Model Company Report
The following example of a report explains a system change in a company, something which is commonly typical in businesses, but our example explains a specific change which has become common in recent years. This report is a follow-on to the proposal in the Proposals section of our Professional Writing Resources section, and you can see it at the following link.
The change from paper offices to digital records is common now due to the COVID pandemic and also the trend towards being environmentally conscious, especially at work.
Read the following example of a report from management to the work force, then do the quiz on its structure, linking language and vocabulary in the next lesson.
Model Report
Transformation to Paper-free Office.
Summary.
This report is summarised as follows; that the company’s plans for eliminating as much paper-based documentation as possible in favour of digital copy is to go ahead as of next week and that staff cooperation is essential.
Introduction.
In the last few years, especially during the COVID pandemic, hard copy has become cumbersome in the company’s work life. Furthermore, the current trend is toward a paper-free office which helps the environment and improves a company’s standing as being eco-friendly. We therefore sent a colleague to a neighbouring company to see how the transition there was rolled out.
Advantages.
Our colleagues in the neighbouring company have saved a considerable amount of space in the office given the disappearance of paperwork which they legally had to keep for four years before shredding and sending to the rubbish. The positive environmental effects can be seen here and the process of filling in online records is now generally a lot quicker and takes up less space, giving staff more space to comfortably do their work.
Problems.
The neighbouring company rolled the transition out over a relatively short space of time as they were responding to the crisis which was brought on by COVID. Therefore, the process was not as smooth as they would have liked. A major problem was that staff didn’t quite have the digital skills to quickly adapt to handling documents that until recently were filled in by hand. This resulted in extra costs due to the training required to bring staff quickly up to speed with their digital skills.
Recommendations.
The following recommendations are designed to create a rapid process of implementation which causes as little disruption as possible to the flow of work:
Firstly, staff will do a 10-hour training course over the course of a week, online and at work, with one hour per morning at a time in which the company is not so busy. The other five hours will be done online from home outside work time and counted as overtime.
While the digital rollout happens, staff will continue to fill in documents by hand. This will continue for three weeks after the beginning of the rollout, which is the week after training.
Furthermore, staff will be required to fill in the three weeks of paperwork online to be able to compare how the data looks in each format.
Finally, a member of the neighbouring company will be on hand as all of this happens to support staff and answer any questions.
Our company has the advantage of being able to do this in a period of normality, whereas the neighbouring company had to do it quickly due to the COVID crisis. We also have the advantage of experience from our colleagues in the other company, who have already gone through the process and have now been working smoothly with the system for the last few years.
As a consequence of the transition from paper to digital records, the company will be more streamlined and will present an efficient and moreover, environmentally-friendly image to the public.