5 Reasons Most Employee Suggestion Programs Fail

dart-picMany employee suggestion programs fail. Don’t let yours be the next one.

Organizations make common mistakes when implementing their employee suggestion programs. Are you making the same big mistakes other organizations are making in their employee suggestion programs?

Though common, these mistakes are not ones that you want to be caught making in your employee suggestion program. They could cost you your employee suggestion program as a whole, your organization’s potential improvement, and your organization’s workplace morale.

Below are 5 reasons why most employee suggestion programs fail: [Read more…]

9 Great Ways (and 1 Bad Way) to Reward Employee Suggestions

Thank You TrophyAre you considering starting an employee suggestion program? Or perhaps you already have one?

How you recognize and reward employee suggestions is one of the most important decisions you have to make.

If the rewards for good employee suggestions are poorly designed, you can discourage employees from submitting ideas. A good reward program, however, can encourage idea submission.

I’ve listed nine good options for rewards below. I’ve also described one bad idea (this may surprise you)!

Let’s look at good ways to recognize or reward your employees first. [Read more…]

How to Create an Employee Suggestion Form

Girl WonderingYou’re launching an Employee Suggestion Program, because you’d like to harness the creativity of your employees; and to improve company performance.

Creating an Employee Suggestion Form is one of the things on your long to-do-list. You had hoped that creating a form would be one of your easier tasks, but it is causing you a headache.

Some managers want to keep the form as simple as possible to encourage more ideas. Others prefer an extensive form to encourage employees to think carefully about the ideas they submit.

What’s the best way to create a form to seek employee ideas? [Read more…]

Employee Suggestion Program: Definition and Benefits

Post-Its of people leading to an ideaEmployee Suggestion Programs. What are they? And, how can they help your organization?

First, let us define what an employee suggestion program is:

A program implemented by an organization to tap into employee ideas in hopes of improving the organization’s processes and/or products.

When implemented well, your organization can reach new heights. An employee suggestion program can lead companies to accomplish everything from saving money to creating new products, as seen in [Read more…]

How an Employee Suggestion Program Can Make Your Employees Happier

Happy employeesIt’s a tricky question.

Do bonuses & cash rewards keep employees happy? Or is there a better way to motivate employees?

Reward Schemes for Routine vs. Non-Routine Roles

Bonus schemes may motivate employees depending on whether their role is routine or non-routine. Factory jobs are often routine – they may not require a lot of initiative. The same may be true for certain basic administrative roles.

More and more jobs in our economy, however, are non-routine: creative jobs, engineering jobs, marketing and sales jobs, etc. These jobs often require creativity, expertise, and self-motivation.

In his fascinating book Drive, Daniel Pink argues that reward schemes [Read more…]