CSW (Completed Staff Work)

“Completed staff work” or CSW is a write up by an employee that presents a solution to a problem. All the necessary information needs to be included in this write up along with a reasonable solution or solutions so that all that is needed from your supervisor is an approval or disapproval. A CSW is used most commonly for things like requesting vacation time or ordering new supplies but can be used for ANY work related problem, or situation, such as a needed new policy, revision in policy, pay raise, day off, etc. pretty much ANYTHING that needs to be fixed, solved or requested.

A CSW offers a solution to your senior, not a problem. It is your duty as an employee to work out all the details. You should not consult your supervisor in the determination of those details, no matter how perplexing they may be. You may and should consult other employees but DO NOT interrupt your senior with something like “I want to take off Friday but I don’t have any PTO, what can I do?” The CSW, when presented to the supervisor for approval or disapproval, must be worked out in a finished form with ALL data.

The impulse which often comes to the inexperienced employee, to ask the supervisor what to do, often occurs when the problem is difficult. Resist this impulse and really try to work out all the possible solutions yourself. I know it is easier to just ask your supervisor what to do, and typically, it is easy for them to answer but resist this impulse. Supervisors are very impressed when a CSW is so complete and offers a really great solution that they are inclined to approve because of this.

It is your job to advise your supervisor what she or he ought to do, not to ask your supervisor what you ought to do. The supervisor needs answers, not questions. Your job is to study, write, restudy, and rewrite until you have evolved a single proposed action–the best one of all you have considered. Your supervisor merely approves or disapproves.

The completed staff work may result in more work for the employee but it results in more freedom for the supervisor. This is as it should be. Further, it accomplishes two things:

1. The supervisor is protected from incomplete ideas, emails, and dev-t.
2. The employee who has a real problem or idea takes responsibility to come up with a solution and is therefore empowered.

When you have finished your completed staff work, the final test is this: If you were the supervisor would you be willing to sign the paper you have prepared, and stake your professional reputation on its being right? If the answer is no, take it back and work it over, because it is not yet completed staff work.

When do we use CSW?

CSW can be used for anything that needs a supervisor’s approval. It is used to request PTO, approval for purchases, request for new or revised policy, changes to an existing system or proposal for a new system, request for a raise or promotion, or a proposed solution for any problem that presents.

The basic form of the CSW states the situation, data and solution. The situation is simply the problem. The data states all the necessary information to its solution. The solution advises the best possible answer to the presented problem, and contains a line for approval or disapproval for the supervisor’s signature.

If there are documents or letters that need to be signed as part of the CSW, they should be attached already filled in with a flag at each place requiring the supervisor’s signature.

For example, a CSW is received that says –

1. Situation: I want to buy a printer.
2. Data: Here is the printer I want to buy for $250.
3. Solution: Allow me to buy the printer.

This CSW is incomplete because it does not tell the supervisor what the problem is, or why we need to buy a new printer, or why buying this printer solves a problem.

A correct CSW would state –

1. Situation: My printer is broken
2. Data: My printer no longer works. IT has checked it and says it cannot be repaired and it is out of warranty. I can replace it with a similar printer for $250 that has a 2-year warranty.
3. Solution: Approve $250 for a new printer to be paid by Amex card.

A complete CSW has all the data included so that the person reading it has no more questions to ask before agreeing or disagreeing with a solution.

If you get a CSW back with the letters “CSWP” on it, it means, “Complete the Staff Work, Please.” It means you didn’t present all the data or a complete solution.

CSWs are written by the employee, not by the employee’s supervisor. The employee signs the CSW at the bottom to attest that the data and solution contained in the CSW are true to the best of his or her belief.