Ad hoc meaning in business: set up for this
In business, ad hoc means set up for one purpose when the need comes up, instead of planned ahead. It covers ad hoc meetings, ad hoc reports and staff hired on an ad hoc basis.
ad hoc as needed, unplanned
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Latin
What ad hoc means word for word
Ad hoc is Latin for “for this”. English took it first as an adverb, as in “the decisions were made ad hoc”, and later as an adjective, as in “an ad hoc committee”. There’s a second meaning that offices mention less: improvised, built from whatever happened to be lying around. Most ad hoc processes manage both at once.
Dictionaries can’t agree on the date. One gives the adverb 1639 and the adjective, “set up for a particular purpose”, 1879. The earliest date on offer is 1550 to 1560. Even the history was put together as needed.
The most looked-up jargon in Australia
Out of more than 300 office terms, Australians look up ad hoc the most: 314,931 searches a year. Stakeholder gets 261,279 and iteration 119,760. Set the acronyms aside, and Australia’s most searched piece of corporate jargon is two words of Latin. They mean “for this”, which saves you one search.
Work
Ad hoc meaning in business, phrase by phrase
- An ad hoc meeting is called for one problem and ends when that problem is solved. If a second one gets booked for next Tuesday, it has stopped being ad hoc.
- An ad hoc request is work from outside the plan, usually with “quick” in the subject line.
- An ad hoc report answers one question, once. It does not start arriving every Monday.
- An ad hoc committee looks into one matter of limited scope, then stops.
The opposite is a cadence: the meeting that happens every Tuesday, problem or no problem. An ad hoc meeting that can’t reach a decision tends to end in a promise to circle back.
Ad hoc visits to your desk
Bring everyone back to the office and the ad hoc meeting stops needing an invite. It turns up at your desk as “got a minute”. The minute is about a laptop that feels slow, the weekend, or a question the wiki already answers. Nobody booked it, so nobody can decline it. Headphones become the only calendar people respect, and walking fast with a laptop, one of the moves in how to look busy at work, keeps you out of range.
Ad hoc tasks as required
When a job description ends its list of duties with this line, the job has no edge. Anything nobody else wants can land on you, and it arrives one small favor at a time. First it’s covering the phones. Before long, the part-time admin role writes the company blog, edits a podcast, books the boss’s meetings and runs social media. On paper it’s still part-time.
In the interview, ask which ad hoc tasks filled the last person’s week. The answer is the real job description. The line sits next to we’re a family here on the list of job-ad phrases that deserve a follow-up question.
A team that calls its own process ad hoc is telling you there isn’t one. The one person who knows how it works is on vacation.
A calendar invite for an ad hoc meeting
Ad hocUnplanned: checkout outage, 15 minOne decision: do we roll back tonight. Only the people who can say yes or no, please. No agenda beyond that, and no recurring series.
Questions
What does adhoc stand for?
Nothing. It isn't an acronym, it's two Latin words, and dictionaries keep them as two however they get typed in a hurry.
What is a better word for ad hoc?
Dictionaries offer impromptu and improvised. In a work email, as needed, one-off or unplanned get there with fewer syllables.
Who is an ad hoc staff?
Someone called in when there's work, with no fixed hours and no weekly schedule. Relief staff, casual workers and a freelancer booked for one project all count.
What does "on an ad hoc basis" mean?
As and when needed, with nothing on the calendar, as in hiring extra staff on an ad hoc basis.
Why do we say ad hoc?
Two words cover five: set up for this purpose. English has had it since at least 1639, long enough that it now passes for office English.