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From BAU to OOO, corporate lingos you must know

Here's a comprehensive corporate that'll come in handy he next time you circle back to the hanging fruit!

3 min readNew DelhiDec 3, 2025 08:30 PM IST

Do you know all the corporate lingos?

Whether you’re joining your first job or switching industries, corporate communication can feel like its own secret language. Emails come packed with abbreviations, meetings are filled with shorthand, and half the time you’re wondering if you’re supposed to “circle back” or “sync up” first. Learning these terms not only makes communication smoother but also helps you understand expectations, priorities, and workflows across teams.

Here’s a simple, reliable glossary of the most commonly used terms in modern workplaces — so you can decode conversations, respond confidently, and keep your workday running without confusion.

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Term	Meaning
EOD (End of Day)	By the end of the working day
EOY (End of Year)	Before the year ends or in the last working days of the year
OOO (Out of Office)	Not available to respond due to leave, travel, or non-working hours
BRB (Be Right Back)	Temporary step-away during online meetings or chats
PTO (Paid Time Off)	Approved leave that is compensated
KRA (Key Result Areas)	Core responsibilities and performance expectations of an employee
KPI (Key Performance Indicator)	A measurable metric used to evaluate performance
SLA (Service Level Agreement)	A defined expectation on timelines, response rates, or quality standards
ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival)	Expected time to deliver a task or to be available
ASAP (As Soon As Possible)	Complete or respond at the earliest convenience
FYI (For Your Information)	Information shared without expectation of action
FYA (For Your Action)	Information that requires you to take action
AOB (Any Other Business)	Additional topics to be discussed at the end of a meeting
TAT (Turnaround Time)	Time taken to complete a request or task
R&R (Roles and Responsibilities)	Defines what each team member is accountable for
RCA (Root Cause Analysis)	Investigation to determine the fundamental cause of a problem
MOM (Minutes of Meeting)	Written summary of key points and decisions from a meeting
BAU (Business as Usual)	Regular, ongoing work processes
Onboarding	Orientation and integration process for new employees
Offboarding	Formal process of exiting an employee from the organisation
Bandwidth	A person or team’s capacity to take on additional tasks
Stakeholders	Individuals or groups impacted by or involved in a project
Cross-functional	Involving multiple teams or departments
Leverage	Utilize resources effectively to achieve a goal
Align/Alignment	Agreement on goals, information, or strategy
Touch Base	Briefly connect or discuss updates
Circle Back	Return to a pending topic or conversation later
Take It Offline	Continue the discussion separately, not in the current meeting
Deep Dive	Detailed analysis or thorough examination of a topic
Blue-sky Thinking	Creative, unconstrained brainstorming
Deck	Presentation, usually a slide deck (e.g., PowerPoint)
Sync Up	Coordinate or update with someone
Follow-up	Reminder or check-in about a previous communication