The Lexicon of Global Contingent Workforce-Related Terms is provided by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) to ensure that a common language is used among professionals in the industry.
“One of the major challenges facing contingent workforce program managers and executives focused on this area is ensuring that a common language is used. A lack of common definitions can cause severe communication problems between program managers and suppliers or when benchmarking contingent workforce programs across organizations. To help alleviate the issue, the following lexicon suggests a set of ‘working definitions’ for contingent workforce program managers to use” (SIA website).
When performing research, identifying the correct terminology as soon as possible improves the efficiency and accuracy of a research effort (Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals). One of the most important rules when researching is “get the terminology right.” Using the wrong terminology or keywords when searching is one of the primary factors leading to poor or irrelevant results.