Employee Suggestion Solution-get To Know Your Employees

The idea of an "Employee suggestion box" is age old

, but many companies and organizations have eliminated them, seeing them only as a receptacle for grievances and complaints. A well run suggestion campaign, can however, be successful if organized properly. When a manager has a sincere commitment to making the program work, they get everyone involved, and offer rewards that will motivate employees to contribute, an employee suggestion programs can do great things. In some companies contributors' ideas have led them to accomplish everything from saving money to creating new products; from eliminating unnecessary procedures to improving overall quality.

All it really takes to run a successful employee suggestion program is the effort, the commitment and some positive reinforcement. Here are some things a manager can do to get a great suggestion program started:

- Create well publicized and positive employee suggestion software. Make sure that senior management is fully behind the program and then advertise it prominently to all employees. Send out personal letters to encourage employee participation. Arrange special seminars or demo sessions to make employees familiar with the software.

- Develop an easy to use suggestion form that is detailed enough to allow the contributor to include details such as how much money may be saved, what the benefits of taking this action would be, and what their recommended plan of action might be. Include right on the form a thank you for the suggestion, as well as a time frame for expecting comments from the suggestion committee. It will encourage the contributor to again share his precious suggestions for betterment.

- Maintain interest and participation by acknowledging all responses right away. If employees start to feel that the employee suggestion programs are not taken seriously, they will lose interest and no longer offer ideas. It will be a loss to the organization as they will be losing some golden ideas.

- Create a suggestion committee to evaluate ideas made up of a cross section of employees from various departments and who hold a variety of positions. Give this committee the power to initiate action upon suggestions in a timely manner.

- Once a suggestion has been accepted and is going to be acted upon, notify the contributor right away. Then keep them updated as to the progress of implementation of their ideas, and encourage their ongoing communication as the project progresses.

- Recognize contributors with some form of reward and make the presentation of the award public. This might include such things as a little write up in the monthly newsletter, a posting on a company bulletin board or acknowledgement at a monthly staff meeting.

If the organization is successful in building trust of employees in the suggestion program, it will be a new start for the company as well as employees.

by: Bruce Bittman

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