RTW, EOD and TIA: 10 workplace acronyms employees still don't know

Despite all the time we spend at work, there's a lot of uncertainty around what common workplace acronyms stand for. Adobe Acrobat decided to test just how little we know.

The software company surveyed over 1,000 Americans on their knowledge of acronyms like RTW (return to work), KPI (key performance indicator) and OOO (out of office), ranking which ones employees most commonly don't know. Notably, 45% of employees admit to pretending to know an acronym rather than asking. 

"Acronyms like WFH, OOO, and PDF are often considered commonplace office slang, leading to a lack of explanation when used in the workplace," says Lori DeFurio, principal evangelist at Adobe. "This casual use often leads those unaware of the acronym's meaning to feign understanding publicly and attempt to educate themselves privately to avoid embarrassment."

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Gen Z and millennial employees especially struggle with workplace terminology, with one in three employees from these generations believing PDF stands for "printable document file" instead of "portable document format." Notably, PDF didn't make Adobe's list of the top 10 acronyms employees don't know, hinting at the confusion being generational.

DeFurio advises employers to consider providing clear documentation on commonly used workplace slang for new hires rather than assuming that people will catch on. While people may not need to know what every acronym stands for to do their job, the knowledge will make cross-team communication much easier and prevent workers from making simple errors, underlines DeFurio.

Here are 10 workplace acronyms tripping employees up in 2024.