Census is reported as
“couplets” meaning one-1 mother and one-1 baby.
 Hours per Procedure: A standard financial unit for the hours of care provided for the number of
procedures completed during the hours the unit is operational.
 Hours per Surgical Case: A standard financial unit for the hours of care provided for the number
of surgical cases completed during the hours the operating rooms or same day surgical units are
operational. Time is tracked in surgical minutes or other increment based on minutes e.g., 1 unit=
6 minutes or 1 unit= 10 minutes.
 Hours per Visit: A standard financial unit for the hours of care provided for the number of patient
visits in the emergency room, outpatient clinics, pain clinics etc. during the hours the unit is
operational.
 Holding Hours per Patient: A standard financial unit for the hours of care provided for the
number of patients being held in the emergency room, post anesthesia recovery unit, admissions or
other units during the hours the unit is operational.
 Observation Hours per Patient: A standard financial unit for the hours of care provided for the
number of patients being observed in the emergency room, obstetric or other units during the
hours the unit is operational.
 Triage Hours per Patient: A standard financial unit for the triage hours of care provided for the
number of patients served during the hours the unit is operational.
 Etc
Hours Scheduled: The actual hours (e.g. 7-3) the employee is scheduled to work by scheduling period.
Hours Worked: The actual hours worked for a given period, including regular hours and overtime.
Human Resource (HR) Staffing Effectiveness Indicators: A minimum of two screening indicators, of
which one must be from the Joint Commission list. The focus is on the relationship between human
resource and clinical/service screening indicators, with the clear understanding that no one indicator, in and
of itself, can directly correlate with staffing effectiveness. Human Resource Indicators include overtime,
staff turnover rate, understaffing as compared with organizational staffing plan, staff vacancy rate, staff
satisfaction, (nursing) direct and total worked care hours per patient day, on call or per diem usage and sick
time (call-ins or unexpected absence).
 What Is a Human Resource? A human resource is a person or employee who staffs and operates a
function within your organization. Read the definition of a Human Resource.
 What Is Human Resources? Human resources are the people that staff and operate an organization.
Read the definition of Human Resources.
 What Is Human Resource Development (HRD)? Human Resource Development is the framework
for helping employees develop their personal and organizational skills, knowledge, and abilities.

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Human Resource Development includes such opportunities as employee training, employee career
development, performance management and development, coaching, succession planning, key
employee identification, and organization development.
ID#: An individual’s identification number. This number might be a social security number, payroll
number, or an arbitrary identification number assigned by your organization.
Incentives: Something, as a reward, that incites to action or effect.
Income Performance Analysis: Monthly report of actual budget and variances of revenue expenses and
volume.
Indirect-care Nursing Staff: In acute care, it is the hours of all remaining staff paid from the cost center
that is excluded from the Variable Staffing Plan and work in support of the direct caregivers (hands- on
care to patients). Typically, this includes the manager, secretaries, birth certificate registrars, educators,
clinical specialists etc.
Indirect Cost: A cost which must be incurred but which cannot be identified with any specific service
rendered or support department. Also used to mean a cost which can be identified but which does not
produce revenue.
Indirect Hours: Hours of staff i.e., (Manager, health unit coordinator, monitor tech, etc.) providing service
to the unit, but NOT directly with patients or taking a patient assignment. Also includes other worked and
paid hours but NOT directly with patients such as education, orientation, classes etc.
Indirect Time: Time spent by non “hands- on” caregiver. Those hours not used in the physical presence of
the patient, nor in serving the patient’s needs in a “hands-on” practice. For example, management, unit
manager, monitor techs.
Indirect-care Nursing Staff: In acute care, it is the hours of all remaining staff paid from the cost center
that is excluded from the Variable Staffing Plan and work in support of the direct caregivers (hands- on
care to patients). Typically, this includes the manager, secretaries, birth certificate registrars, educators,
clinical specialists etc.
Induction: New employee orientation is the process for welcoming a new employee into your organization.
New employee orientation, often spearheaded by a meeting with the Human Resources department,
generally contains information about safety, the work environment, the new job description, benefits and
eligibility, company culture, company history, and anything else relevant to working in the new company.
In-service: Activities, usually education or training, which are carried out without serious interruption to
normal duties.
Internal Posting: Making available information regarding open approved positions only within a cost
center and/or organization.
Interview: There are screening interviews and hiring or selection interviews. Screening interviews qualify
a candidate before he meets with a hiring authority for possible selection. Hiring interviews allow the
employer to assess the fit of the candidate. The candidate also interviews the employer for job suitability.
Most of these interviews take place in an office setting one-on-one or in a small group.

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IPA: (Income Performance Analysis). A monthly report of departmental revenue and expense activity,
volume (UOS) and FTE’s. The report includes budgeted and actual performance both for the current month
and the year to date. The report includes measures of revenue, costs, and hours per UOS.
IS: Information Systems. Department responsible for supporting information systems.
Job Analysis: A job analysis is the process used to collect information about the duties, responsibilities,
necessary skills, outcomes, and work environment of a particular job. You need as much data as possible to
put together a job description, which is the frequent outcome of the job analysis.
Job Category: A job position usually defined by Human Resources for pay-rate assignment and reporting
purposes e.g., NX913= Registered Nurse1.
Job Class: A grouping of job positions or categories into a family of positions or categories e.g., RN group
or class. Each job class can have an unlimited number of job categories. Usually defined by Human
resources for reporting purposes. Most often used to group caregivers into direct care and indirect care.
Direct caregivers are usually grouped into 4 groups or classifications for RN's, LPN/LVN's, Nursing
Assistants or Unlicensed Assistive Personnel (UAP’s) and Other direct caregivers not included in the
previous 3 groups.
Job Code: A three, four, etc digit number denoting position and pay scale.
Job Description: Job descriptions are written statements that describe the duties, responsibilities, most
important contributions and outcomes needed from a position, required qualifications of candidates, and the
reporting relationship of a particular job.
Job Descriptions: Human Resources: In the past, HR staff have been associated with the administrative
functions of an organization, such as benefits and payroll or recruiting, interviewing, and hiring new
employees. Today's human resources workers juggle these tasks and, increasingly, consult top executives
regarding strategic planning.
Job Descriptions: Why Effective Job Descriptions Make Good Business Sense: Effectively developed,
job descriptions are communication tools that are significant in your organization's success. Poorly written
job descriptions, on the other hand, add to workplace confusion and hurt communication. Here's why
effective job descriptions are so important.
Knowledge Management : Knowledge Management is the engine that transforms ideas into business
value. Knowledge management is the systematic process for acquiring, creating, synthesizing, sharing and
using information, insights and experiences to achieve organizational goals.
Learning Organization: Peter Senge defined the learning organization. He said they were “organizations
where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and
expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are
continually learning how to learn together.”

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Leave of Absence (LOA): The time a staff member spends away from work for a variety of approved
reasons, including medical leave, jury duty, military duty, and others.
Length of Stay (LOS): Discharge date minus admission date
Less Than 24-Hour Patients: Patients in the hospital unit less than 24 hours and not counted as a patient
day. Usually this is due to patients admitted into the acute care unit from same day surgery or special
procedures for additional care hours beyond the operational hours of these units but less than 24 hours.
Level of Care: Patient care needed for different levels of care according to acuity and types and frequency
of interventions.
Licensed Direct Nursing Hours Per Patient Day: Total hours worked by all licensed direct caregiver
personnel in the unit. Usually this includes RN’s and LPN’s as part of the direct caregiver hours.
Licensed Nursing Hours Per Patient Day: Total hours worked by all licensed personnel in the unit.
Usually this includes RN’s and LPN’s as part of the direct caregiver hours and the units manager, educator,
clinical specialist in addition to the RN’s and LPN’s as part of the total worked caregiver hours. Nursing
leadership should be very clear if Licensed Nursing Hours Per Patient Day are Direct care or Total Worked
hours. Refer to Licensed Direct Nursing Hours Per Patient Day and Licensed Total Worked Nursing Hours
Per Patient Day.
Licensed Total Worked Nursing Hours Per Patient Day: Total hours worked by all licensed personnel
in the unit. Usually this includes RN’s and LPN’s as part of the direct caregiver hours and the units
manager, educator, clinical specialist in addition to the RN’s and LPN’s as part of the total worked
caregiver hours.
Long Term Needs: Staffing that anticipates events such as leaves of absence in the future or that
anticipates difficulty filling positions for some time.
Manager: A person who manages a business or enterprise. Who is also responsible for maintenance of
skill level and performance.
Mandatory Overtime: Overtime assigned to unit-based staff by management when there is no one to care
for the patients and all avenues for staff replacement have been exhausted. Refer to ANA policies on
Mandatory Overtime.
Master/Block/Cyclical Pattern-based Scheduling Methods: One of the four methods used to guide the
staffing methods and more information is available at www.lminstitute.com/education.
Master Schedule: A dateless schedule that is repeated. It is developed using existing rules and practices.
Maximum Worked Consecutive Shifts: A maximum number of consecutively worked shifts as defined
by the hospital’s policies for fatigue and excessive work. Usually the maximum number of 12-hour shifts is

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3, the maximum number of 10-hour shifts is 4 and the maximum number of 8-hour shifts is 5. Shifts
scheduled in excess of these numbers contribute to employee fatigue, staff dissatisfaction, burnout, and
adverse patient events.
Maximum Worked Hours: A maximum number of consecutively worked hours in a 24-hour period with
a minimum time-off period as defined by the hospital’s policies for fatigue and excessive work. Usually the
maximum number of worked hours in a 24 hours period is limited to 16 and the minimum time-off between
shifts is 8 hours. Worked hours in excess of these numbers contribute to employee fatigue, staff
dissatisfaction, burnout, and adverse patient events.
MFC: Most frequent census/Model census
Military Time: A way of defining time within a day without the use of AM's or PM's. The day is defined
using 0000 for midnight and 2400 for 12:00 midnight.
Millennials: The millennials joining your workforce now were born between 1980 and 2000. Unlike the
Gen-Xers and the Boomers, the Millennials have developed work characteristics and tendencies from
doting parents, structured lives, and contact with diverse people. Learn more about millennials.
Minimum Time Off Between Shifts: A minimum number of consecutive hours off between shifts in a 24-
hour period as defined by the hospital’s policies for fatigue and excessive work. Usually the minimum
time-off between shifts is 8 hours and the maximum number of worked hours in a 24 hours period is
limited to 16. Worked hours in excess of these numbers contribute to employee fatigue, staff
dissatisfaction, burnout, and adverse patient events.
Mix, Skill: The relative proportion of specially skilled staff to others working in the same area.
Mix, Staff: The relative proportion of staff of different skills to each other
Mix Variance: Variance caused by a change in the proportion of types of services. Volume may remain
constant when mix changes.
Multi-functional Worker: An employee working at the unit level who performs a variety of
Work, dietary, vain puncture, ECG, RT, housekeeping. Specific definitions vary by institution.
Negative Variance: When actual hours and costs in the categories of direct material, direct labor, and
direct overhead are higher than the budgeted or anticipated hours or costs in those categories. One of the
most important phases of responsibility accounting is establishing standards in costs, revenues, and profit
and establishing performance by comparing actual amounts with the standard amounts. The differences
(variances) are calculated for each responsibility center, analyzed, and unfavorable variances are
investigated for possible remedial action.
Negativity: Negativity is the feeling and expressing of unhappiness, anger, frustration, or upset to other
employees in your workplace; it is often accompanied by resistance. According to Gary S. Topchik, author
of Managing Workplace Negativity, negativity is often the result of a loss of confidence, control, or
community. Knowing what people are negative about is the first step in solving the problem.
Net Operating Expense: Total expenses incurred by a department after the application of credits to
expense.

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Networking: Networking is building a web of interpersonal relationships for mutually beneficial purposes
such as business referrals, customer acquisition, complementary product offerings, and sharing information.
Networking means establishing, maintaining and utilizing contacts made for purposes beyond the reason
for the initial contact.
New Employee Orientation: New employee orientation is the process for welcoming a new employee into
your organization. New employee orientation, often spearheaded by a meeting with the Human Resources
department, generally contains information about safety, the work environment, the new job description,
benefits and eligibility, company culture, company history, and anything else relevant to working in the
new company.
Night Shift: The last third of a 24 hour day, the shift begins on or after 11 p.m. and can last 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10,
or 12 hours. All hours worked on this shift usually are subject to premium pay.
Non-exempt Employee: A non-exempt employee is an employee who, because of the type of duties
performed, the usual level of decision making authority, and the method of compensation, is subject to all
FLSA provisions.
Non-Productive Hours: A term used for all non-worked, paid hours.
Non-Productive Time: An expression for time not actually worked (duty) on the assigned work unit;
vacation, holiday and bereavement leave, jury duty.
Nurse to Patient Ratio: The number of patients that 1 nurse cares for.
Nursing Hours Per Patient Day: A definition for worked hours by employees in the nursing units divided
by patient days. If it is used to represent all hours worked by all employees in the nursing unit divided by
the patient days in the unit for selected time period it is the same as Total Worked Hours Per Patient Day
(Total Worked HPPD). If it is used to represent all hours worked by direct caregivers (categories included
in the variable staffing plan) in the nursing unit divided by the patient days in the unit for selected time
period it is the same as Total Direct Hours Per Patient Day (Total Direct HPPD). Nursing leadership should
be clear if the “nursing” hours per patient day are RN only, Licensed only, total direct or total worked hours
of care.
Observation Hours: (See “Less Than 24-hour Patients”) Patients held in the emergency room or other unit
of the hospital awaiting admission into the hospital
On Budget: When budget equals actual projected revenues and expenses or combination thereof.
On Demand: Real-time availability of data, a report or a deliverable accessed as required and at a time
determined by the nurse, manger, patient or consumer, as opposed to a service, which is available at a pre-
set time determined by the vendor or department. For example, the midnight census and admission,
discharge and transfer information is only available after 6 am.
Open Door Policy: Definition for the Human Resources Glossary: An open door policy means, literally,
that every manager's door is open to every employee. The purpose of an open door policy is to encourage
open communication, feedback, and discussion about any matter of importance to an employee.
Operational Indicators: Performance measures, generally not financial.

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Optimism: Optimism is the propensity to look at the bright side of any situation and expect the best
possible outcome from any series of events.
Organizational Culture: Culture is made up of the values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, attitudes, and
behaviors shared by a group of people. Culture is the behavior that results when a group arrives at a set of -
generally unspoken and unwritten - rules for working together. An organization’s culture is made up of all
of the life experiences each employee brings to the organization.
Orientation: New employee orientation is the process for welcoming a new employee into your
organization. New employee orientation, often spearheaded by a meeting with the Human Resources
department, generally contains information about safety, the work environment, the new job description,
benefits and eligibility, company culture, company history, and anything else relevant to working in the
new company.
Other Workload: A term that refers to other workload being performed on the unit in addition to the
budgeted workload. For example, other workload in the obstetric units may include couplet census
measured as HPPD, newborn census measured as HPPD, triage hours measured as triage hours/patient,
follow-up phone call hours/patient etc. It is the amount of staff time required based on a measure of
services or tasks to be performed plus fixed administrative time.
Outcome: A result.
Outlier: Technically, a case whose length of stay or cost exceeds pre-set parameters in the Prospective
Payment System. Used loosely to mean any extraordinary case or situation.
Outsourcing: Outsourcing is paying a second party to perform one or more of your internal processes or
functions. Business process outsourcing of certain functions is an increasingly popular way to improve
basic services while allowing HR professionals time to play a more strategic role in their organizations.
Frequently outsourced: payroll, 401(k) administration, employee assistance, and retirement planning.
Over Budget: When actual operating performance exceeds budgeted expenses and/or revenues.
Over Staffed: Having more staff (FTEs, worked hours) than budgeted after correcting for volume.
Overtime: All hours paid at 1.5 times or greater then the base rate. These hours are for worked time in
excess of 40 hours/week or 8/80-hours/pay period. In some states, overtime may be based on 7 hour shifts
and 30 hours/week or 7.5 hours and 37.5 hours/week.
Overtime, Mandatory: Overtime assigned to unit-based staff by management when there is no one to care
for the patients and all avenues for staff replacement have been exhausted. Refer to ANA policies on
Mandatory Overtime.
Overtime Percent: Total overtime hours divided by the total hours worked X 100 to determine the percent
of hours worked as overtime hours. Normal overtime is less than 5% to accommodate usual workload
fluctuation of up to 5 patients in general medical units and up to 2 in critical care units and unexpected
absences (sick calls) reflective of female dominated professions such as nursing and teaching based on the
Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Overtime Policies: Organizational policies or guidelines for the use of both voluntary and mandatory
overtime.

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Overtime, Voluntary: Overtime assigned to unit-based staff on a volunteer basis by the employees when
there is staff shortages and all avenues for staff replacement have been exhausted.
Paid Time Off (PTO): A category of paid and non-worked hours from the organization that provides for a
bank of paid time off for the employee to use for vacation, holidays, sick time, funeral leaves and other
planned and unplanned absences.
Part-Time Hours: (PT Hours) The number of hours at or below which a person is considered to be
working parttime. On average, it is usually between 0 and 69 hours per pay period.
Paid Dollars Per Hour: Ratio of paid dollars per hour (also called the average hourly rate) is a measure of
the relative cost of the labor used. This ratio will vary with changes in staffing mix and premium labor
usage.
Paid Hours: A term used to identify the total hours for which an individual is paid, including productive,
nonproductive and non-worked (benefit) paid hours.
Paid Not Worked Percent (PNW%): Measures the usage of paid-not-worked. PNW includes paid-time-
off, conference time, paid holiday time and jury duty. The PNW% is the ratio of the paid-not-worked FTEs
to the total worked FTEs.
Paid Sick Days Policy: Paid sick days are time off from work that an organization voluntarily provides
employees as a benefit. The number of paid sick days is often accrued by employees based on years of
service to the organization and the level of their position. Other companies, however, keep paid sick days
simple - every employee receives the same number of paid sick days.
Paid Time Off Policy: Definition of the paid time off approach to employee vacation, sick days, and
personal days for the human resources glossary of human resources related terms. Paid time off has
advantages and disadvantages that are explored in this definition of paid time off.
Paid Time: Time worked and paid for via a payroll check and/or direct deposit receipt.
Paid Vacation Days Policy: Paid vacation days are time off work an organization provides employees as a
benefit. The number of paid vacation days is generally accrued by employees based on years of service to
the organization.
Participatory or Self-Scheduling Methods: One of the four methods used to guide the scheduling
process. This method is considered desirable, participative and autonomous by managers and employees. It
is dependent on specific guidelines for signing up for shifts, and the employees or a governing group of
employees, is responsible for balancing out the needs of the shifts. Self or Participatory Scheduling meets
patient care workload demand, complies with budget expectations, enhances staff satisfaction and
minimizes time spent scheduling. The Labor Management Institute provides seminars and certification
programs in these scheduling and staffing methods and more information is available at
www.lminstitute.com/education.
Patient Care Unit: A defined physical area (cost center) for patient care.
Patient Classification: A measurement of patient severity of illness that is related to the amount of
resources required to care for the patient. The severity of illness measurements are grouped into "classes"
or levels (between 1 and 20) which are mapped to a formula for calculating the required hours of care by

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direct caregivers for the patients in the unit. May also be called Patient Acuity.
Patient Day: A standard financial unit for the number of patients in the hospital at midnight.
Patient Needs: Requirements a patient cannot do for himself out of lack of ability, wish, strength,
knowledge.
Pattern/Master/Block/Cyclical-based Scheduling Methods: One of the four methods used to guide the
staffing methods and more information is available at www.lminstitute.com/education.
Pay Period: A 14 day period starting with the day shift on Sunday and ending on the commencement of
the night shift on Saturday.
Payroll Earning Codes: An Earning Code is the payroll or T&A code used to identify how time will be
paid. For example, Regular, Overtime, Education, Premium, Shift Differential, Benefit, FMLA and so on.
Also called Earning Codes.
Percent of RN’s to Total Staff: The total number of RNs as a percent of total unit staff.
Performance Management: Definition for the Human Resources Glossary: Progressive discipline is a
process for dealing with job-related behavior that does not meet expected and communicated performance
standards.
Planned Absence: Any absence time the employee is not working with permission of the unit manager.
See Paid Time Off or Vacation.
Policy: See Schedule Policy.
Position: The title of the job held at (Facility Name) (e.g. Registered Nurse, Licensed Nursing Assistant,
Respiratory Therapist).
Position Code: A 3 or 4 digit number which designates the position of one staff member at (Facility
Name). This code is used to determine rate of pay, premium amounts and management or exempt status.
Position Control: A report showing the actual number of positions based on full or part-time work
agreements or FTE's filled on a unit as opposed to the number of positions budgeted.
Position Control Report: A report that compares the actual employee positions based on full or part-time
work agreements or FTE's filled and vacant on a unit as opposed to the number of positions budgeted;
weekend and off-shift rotations budgeted compared to actual work assignments.
Positive Variance: When actual hours and costs for materials, labor, and overhead is lower than the
budgeted or anticipated hours or costs in those categories. A positive variation (when the actual cost is
lower than the standard or anticipated cost) would translate into a higher profit unless offset by negative
variances elsewhere. One of the most important phases of responsibility accounting is establishing
standards in costs, revenues, and profit and establishing performance by comparing actual amounts with the

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standard amounts. The differences (variances) are calculated for each responsibility center, analyzed, and
trended for future decision-making.
Posted Schedule: An approved and finalized schedule. Such schedules are posted with exact shift begin
and end times and can be printed in a variety of formats.
Primary Shift: The shift an individual works most often.
PRN Employee: An employee who does not receive benefits, who works as a casual or as needed status
and to whom the hospital has not obligation.
Procedures: The number of procedures carried out for or to patients in units that typically do not have
inpatient census such as the Emergency Room, Outpatient Clinics at specific time of day. At a minimum it
is midnight and often includes the day, evening and night shifts.
Productive Hours: All worked hours whether they are direct and indirect time.
Productivity: The relationship between the number of units of service provided or products produced per
unit of labor (or other cost) required per unit of time.
Progressive Discipline: Progressive discipline is a process for dealing with job-related behavior that does
not meet expected and communicated performance standards.
Project Management: According to the American Society for Quality (ASQ), project management is,
"The application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities to meet the
requirements of the particular project."
Promotion: The advancement of an employee from one position to another position that has a higher salary
range maximum is called a promotion.
Pulling: See Floating
Quality: Definition for the Human Resources Glossary: Quality is a measure of excellence; quality
defines desirable characteristics of a product, a process, or a service.
Recognition: Recognition is providing attention or favorable notice to another person. Recognition can be
written, verbal, or monetary. In the workplace, the second purpose for employee recognition is to
communicate and reinforce the behaviors and actions you'd like to see the employee do more often.
Recruiter: Recruiters are employed by a company for the purpose of finding and qualifying new
employees for the organization. Third party recruiters are subcontracted to by a company for the same
purpose. Several different types of third party recruiters exist, but the main difference between them lies in
how they are compensated, up front or by a company-paid percentage of the hired person's first year pay.
Regularly Committed Staff: Refer to Work Agreement and Core Staff
Requests: See Schedule Requests

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Request-Driven Scheduling: A method of scheduling whereby the schedule is built around the employee
requests to work and be off.
Requirements: See Schedule Requirements.
Respect: Everybody needs a little respect. You know when you have respect. You know when you don’t.
But what is respect really? And, how is respect demonstrated at work? You can demonstrate respect with
simple, yet powerful actions.
Retention: See Employee Retention
RN Hours Per Patient Day: A definition for worked hours by Registered Nurses in the nursing units
divided by patient days. If it is used to represent all hours worked by all RN’s in the nursing unit divided by
the patient days in the unit for selected time period it should be reported as All RN Worked Hours Per
Patient Day (All RN Total Worked HPPD). If it is used to represent all hours worked by direct RN
caregivers (RN’s included in the variable staffing plan) divided by the patient days in the unit for selected
time period should be reported as Total RN Direct Hours Per Patient Day (Total Direct HPPD). Nursing
leadership should be clear if the “nursing” hours per patient day are RN only, Licensed only, total direct or
total worked hours of care.
RN to Patient Ratios: Ratio of RN’s to Patients based on day or night shifts for the period of time
provided.
Rotation: The term used to describe a work schedule involving different shifts worked in a rotating order.
Schedule: A 4-week fiscal period comprised of 2 pay-periods based on the organization’s official day-of-
week start that allocates the planned resources to the planned workload volumes. It displays the employee’s
scheduled shifts to work and requested and approved time off as well as changes made to the original shifts.
Schedules are posted with a variety of formats to represent shift begin and end times and shift and category
(e.g., RN, LPN, Nursing Assistant etc) counts for direct and indirect (secretaries, manager, educator etc)
groups of caregivers. Schedules may be longer than 4 weeks (6, 8 or 12 weeks depending on the internal
shift, on-call or weekend rotations) and should be posted or published at least 2-weeks prior to the schedule
start date.
Schedule Holes: (See Holes, Schedule): A variance between the required and actual number of staff to
schedule to work on a shift on a specific day. Schedule holes should not exceed 5% of the total shifts
needed in the 28-day schedule. Schedule holes in excess of 5% are associated to overtime and other
premium pays and staff dissatisfaction.
Schedule Hours: The hours the employee is assigned to work in the 4-week schedule period. The schedule
hours to work and for paid time off and the work agreement hours (see Hired Hours/2-Weeks) should be
the same.
Schedule Period: A 4-week fiscal period comprised of 2 pay-periods based on the organization’s official
day-of-week start. Same as a fiscal period
Schedule Policy: Scheduling rules that govern conditions of employment and work practices which are
applied to a normal work cycle. Schedule policies allow you to define scheduling rules that are either
global, affiliate, department, division, unit specific, or employee-specific. Policies are used to define shifts-
per-pay-period, shift start times, shift end times, shift paid hours, shift rotation to multiple shifts, and

612 • 216 • 1102
others.
Schedule Requirement: The scheduling rules that govern the minimum, target, and maximum number of
skilled staff to be included on a given shift. Schedule requirements fluctuate according to a ‘ s workload
and/or budget constraints.
Schedule Requests: A request made by an individual to temporarily alter their work patterns on future
schedules.
Schedule Unit: Staff that are grouped together for scheduling purposes. May or may not be distinct from a
Cost Unit.
Scheduling: A systematic plan which allocates shifts worked and shifts off for each employee. A
distribution of total hours to best meet the needs of patient care and the organization.
Scheduling Methods: There are four methods used to guide the scheduling process each with its own
advantages and disadvantages; Self-scheduling or Participatory Scheduling, Budget/Requirement driven
scheduling, Block/Cyclical/Master/Pattern-based scheduling and Employee Request-driven scheduling. The
Labor Management Institute provides seminars and certification programs in these scheduling and staffing
methods and more information is available at www.lminstitute.com/education.
Scheduling Process: The sequence for producing the schedule. Generally, this includes creating a
worksheet, applying the names, categories and work agreements of the unit-based staff, assigning core
patterns, assigning employee requests and reconciling imbalances until the scheduled staff are equal to the
defined schedule requirements.
Self-Discipline: You can create a work environment and supervisory interactions which encourage the
people you employ to develop and practice self-discipline. When people practice self-discipline, they
control their own behavior.
Self-Scheduling: A method of scheduling whereby the employee’s sign up for their shifts to work or not.
Seniority: Accumulated work experience in the same organization.
Shift: A period of time an employee is assigned to work defined by the start and stop time and paid shift
length.
Shift Rotation: A rotation of defined shifts between the primary shift (the one worked most often) to other
defined shifts. Rules for shift rotation should determine percentages of rotation to each additional shift,
minimum time off between shifts and working off-shifts (evenings and nights) on Friday nights before
weekends off and Sunday nights. Generally, employee dissatisfaction increases with more than 4 different
shifts worked within a 4-week schedule period.
Shift Switches: A pattern of working a shift and switching to another shift with less than 24 hours in-
between the different shifts e.g., day shift followed by night shift followed by a day off.
Sick Call-in Absence: Any “called in” unanticipated absence based on personal illness that requires
replacement (regardless of timecard coding). Most common example is sick-calls for self or children. See
Unexpected Absence and Call-ins.
Sick Days Policy: Paid sick days are time off from work that an organization voluntarily provides
employees as a benefit. The number of paid sick days is often accrued by employees based on years of

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service to the organization and the level of their position. Other companies, however, keep paid sick days
simple - every employee receives the same number of paid sick days.
Single-day Patterns: A pattern of working single shifts followed by 24 hours off. Most common example
is working a day, off a day followed by working a day. This pattern contributes to the highest number of
unexpected absences for sick call-ins.
Skill-Mix: A grouping of job positions or categories most often used to group caregivers into “direct” care
and “indirect” care. Direct caregivers are usually grouped into 4 groups or classifications for RN's,
LPN/LVN's, Nursing Assistants or Unlicensed Assistive Personnel (UAP's) and Other direct caregivers not
included in the previous 3 groups. Indirect caregivers includes all other job positions paid for by the unit
that support the direct caregivers but are not included in the staffing plan ratio of caregivers to patients.
Staffing: A process to determine the appropriate number and category of nursing personnel to provide care
of a predetermined quantity to a specific number of patients.
Staffing Effectiveness Indicators: A minimum of four screening indicators, of which the organization
must report on a minimum of 2 clinical/service and 2 human resources are selected. Of the 4 indicators, a
minimum of 1 clinical/service and 1 human resource indicator must be from the Joint Commission List.
The focus is on the relationship between human resource and clinical/service screening indicators, with the
clear understanding that no one indicator, in and of itself, can directly correlate with staffing effectiveness.
 Clinical Service indicators include family complaints, patient complaints, patient falls, adverse
drug events, injuries to the patient, skin breakdown (pressure ulcers), pneumonia, post-operative
infections, urinary tract infections, upper gastrointestinal bleeding and shock/cardiac arrest.
 Human Resource Indicators include overtime, staff turnover rate, understaffing as compared
with organizational staffing plan, staff vacancy rate, staff satisfaction, (nursing) direct and total
worked care hours per patient day, on call or per diem usage and sick time (call-ins or unexpected
absence).
Staffing Plan: A plan forecasting the number of direct caregiver staff by category (usually RN, LPN/LVN,
Nursing Assistants or Unlicensed Assistive Personnel (UAP) and “Other” direct caregivers that will be
required for the anticipated workload. The Staffing Plan provides for a ratio of caregivers to patients or
census, visits, procedures etc. by shift.
Strategy: Strategies are the broadly defined four or five key approaches the organization will use to
accomplish its mission and drive toward the vision.
Succession Planning: Succession planning is a process whereby an organization ensures that employees
are recruited and developed to fill each key role within the company. Succession planning ensures you can
fill key roles from within your organization.
Supplemental Staff: Any staff sent to the unit to replace missing staff due to unexpected absences,
LOA/FMLA, vacancy or satisfy increased patient volumes or acuity greater than budget from any source
other than the unit’s core-based staff. This includes staff from the float or resource pool, staff reassigned,
“floated”, or pulled from other units, agency, travelers or any casual/per-diem/PRN staff. Best practice
should not have more than 15% supplemental staff to the unit.
Team Leader: An individual in charge of an area or team of staff.

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Telecommuting: Telecommuting or working from home is a flexible work arrangement that enables an
employee, a consultant, or a contractor, to work distantly from the employer all or part of the time. Learn
more about telecommuting.
Temporary Staffing Assignments: See Floating or Pulling.
Terminations: Beginning employee balance subtracting the terminations and transfers out only. Refer to
Turnover.
360 Degree Feedback: 360 degree feedback is a method and a tool that provides each employee the
opportunity to receive performance feedback from his or her supervisor and four to eight peers, reporting
staff members, co-workers and customers.
Total Paid Hours: Total paid hours. All hours the employee receives pay for. If your hospital does not
separate direct and indirect hours, then direct and total worked will be the same. All paid, non-worked time
is included (e.g., benefit time for no work such as sick, vacation, holiday off, PTO).
Total Worked Hours: Total worked and paid hours. If your hospital does not separate direct and indirect
hours, then direct and total worked will be the same. This does not include any benefit time (e.g., paid time
for no work).
Total Worked FTE’s: Total worked and paid hours divided by the organization’s definition for an FTE
(2080 hours/year based on 80 hours/pay-period or 1950 hours/year based on 75 hours/pay-period). If your
hospital does not separate direct and indirect hours, then direct and total worked will be the same. This does
not include any benefit time (e.g., paid time for no work). Reported as Total Worked FTE’s Per Patient Day
or Total Worked FTE’s Per Unit of Service.
Transfer: A term applied to the process of changing either an individual’s home cost unit, schedule unit, or
both.
Traveler Agency: See Agency, External Agencies. An establishment engaged in providing healthcare
staffing by the hiring of nurses and other healthcare staff usually from outside the local area to contract for
an hourly fee for a 2, 6, 8 or 12-week period to a hospital or other healthcare business. Refer to Agency and
External Agency.
Trust - Interpersonal and Organizational: Dr, Duane C. Tway defines trust as, “the state of readiness for
unguarded interaction with someone or something.” Learn more ...
Turnover: The employee balance subtracting the voluntary terminations and transfers-out and including
the new hires, re-hires and transfers-in. It ignores non-voluntary terminations and intra-unit resignations
and new hires called unit transfers. Unit erosion is measured by the employee balance subtracting the
transfers-out and the transfer-in only. Terminations are measured by the beginning employee balance
subtracting the terminations and transfers out only. Vacancy is measured as the ending employee balance
based on turnover.
Unemployment Compensation: Unemployment compensation was created by the Social Security Act of
1935 to protect workers who became unemployed through no fault of their own. The federal government
provides incentives and guidelines to the states about unemployment compensation, but each state is
responsible for its own guidelines and program for unemployment compensation.

612 • 216 • 1102
Unfilled Position: See Vacant Position. An allocation in the position control in the unit based on the
budgeted FTE’s for full and part-time work agreement. A position is unfilled if it is NOT assigned to an
employee.
Unit: The financial unit or code from which wages are paid. A subdivision of the Customers management
structure made up of members generally involved in providing similar kinds of services or having similar
managerial responsibility.
Unit-based Employees: Employees permanently assigned to the cost center with regularly contracted
hours to work each pay-period. While casual/Per-diem/PRN employees may be assigned to a cost center,
they are considered supplemental staff if they do not have a minimum number of contracted hours to work
each pay-period or schedule period.
Unit Erosion: Employee balance subtracting the transfers-out and transfers-in only. Refer to Turnover.
Unit Manager: The person in charge of a schedule unit.
Unit Name: The name of the financial unit or code from which wages are paid. Accounting practice is to
assign all labor costs to the home cost centers and to allocate to all other cost centers the hours worked on
those units. May also be called Department number or MAS code description.
Unit Re-assignments: See Floating, Pulling or Temporary Staffing Assignments.
Unlicensed Assistive Personnel (UAP's): categories of employees budgeted for in the Variable Staffing
Plan to the number of patients on the unit or the work to be done. The number of UAP personnel fluctuates
to the patient census or units of service. UAP categories include certified and non-certified nursing
assistants, patient care technicians, orderlies, transporters etc. If the UAP categories do not fluctuate to the
workload volumes (e.g., census, visits, procedures) then the employee category is considered “fixed” or an
indirect caregiver. See Indirect Hours.
Unplanned Absence: Any unanticipated absence that required replacement (regardless of timecard
coding).
Vacancy: Ending employee balance based on Turnover. Refer to Turnover.
Vacant Position: See Unfilled Position. An allocation in the position control in the unit based on the
budgeted FTE’s for full and part-time work agreement. A position is vacant if it is NOT assigned to an
employee.
Vacation: A category of paid and non-worked hours from the organization that provides for a bank of paid
time off for the employee to use for vacation. Some organizations may provide for other categories of paid
and non-worked time off for holidays, sick time, funeral leaves and other planned absences.
Vacation Days Policy: Paid vacation days are time off work an organization provides employees as a
benefit. The number of paid vacation days is generally accrued by employees based on years of service to
the organization.
Values: Values are traits or qualities that are considered worthwhile; they represent an individual’s highest
priorities and deeply held driving forces. Values include qualities such as integrity, resourcefulness,
achievement, and honesty.

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Value Statements: Value statements are grounded in values and define how people want to behave with
each other in the organization. They are statements about how the organization will value customers,
suppliers, and the internal community. Value statements describe actions which are the living enactment of
the fundamental values held by most individuals within the organization.
Variable Cost: A cost which is entirely dependent on the volume of activity. Compare to Fixed or Indirect
Cost.
Variable Pay: Variable pay is used generally to recognize and reward employee contribution toward
company productivity, profitability, team work, safety, quality, or some other metric deemed important.
Variable pay changes depending upon the circumstances. Learn more about variable pay.
Variable Department: A department or unit where volume and staffing have a proportionate relationship
and staffing levels are carefully adjusted with volume increases or decreases.
Variable Staffing Plan: A plan developed as part of the annual budget process that directs staffing levels
at each census level to achieve budget plan.
Variance: The difference between an actual and a budgeted amount. Used mainly for accounting purposes.
Vision: Vision is a statement of what the organization wants to become. It should resonate with all
members of the organization and help them feel proud, excited, and part of something much bigger than
themselves. A vision should stretch the organization’s capabilities and image of itself. It gives shape and
direction to the organization’s future.
Visits: The number of visits made by patients to the Emergency Room, Outpatient Clinics or other units
that do not have inpatient census a specific time of day. At a minimum it is midnight and often includes the
day, evening and night shifts.
Voluntary Overtime: Overtime assigned to unit-based staff on a voluntary basis when there is no one to
care for the patients and all avenues for staff replacement have been exhausted.
Weekend Rotation: A rotation of defined weekend shifts to work in a 4 or 6-week schedule period based
on 0:4, 1:4, 1:2 or 2:4, 3:4, 4:4 or Weekends only or Baylor Plan and 1:3 or 2:3 weekends. Weekends
determine the total number of employees needed in the unit’s position control and the total number of full-
time employees necessary to accomplish the delivery of human resources to the planned patient needs
within the budgeted FTE’s. Rules for weekend rotation should off-shift rotations, trading weekends away to
other employees, working extra on weekends and unplanned absence abuse for calling in sick on weekends.
Generally, employee dissatisfaction increases with inconsistent weekend policies.
Work Agreements: The specifications of the contract under which an individual was hired. Work
Agreement is a generic term that includes such things as number of hours to be worked each week or pay
period, Job Code or Position, hourly or non-exempt or exempt from overtime and benefits expected, etc.
See Hours/2 Weeks.
Work Coaching: Coaching (work coaching) is a method used by managers and supervisors to provide
positive or constructive feedback to employees to help them continue excellent performance or identify
ways to improve performance.
Work Preferences: The work pattern established for each individual. Usually includes detail about

612 • 216 • 1102
weekends to be worked and weekends off.
Worked Dollars Per Patient Day: A measure of resources – the amount of labor dollars expended per
patient day.
Worked HPPD: All worked hours compared to patient days (or other unit of service, i.e., visits). Worked
hours include all caregiver (hands on) worked hours and all non-caregiver worked hours (e.g. management,
clerical). Sometimes called Productive HPPD.
Workers' Compensation: Workers' compensation laws make certain that an employee who is injured as a
result of an accident on the job or who contracts a disease as a result of performing his or her job, will
receive compensation and medical benefits. Every state requires that employers purchase workers'
compensation insurance to ensure that employees, who are affected by illness or injury, and their
dependants, are protected against significant hardships in case of injury, illness, or death.
Workflow: A term to describe the flow of work between people in an organization, allowing it to be
defined and monitored. In document management terms, workflow is used in the context of monitoring the
creation, distribution and retrieval of documents.
Workload: A term that refers to the amount of staff time required based on a measure of services or tasks
to be performed plus fixed administrative time. Usually expressed in FTEs.
Xers: Generation Xers are people born between 1965 and 1976 – 1980, depending on the source. Gen Xers
are independent, enjoy Informality, are entrepreneurial, and seek emotional maturity. They are the core of
your current workforce. Learn about Gen-Xers
YTD: Year to date.
Yuppies: Yuppies are young, upwardly mobile, urban professionals. Yuppies are young, successful
professionals focused on making money and buying expensive items such as cars, up-to-the- minute
cooking gadgets, electronic gear, and chef toys.
Zero-base Budgeting: Zero-base budgeting does not use the previous year's budget or expenses in setting a
new budget, since the company’s circumstances and finances may have changed. When building a budget
from a zero base, every expense must be justified.

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ADC: See Average Daily Census

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

ADT: See Admission, Discharge, Transfer

ALOS: See Average Length of Stay.

Application of Overhead: See Overhead Application

Attrition: A gradual natural reduction in membership or personnel through retirement, resignation,

Auditor: A person who performs an audit.

Average Costs: Full costs divided by the number of units of service.

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

Balance Sheet: See Statement of Financial Position

Breakeven Point: See Breakeven Volume.

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

Budgeted Workload: Budgeted workload volume for a given pay period.

Capital Acquisitions: See Capital Assets.

Capital Budget: A plan for the acquisition of capital assets

Capital Equipment: See Capital Assets.

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

Capital Items: See Capital Assets.

Cash Budgeting: Preparation of a cash budget

Cash Disbursement: The outflow of cash from the organization.

Cash Payment: See Cash Disbursement.

Cash Receipt: The inflow of cash into the organization.

Ceteris Paribus: All other things being equal.

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

Class: See Hour Class or Job Class

Compensation: Something given or received as payment, as for a service.

Concurrent Data: Data that is real time

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

CTO: Combined Time Off

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

Daily Staffing List: A list of staff scheduled to work a specific shift

Department: Entity comprised of one or more cost centers.

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

Employee Empowerment, Empower Employees, Empowered Employees: Empowerment is the process

Employee Involvement: Employee involvement is creating an environment in which people have an

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

Equity: Being just, impartial and fair.

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

Fee Code: Code used to represent service or product to be billed to patient.

Flex Staffing: Changing the staffing to match volume.

Flexing Up (Down): Adding or subtracting staff as volume changes.

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

FYD: Fiscal Year to Date, FYTD; YTD

Global: The sum of the charges of all services.

Gross Charges: The sum of the charges of all services.

Historical Data: Last fiscal year (FY) or last 12 months.

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

Hour Change: Any change made to a scheduled (or worked) shift.

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

Incentives: Something, as a reward, that incites to action or effect.

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

IS: Information Systems. Department responsible for supporting information systems.

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

Length of Stay (LOS): Discharge date minus admission date

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

MFC: Most frequent census/Model census

© 2008 Labor Management Institute.

Non-Productive Hours: A term used for all non-worked, paid hours.

Operational Indicators: Performance measures, generally not financial.