Progress report: why is it needed and how to prepare it

Why and who needs it

Every manager wants to know whether he is wasting money on hiring and paying staff, whether a particular employee is benefiting the common cause or is just consuming resources. The difficulty is that this is not always easy to determine, especially when it comes to support units that are not directly involved in generating profit. If the productivity of a worker on an assembly line is easy to calculate, then how can you evaluate the effectiveness of an accountant or occupational safety specialist? Leaving them completely uncontrolled is irrational; mistakes not noticed in time are costly for the company. And no one will like to shovel a “snowball” of unresolved problems later.

Many managers prefer to organize briefings, meetings or “calling on the carpet” a specific employee (or several) in the old fashioned way to find out how they cope with their responsibilities. This takes a lot of time and nerves from both the manager and his subordinates, and sometimes it is impossible to verify the accuracy of the information received. In addition, it is not always possible to arrange a personal meeting if a person is on a business trip or transferred to a remote location.

It is much more convenient to use a tool such as a progress report, which allows you to get acquainted with the results of activities and evaluate the productivity of the performer in a short time.

What happens if you don't submit reports?

For failure to submit reports, the employer has the right to impose disciplinary punishment. But there are nuances here. It will be possible to punish an employee only if the need to submit these documents is specified in his employment contract, job description or other regulations, which he is familiar with and signed. If such a clause is missing, and the employee copes with his duties, it is impossible to punish him for not reporting.

It’s another matter when a subordinate refuses to carry out the instructions of his superiors, violates discipline, then he will face punishment (a reprimand or reprimand) under Art. 192 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. But not for whether he reported or not, but for the results of how he fulfills his duties.

Remote reports

Due to the coronavirus, many companies and workers have appreciated the benefits of remote work.
To avoid problems, and especially a drop in productivity, you need to properly organize the process. To do this, use free instructions from ConsultantPlus experts: reports from remote workers and how to avoid “remote pitfalls.” The use of such reporting is justified in the following situations:

• a KPI (key performance indicator) or similar system is being implemented or used. In essence, the KPI matrix is ​​a cross-section of information on the implementation of indicators characterizing activities;
• there are bonuses “based on results”;
• the employee is on a business trip or has a traveling nature of activity;
• The company employs so-called remote employees. When establishing a remote mode, working time recording is required. But the time spent does not always equal the result obtained, so it is impossible to do without collecting data on the completion of assigned tasks.

Who prepares the advance report and when?

The advance report is prepared by the accountable person, that is, the employee:

• received money for the economic needs of the organization;
• or sent on a business trip.

The accountable must report within the period established by the manager.

Important! From November 30, 2020, the organization has the right to set the deadline for submitting the advance report independently. The requirement that the JSC must be submitted no later than 3 working days after the expiration date for which the reports were issued, or from the date of return to work, has been cancelled.

The report is drawn up in one copy, to which documents confirming the expenses incurred by the employee are attached. To prevent employees from making mistakes, it is advisable to issue instructions on the procedure for drawing up expense reports.

Please note: recently, an expense report can be prepared not only in paper, but also in electronic form.

Read more about this in “The advance report can be signed with an electronic signature .

A sample of filling out the unified form AO-1 can be downloaded on our website.

How to compose

A single sample report on work performed has not been established. But this does not mean that you can compose it any way you like. An incorrectly submitted report will leave a negative opinion about the workload and efficiency of the contractor. Let us give an example of such an “incorrect” paper.

Based on such a document, one can only conclude that the personnel department employees have nothing to do.

How to draw up the correct document? You should be guided by the following principles:

• brevity. Nobody wants to read an epic on 30 pages, and there is a possibility that, having reached the end, the leader will simply forget what was discussed at the beginning;
• concreteness. General phrases are the main enemy when drawing up a reporting document. The manager is interested in the result, and not the employee’s skill in the epistolary genre;
• visibility. The result is the main part. If there are numbers, great, show them. Charts, graphs or comparative tables greatly decorate the document. If it is impossible to digitize an achievement, the most advantageous approach is “from problem to solution.” It consists of several stages: the problem (task) is identified;
• it describes what steps were taken to solve (achieve the goal), what worked, what didn’t and for what reasons.

Reflects the following information:

• FULL NAME. employee;
• the period for which they are reporting;
• what tasks are set;
• which of them is completed;
• which of them has not been completed and why;
• how to optimize activities;
• plans for the future.

Based on this, an approximate example of a report form on the work done is as follows:

Sometimes it is advisable to attach documents: draft agreements, agreements, contracts, signed copies, financial papers, if you are reporting not only on activities, but also on expenses.

Here is a good example of a monthly progress report for the HR department.

The form and frequency of delivery are established by local regulations of the organization or are prescribed in the employee’s employment contract. There are such options:

• daily. Most often used on business trips and during traveling work;
• weekly. Convenient for remote work, when there is no need to evaluate daily results;
• monthly. Used when using payment and motivation systems “for results”;
• quarterly;
• annual. They are used mainly for the purposes of financial analysis and planning of costs for personnel, their training, motivation, etc.

In practice, it is now more common to provide a report in Excel, in the form of downloading from CRM or other electronic documents. But in some places paper copies are also used. How long should such documents be kept? The legislation does not establish deadlines, since the provision of such papers is not mandatory. The organization has the right to set a convenient period itself, based on the specifics of its activities (usually 1-3 years). But this does not apply to reports directly on the basis of which wages are calculated or other financial transactions are made. They are stored for a long time.

Examples of reports

Look at a sample example of how to properly write a monthly progress report for a sales manager. It is advisable to present it in the form of a table.

To correctly write a report for a long period - a month, a year, rely on a form drawn up taking into account the specified requirements.

date _____________ signature of the responsible employee _______________

And this is an approximate example of how to write a report on the work done for a remote accountant.

Is it possible not to provide

According to the law, it is not necessary for employees to prepare a report on the practical work done. But such a requirement is established by local regulations of the organization or in the employment contract. Thus, such requirements are almost always included in TDs concluded with remote workers. To whom to provide the report depends on the organizational structure of the company. Typically, a manager collects data from subordinate employees and reports to higher management. But there are other schemes.

Disciplinary punishment for failure to submit a report awaits an employee only if such an obligation is recorded in his job description or other documents with which he is properly familiarized. In other cases, it is not possible to punish for failure to provide data.

Report on completed work

The employer sets tasks for employees. He must monitor the process of their solution. For convenient tracking and obtaining all the required information, a report on the work performed is compiled. This document is compiled with a certain regularity. The latter depends on the nuances of the work of a particular company.

The report is needed, first of all, by the manager. The document provides solutions to these problems:

• Accurate assessment of the quality and efficiency of problem solving.
• Formation of a general picture of work activity.
• Simplify tactical and strategic planning.

The employee himself also needs the report. The document solves these problems:

• A simple presentation of your work.
• Effective self-control.
• Simple identification of your weaknesses and strengths.

The report is a visual confirmation of how much work the employee has done and how well he did it. Correct work with the document form has a positive effect on the company’s activities as a whole.

There is no single form of document. Features of report preparation depend on its type. It is recommended to include these provisions in the document:

• List of tasks that were assigned to the employee.
• Specification of these tasks.
• Analysis of employee activity.
• Offers.

Suggestions and analysis - provisions that are included in the monthly or annual report.