Corporate jargon starting with Q or R
49 terms of corporate jargon starting with Q or R, from QBR to runway. Quiet quitting is doing the job, and rightsizing is layoffs.
Every term under Q and R
Q
- QoQ
- against last quarter
- Quarter over quarter: this quarter compared with the one before.
- quick and dirty
- fast and rough
- Done fast, good enough for now, fixed never.
- quick call
- a meeting
- A call of no fixed length, booked as fifteen minutes.
- quick win
- easy result
- A task that is easy to finish and easy to show off.
- quiet cracking
- unhappy, not leaving
- Staying in a job while slowly wearing down, unhappy and unmotivated.
- TalentLMS named it in April 2025, when 54% of US employees said they feel it.
- quiet firing
- pushed out slowly
- Making a job worse until the person leaves.
- quiet hiring
- more work, no new hires
- Filling gaps by moving current staff instead of hiring.
- quiet vacationing
- unannounced time off
- Taking time off without telling your manager, and staying green on chat.
- Pollster Libby Rodney used it in May 2024, when 37% of millennials had taken days off their manager never heard about.
- quota
- sales target
- The amount a salesperson must sell in a period.
R
- RACI
- who does what
- A chart of who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed.
- radical candor
- blunt feedback
- Feedback that is direct and caring at once, in theory.
- radical transparency
- share everything
- A policy of sharing nearly all information with staff.
- rage applying
- angry job applications
- Sending out a pile of job applications after a bad day at work.
- It took off from a December 2022 TikTok video by a Canadian marketer posting as @Redweez.
- rainmaker
- big earner
- The person who brings in the big clients and money.
- raise the bar
- higher standards
- Set a higher standard.
- rat race
- endless grind
- The competitive routine of working to keep up.
- RE
- reply to this
- The subject line mark of a reply, from regarding.
- reach out
- contact
- Contact someone, usually by email.
- read receipt
- proof you opened it
- An email setting that tells the sender when you opened it.
- readout
- summary
- A summary of what a meeting or project found, for those who missed it.
- realignment
- reshuffle
- Moving teams or priorities around; sometimes cuts.
- red tape
- paperwork
- Rules and forms that slow everything down.
- reinvent the wheel
- redo it
- Build again something that already exists.
- remote-first
- home is default
- A company built to work remotely, with the office optional.
- reorg
- new org chart
- A reorganization: new teams, new bosses, same work.
- reply all
- answer everyone
- Answer every name on the thread, needed or not.
- reskilling
- learning a new job
- Training staff for a different role.
- resonate
- land well
- Land well with people, or at least not badly.
- restructuring
- reorganizing, often cuts
- Changing how a company is organized, often with job cuts.
- results-driven
- does the job
- Interested in results, like every other applicant.
- retro
- look back
- Retrospective: a meeting after a stretch of work about what went well and badly.
- revenge quitting
- quitting in anger
- Quitting abruptly, after long resentment, as soon as another job appears.
- 2025 was forecast to bring a wave of it.
- revert back
- reply
- Reply, in Indian office English; elsewhere the back is one word too many.
- RFP
- call for bids
- Request for proposal: a buyer's invitation to suppliers to bid.
- rightsizing
- layoffs
- Cutting jobs, named as if the right number had been found.
- road warrior
- always traveling
- Someone whose job is mostly travel.
- roadmap
- plan
- A plan of what gets built or done when.
- rockstar
- does everything
- Someone expected to do everything, brilliantly, for one salary.
- ROI
- what it paid back
- Return on investment: what you got back for what you spent.
- rubber-stamp
- approve without reading
- Approve something automatically, without real review.
- run it up the flagpole
- test it
- Show an idea to people and see how they react.
- run rate
- projected yearly figure
- Recent results stretched to estimate a full year.
- runway
- months of cash left
- How long a company can go before its cash runs out.
Before Q and R: P. After Q and R: S. All letters: corporate jargon.