tour of duty

Intermediate 👥 Human Resources

Definition

A fixed-term employment approach where both employer and employee commit to a specific project or time period with clear expectations and an endpoint. Think of it as a mission-based relationship rather than 'til death (or layoffs) do us part.

Example Usage

We hired her on a two-year tour of duty to launch the new product line, with the understanding that she'd likely move on to her next adventure afterward.

Origin

Military term adapted for business by LinkedIn founders Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha in their 2013 book 'The Alliance'

Fun Fact

The tour of duty model acknowledges modern career reality: employees will leave eventually anyway, so why not plan for it and make transitions beneficial for both parties?

Source: Modern talent management philosophy and LinkedIn employment framework

Related Terms

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evaluation

The corporate ritual where your boss assigns numerical values to your humanity, typically determining whether you get a raise or just 'valuable feedback.' It's an assessment that pretends to be objective while being influenced by office politics, recent memory bias, and how well you schmooze. In math, it's simply solving for X; in life, it's solving for your mortgage payment.

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Actionable Feedback

Criticism disguised as helpfulness, delivered in a sandwich of compliments so thick you almost miss the part where they told you everything is wrong. The key word is "actionable," meaning you'd better actually do something about it or next time it won't be a sandwich, it'll be a written warning.

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package

In HR contexts, the complete compensation and benefits offering presented to an employee, including salary, bonuses, health insurance, retirement contributions, and various perks. It's how companies describe "what we're paying you" while making it sound more impressive by bundling in the dental plan and free coffee. Negotiating your package is essential because base salary tells only part of the story.

👥 Human Resources
Intermediate

dead wood

Long-tenured employees who no longer contribute effectively but are difficult to remove due to organizational inertia or legal protections. They're the human equivalent of that clutter you keep meaning to throw out but never do.

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trainee

An employee who's still learning the ropes, typically fresh out of school or new to an industry, undergoing structured training before assuming full responsibilities. Trainees exist in that awkward limbo where they're expected to contribute but forgiven for not knowing things that everyone assumes are obvious. The period when asking "stupid questions" is not only acceptable but encouraged.

👥 Human Resources
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forced ranking

A performance management system requiring managers to rank employees against each other and place them into predetermined categories, typically firing the bottom performers. Jack Welch's gift to corporate culture, also known as 'rank and yank.'

👥 Human Resources

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