Put the Power of Suggestions to Work

03/07/07

A Florida municipal employee working at a landfill watched as county trucks dumped six loads of construction debris every day. He noticed that some of the debris was genuine waste, much of it was reusable fill. He did a little research, consulted a few people, then submitted a money-saving idea to the county’s suggestion program: Use a power screen to filter the fill from the waste. The program’s evaluators accepted the suggestion, and the county saved $295,000 a year in disposal fees.

An Ohio transportation department employee came up with a suggestion to stretch the use of road salt by creating a new formula for brine, a mixture of salt and water. Not only was the brine more efficient, it reduced man-hours. First-year savings: $67,532.

Wish your employees were so enterprising? They can be, but it doesn’t happen by accident. You need a formal suggestion system in place. Although programs designed to capture the best thinking of your employees aren’t difficult to implement, they do require sound policies and constant attention.

Basic Suggestion Principles
Before you start putting up suggestion boxes, answer the questions, “why, who, what, and how?”

Why? Why should people submit suggestions? The best answer to this question, at least in the U.S., is for a chance at a reward and recognition. Cash or merchandise is customary; many organizations reward good suggestions with a percentage of the costs saved. Anywhere from 2 to 10 percent is common, up to a limit of $5,000 or $10,000 — with exceptions for truly brilliant ideas that save a company millions.

Who? Who is eligible to submit suggestions? Rank and file employees only, or everyone from the janitor on up to the CEO? Usually, the broader the coverage, the better. An additional “who”: Who will evaluate the suggestions? First-line supervisors are a good first filter for suggestions, especially because they can help employees hone the idea and test its practicality.

What? What kinds of problems should suggestions address? Most good suggestions save or generate money in one way or another: They eliminate waste, improve safety or productivity, improve morale, conserve energy, or foster innovation — all things that affect the bottom line.

It’s also a good idea to spell out the areas employees should avoid. These might include suggestions concerning pay, benefits, or job classifications; anything affecting collective bargaining rules; personal grievances; legal issues; routine items; or things that fall under the normal duties of a person’s job.

How? Excellent suggestion systems are low-tech. All you need is a good form, and a box to drop it into. And the form can be simple. It should have a space for employees to describe a problem, space to detail a solution, and space to do quick analysis of costs saved and benefits gained. (G.Neil’s wide selection of suggestion boxes and forms will serve admirably.)

Get Good Suggestions
Employees will need help in coming up with good suggestions that provide practical solutions to real problems.

The most fertile ground for problem solving is usually right in front of employees. Encourage them to ask:

• “What irritates me about this job? How could I remove the irritation?”
• “If I could do anything to increase efficiency, what would it be?”
• “This company could save money if it __________________.”

The best suggestions are often simple. Eliminating a form that has become irrelevant or finding a vendor who sells a product more cheaply, for instance, can result in substantial cost savings.

Don’t Kill the Program!
In many companies across the country, suggestion boxes collect nothing but dust. That’s because:

Supervisors don’t support the program. Solution: Appraise supervisors on the quality and quantity of suggestions that come from their people.

Rewards are laughable. A handshake from the CEO isn’t enough. Solution: Make it worth a worker’s time to participate.

Decisions come slowly — or not at all. Solution: Evaluators should meet frequently to give suggestions a go/no-go decision.

Suggesters don’t get feedback. Solution: Take the time to explain the reasoning behind a decision to decline a suggestion. It keeps people interested and motivated to try again.

Companies don’t put a spotlight on successful suggestions. Solution: Trumpet successes through newsletter articles, awards ceremonies, and other announcements. The recognition can be just as important as the money.
There’s gold in the minds of your employees. Mine it more easily with a suggestion system that uses G.Neil suggestion boxes and forms — just add attractive rewards and you’ll have all you need to create an atmosphere of constructive, profitable thinking.