Employee bonuses: memo (sample)

How to write a memo correctly

A correctly drawn up bonus notice is half a step before issuing a well-deserved reward; special attention must be paid to drafting the note. But if payments are already part of the salary, there is no need to additionally ask management for incentives.

If a memo about bonuses is needed, it should be brief and to the point:

• list specific employees who, in the opinion of management, are worthy of promotion;
• describe the “feat” of employees;
• explain its practical significance for the company.

To register a memo, it must have generally established details - date of preparation and number. It is signed by the immediate supervisor of distinguished employees or another authorized person, for example, the head of the personnel department.

Sample memorandum on employee promotion

In many organizations, the memo is accompanied by additional documents confirming the merits of employees: reports, letters of gratitude from partners, and other documented facts.

If we are talking about cash payments, we recommend that you first agree on an incentive memo with the company’s financial service. The money will still be paid, but if there is no money, the workers will have to wait. The visa of the head of the financial service (chief accountant) on the memo is not superfluous. And management will have fewer questions about cash bonuses.

When are employees rewarded?

A cash bonus can be given for any merits of the worker that, in the opinion of the boss, deserve it. Each organization independently determines whether to pay a bonus or not and in what amount. This is prescribed in the internal regulations of the legal entity. The main reasons for writing a letter for an award may be:

• fulfillment or exceeding the standards established in the plan;
• good quality of work done;
• high labor achievements;
• individual merits of the worker or his successful work in a team;
• achieving results in a short time;
• optimal allocation of time and resources.

All these grounds are determined individually by the enterprise. In general, they can all be divided into several groups:

• quantitative data (increasing production volumes, reducing the time spent on performing certain functions, using a smaller workforce, etc.);
• quality indicators (improving the quality of manufactured products or services provided);
• saving resources (reducing equipment maintenance costs, reducing the amount of raw materials used);
• rationality (prompt development of new technologies, their implementation, increasing equipment load).

In some organizations, bonuses may be provided for the absence of shortcomings in work, failures in the work process and disciplinary violations. They can be determined as a percentage of the salary or as a fixed amount.

Many legal entities also pay similar cash incentives in honor of certain dates or events. These include:

• birthdays or anniversaries;
• wedding;
• birth of a child;
• long service, etc.

Memo for the award

An official memo is a type of internal document of an organization, with the help of which you can quickly resolve official matters. Its purpose is to notify a person about a problem, event or proposal.

An internal memorandum on employee incentives is drawn up according to the internal rules of a particular company, since there is no single unified template for such a document.

So, it should display the following statements:

• addressee indicating the person’s full name, as well as his position;
• paper originator details;
• name of the document, its number and date of preparation;
• essence of the question;
• proposal or expected actions of the addressee;
• compiler's signature.

Importance of the document

A bonus is an effective motivational tool in the hands of any boss. All employees are entitled to this kind of additional payments, regardless of the nature of the duties performed.

So, for example, the same lawyers or accounting employees may not bring visible income to the enterprise, however, thanks to their work, the organization functions properly and all documents are in order.

A memo for an employee’s bonus is confirmation of the fact of his reward. It is in it that the reason for such an event in a person’s life is explained. A reasoned document can subsequently protect the employer from various disputes and litigation on this issue.

It is important for managers to understand that just as a bonus is a powerful motivator for a worker, its absence or unfair distribution can serve as a basis for tension in the team and its dissatisfaction.

What is its need?

Such an official document is drawn up in order to convey some fact to a certain person. In our case, this is an incentive payment. However, there are cases when it is not necessary to prepare this kind of paper. These include:

• the bonus is mandatory and is considered part of the salary;
• the amount of monetary incentives and the grounds for issuing them are directly prescribed by the company’s internal regulations.

Is there a difference when making payments for yourself and for an employee?

A memo for bonus payments to employees is drawn up by the immediate supervisor or supervisor. Only a higher authority has the right to consider it. The worker draws up a note on bonuses for himself. In it, he asks the employer to pay him a bonus, setting out the appropriate reasoning.

It is still advisable to have a paper written by yourself endorsed by your immediate superior, as well as registered in the journal of incoming documentation.

Special points

The bonus service may have its own characteristics.

About the reward

When an award is issued, the document must include:

• what merits are rewarded for?
• the amount of the additional payment charged;
• for what period are bonuses paid?

About deprivation of the award

The following information should be included in the depreciation notice:

• reasons for what is happening;
• offer or request for deprivation of additional payment;
• a visa from the originator, and sometimes from a group of workers who can confirm the fact of a person’s improper performance of his duties.

Attached to such a document are acts confirming certain facts, as well as an explanatory statement from the employee on this matter.

Structure and content of the service

It was mentioned above that there is no single form for such a document. However, when determining how to write a memo for employee bonuses, it is advisable to use the recommendations listed below.

About the reward

The service form must be written. The structure of the paper should be approximately as follows:

• in the upper right corner it is written to whom and from whom the note was drawn up (full name, position and place of work of the indicated persons);
• in the middle is the name of the document, which indicates who will be awarded;
• the text specifies the request or offer of incentives, the reasons for its implementation, as well as the amount of the expected additional payment;
• Date of preparation;
• position and signature of the author of the note.

How to apply for a bonus

If the company has agreed on bonus rules, if there are grounds, the immediate supervisor of the employees or another authorized person (for example, the head of the HR department) prepares a memorandum on the incentive. If the company's management agrees, an order is issued to pay a bonus or other type of incentive. The received memo regarding bonus payments to employees becomes the basis for issuing an order.

The order on incentives does not have an established form, but it is permissible to use unified forms No. T-11 and No. T-11a, approved by Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of January 5, 2004 No. 1. If these forms do not suit you, develop your own, including in them all the necessary details of such orders:

• who gets bonuses;
• what are they rewarded for?
• what type of incentive is chosen; If we are talking about money, what is the size of the bonus?

Example of an order

Everyone mentioned in the document is familiarized with the order.

If a person has an anniversary or is awarded the title of “Best Employee,” it makes sense to carry out the promotion in a solemn atmosphere. It is worth talking about the award in the presence of colleagues of the distinguished employee, demonstrating what valuable gift he is entitled to or how much bonus he will receive.

Compilation

At the moment, there is no law that would approve a standard form of submission ( application for bonus ). In any case, there must be a certain structure. We advise you to adhere to the following content:

Additionally, the presentation can mention the personal and professional qualities of the employee and justify the need to use incentives in relation to him.
The petition may contain personnel records information: length of service, professional category, information about other incentives or penalties, etc.

The main purpose of an application for bonuses to employees is a reasoned incentive for the employer to pay remuneration to the employee for whom the paper is submitted. To do everything as correctly as possible, you can use a sample application for a bonus .

Below is a sample application for employee bonuses :

Nuances about bonuses

Whatever the memo for a bonus for good work, the decision on reward is made solely by the manager. And if he says “refuse” the visa, it’s hard to argue. But such a decision still needs to be justified.

We must understand that achieving high results is not always the merit of one person or department. All employees must be indicated in the note, and everyone must receive payments: advertising department employees, lawyers, and accountants. Amounts may vary unless the entity has set fixed amounts. If employees perform the same functions and occupy the same positions, the size of the bonus for them should be the same. Otherwise, it is easy to prove discrimination and hold the employer liable.

Pay attention to the payment deadlines in which bonuses are transferred. They don’t talk about this in the reports, because the deadlines are usually indicated in the LNA, for example, based on the results of the past year - until February 28 (29) of the next year. If we are talking about irregular payments, for example, in connection with the conclusion of a major transaction, then it is worth stipulating when the person will receive what was promised. Usually the bonus is issued along with the next salary or within the time period specified in the order for the payment of money. And here it is important that the established deadlines are not violated, since the employer faces a fine for delaying mandatory payments.

In what form should an employee bonus application be submitted?

Typically, a proposal for a bonus for one or more employees should not be presented to the manager as an application. The application form is used when an appeal is sent to management to resolve certain issues that arise in the course of activities.

The method that most companies use to submit a bonus proposal to the manager is a memo. It is submitted, as a rule, by the head of a structural unit for one or more employees.

Filing a memo is a method of internal business correspondence. In this way, issues of material incentives are discussed. The final decision on this issue is made by senior management.

Samples of memos

Since the content of memos differs depending on the occasion, we offer several text options. You can use them in your work by changing information about employees, dates, names of departments, and other information.

Variant of the text of the memo on promotion in connection with the anniversary:

Smirnova Valentina Fedorovna has been working as chief accountant at Pion LLC for 5 years. This is a highly qualified specialist who is respected by all colleagues. During this time, the work of Smirnova V.F. there were no complaints; she was repeatedly awarded the title “Best Employee of the Month.” Due to the fact that Smirnova V.F. On September 1, 2022, she celebrates her 50th anniversary, I ask you to pay her a bonus of 10,000 rubles.

Another example: a memo for a bonus in connection with exceeding the plan:

In connection with exceeding the plan to expand the client base by 15%, I ask you to give advertising manager Semyon Viktorovich Shesterenko a bonus of 10,000 rubles for the work performed.

And use this text if you are going to write a memo about a bonus to an employee for years of service:

I ask you to give a bonus to the head of the advertising department G. M. Simirenko in connection with the 10th anniversary of his work experience at. Over the years, he has worked his way up from junior advertising manager to department head. For 10 years of continuous work, Simirenko G. M. has no disciplinary sanctions. The employee showed himself to be proactive and efficient, regularly represented the interests of the company in the region and in the Russian Federation as a whole, thanks to him he became known on the international market.

In some cases, management should be asked not to pay a bonus, but to reduce its size or completely deprive of additional amounts. The reasons for such proposals must be written down in the LNA; nothing can be invented. If you must write a memo to request a waiver or reduction in benefits, use the following language:

Due to repeated violations of labor discipline, I ask that advertising manager Semyon Viktorovich Shesterenko be deprived of 50% of his monthly bonus.

The importance of the document when promoting

An employee bonus is an excellent motivational tool to influence the work efforts of employees. By skillfully using it, a manager can masterfully manage the mood of employees, increasing the efficiency of the organization. But if the size and procedure for paying official salary are fixed, then the issues of bonuses or deprivation of bonuses remain at the discretion of the employer.

Important! Unfair payment of bonuses can often provoke a conflict that will seriously affect the overall performance of staff.

It must be taken into account that all employees are entitled to a bonus , regardless of whether they actually bring profit to the company. For example, often accounting employees who award bonuses to other employees themselves remain “overboard” from bonus payments, although the correctness of maintaining the company’s documentation depends on their work.

However, a competent manager must take into account that before submitting reports, the workload increases many times over, emergency situations often occur, and any reports submitted late are subject to penalties. During such periods, additional duties are added to the usual ones:

• filling out reports and sending them;
• collecting the necessary information.

Often, accounting employees are forced to make changes to the documentation and additionally advise managers regarding the correctness of completion. Therefore, their bonuses can serve as good compensation for the efforts expended .

To avoid claims and litigation regarding bonus payments, reasoned documentary justification is required. Direct evidence in such cases can be a correctly drafted memo.

An additional benefit of writing bonus memos is that they are direct evidence that the specialist has covered an issue within his area of ​​expertise. If a specialist does not have the authority to independently make a decision on issues of financing employees, he, in the form of an internal memo, submits this issue for resolution by other specialists, thereby relieving himself of responsibility for the timeliness of payments, as well as a positive or negative response to the petition.

How and when to reward employees

The head of the enterprise has the right to reward for the efforts of personnel who conscientiously perform assigned professional duties. The law (Article 191 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) allows this to be done in various ways:

• declare gratitude;
• pay a bonus;
• present a certificate of honor or badge;
• give a valuable gift;
• remove previously announced disciplinary action.

It is not prohibited to reward distinguished employees in other ways, if this does not contradict the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and is specified in the local regulations of the company, in collective or labor agreements. It is also possible to combine several types of incentives, for example, declaring gratitude, issuing a bonus, and awarding the title “Best Employee of the Month.”

What should you “thank” your employees for? The reasons for this are prescribed in local regulations. But more often than not, this is not just conscientious fulfillment of job duties, but for achieving some high results: exceeding the plan, concluding a large contract, quickly mastering and introducing new technology into production.

Another common option is paying bonuses for some event: retirement, birthday or anniversary, marriage, birth of a child. Some organizations have introduced incentives for the duration of continuous work (length of service).

All types and amounts of material and non-material incentives, the grounds for incentives are prescribed in the company’s local regulations, such as regulations on bonuses (on material incentives, on wages) or a collective agreement. Please note: the employer’s internal documents must also state the reasons why an employee is deprived of a bonus or left without a certain part of it. Most often, subordinates are left without additional amounts in case of unstable financial condition, but other grounds are also acceptable, violation of labor discipline, for example.

Example of a bonus clause

Employees must be familiarized with the contents of the rules on bonuses and changes made to them against their signature. Otherwise, they have the right to complain against the employer for failure to fulfill the promised benefits to Rostrud and the court.

Grounds for bonuses to employees

The main reasons for giving bonuses to employees include:

• fulfillment of the set plan or overfulfillment;
• quality of work;
• high achievements;
• personal merits, successful work in a team;
• early completion of the task;
• proper distribution of time and labor resources.

Some examples of bonuses include the following:

1. Quantitative data, for example, for fulfilling the set production plan, reducing repair time, using fewer workers.
2. Qualitative indicators, for example, improving the quality of services or products provided, reducing the number of defective products.
3. Saving resources – reducing costs and the amount of raw materials used.
4. Rationality – mastering new technologies in a short time, applying new technologies, etc.

In addition, the director of the company can establish that bonuses are awarded to employees in the absence of shortcomings in work, any failures, or when the plan is exceeded.

The bonus can be set either as a fixed amount or as a percentage of the employee’s salary . Both each employee and the department as a whole can be assessed when deciding on bonuses. If the bonus is assigned on an individual basis, it can be paid for the following indicators:

• successful presentation at the conference;
• company presentation;
• completing an urgent task;
• successful negotiations;
• using a creative approach to work;
• improved performance;
• attracting new partners;
• improving the company's competitiveness indicators, etc.

Bonuses are also possible on certain dates and significant events, for example:

• birthday or anniversary;
• employee's wedding;
• birth of children;
• working in the company for a long time.

Important! Depending on what bonus conditions are provided in the organization, a bonus order is drawn up. A separate list of employees who are not eligible for bonuses is compiled.

Sample texts

For calendar holidays

To the director of the restaurant “Prestige” in Murmansk

Myasoedov Peter Alexandrovich

Senior Manager

Krivorukov Sergei Petrovich

№ 124

Internal memo regarding the award of a bonus to the chief chef Nadezhda Georgievna Karavaeva for International Women's Day on March 8th.

During 2010 - 2022 Karavaeva N.G. is the leading chef of our restaurant. She successfully coordinates the work of the kitchen, independently develops recipes for new dishes that attract customers to our establishment.

Nadezhda Georgievna creates and supplements the menu, monitors and controls costs for products and inventory, and works on marketing initiatives. The chef cooks herself for large celebrations and special events. Thanks to her work, from January to March 2018 the number of regular visitors increased by 15%. There have been no complaints about the restaurant's work during this time.

Taking into account the above, I ask you to award N.G. Karavaeva a bonus based on the results of her work. in the amount of 20,000 rubles.

05.03.2018

Senior manager (signature) Krivorukov S.P.

In connection with the anniversary

Head of the education department of the Petrovsky district

No. 148 Petrishcheva Larisa Vasilievna

Directors of secondary school No. 21

Lisitsyna Valentina Maksimovna

An official note on the bonus given to the Russian language teacher Eduard Germanovich Potemkin in connection with his 50th anniversary.

Potemkin E.G. has been working at school No. 21 as a teacher of Russian language and literature for 25 years. This is an honored teacher with the highest category. Eduard Germanovich's students show excellent knowledge, the teacher is respected by parents and colleagues. The teacher shows creative initiative in preparing school-wide events, is the leader of the “Living Word” circle, and has been repeatedly awarded certificates of honor for his success in educating the younger generation.

I ask you to give a bonus to E.G. Potemkin. in the amount of 10,000 rubles.

25.01.2018

School director (signature) Lisitsyna V.G.

For doing extra work

To the Director of Verkhneusolsk Federal University

Pavlov Sergei Borisovich

Deputy Director for Scientific Activities

Posoltsev Dmitry Nikolaevich

15.02.2018 № 13

An official memo on the bonus awarded to junior researcher Mikhail Leonidovich Kolesnikov for performing additional work.

In preparation for the International Conference “Achievements of Modern Economics” in the period from 02.01 to 14.02. 2022 on Kolesnikova M.L. was entrusted with the organization of the event and the reception of conference participants, their accommodation and solving everyday issues. Kolesnikov M.L. also took part in the layout and publication of an information collection based on the conference materials.

Considering the amount of additional work performed by this employee, I ask you to allocate funds for his bonus in the amount of a monthly salary.

Deputy Director for Scientific Affairs (signature) Posoltsev D.N.

Important! Failure to pay a bonus may be considered by the court along with other violations of remuneration (Article 142 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

According to Article 236 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, if the employer violates the established deadline for payments due to the employee, the employer is obliged to pay them with monetary compensation in the amounts provided for by law.

Nuances of drafting

Despite the fact that the company has the right to independently spend its funds, including on rewarding employees, regulatory authorities still check whether bonuses are given legally.

Therefore, the memo must be drawn up correctly, reflecting the real grounds for calculating incentive payments.

So, as an example, we can use applications for incentives for employees in the context of several grounds for calculating these payments.

Service for professional holiday

For exceeding the plan (rework)

For good work

For state and municipal employees:

Example of incentives for municipal employees

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Awards

In what cases is it required?

A request for a bonus is not only a request, but also information that forms management’s understanding of the merits of a particular employee, and also serves as the basis for approving a certain amount of incentive payment.

But it may not always be submitted for consideration by management.

Thus, a memo is not required in the following cases:

• if bonus payments are included in the rank of mandatory payments as a component of the monthly salary under the employment contract;
• if the bonus is approved as a mandatory accrual by local acts, that is, the same collective agreement or the Regulations on wages.

Moreover, if the Regulations state that employees, based on the financial situation of the company, can be awarded bonuses based on the results of the reporting period or in view of other merits, both related to performance indicators and personal characteristics, it is necessary to file a petition or memo .

You can learn about existing types of bonuses from our article. How to reflect financial assistance in a 2NDFL certificate? Read here.