Suggestion Schemes - worthwhile or not? 1

[SomptingGuy]

I guess many companies operate suggestion schemes of one type or another, ranging from anonymous drop boxes to intranet-based forums. These schemes offer modest prizes for good suggestions, if implemented. Suggestions in ours are normally one of:

- Trivial administrative suggestion; "Let's buy our paper towels from Towls R Us rather than Joe's Towl Shop. That will save us xxx per year.

- Disaffected person uses the scheme to rant: "I suggest HR get their act together and .... (insert something obvious)". Or more common recently: "I suggest we rehire all the admin staff we fired during the last cost-cut. That way engineers can focus on value-added work rather than delivering post."

Posting engineering-related suggestions isn't really sensible, because we're already paid to do this. And posting suggestions related to other departments is tantamount to criticism.

Does anyone have any good experiences of these schemes?


(I'm starting to feel that the story about the shop floor worker who suggested removing one of the striking strips from matchboxes is an urban legend.)

 

[jmw]

Swan Vestas, I can't remember when they made the change from having two striking stips to one, and actually, a sensible suggestion, but at one time two striking strips was the norm for most match boxes. Now the converse is true.
In another forum it was suggested that someone told Genberal motors how much money they'save by dropping the last "e" in "employee" and that I do find hard to believe.

I feel very strongly that suggestion schemes are a very good idea and should be strongly supported.

However, at some point or other management get an attack of the miser.
They wonder why they should pay good money for good ideas when they can pay just a nominal amount. Finally they decide that since they pay you a salary it is your duty to "give them" any good ideas you may have.
Of course, they have no way to test if you have a good idea unless you tell them. I'd bet there are many good ideas that remained ideas only.

In almost any job you can think of there are several ways to do things and none of them the best way.
The person who knows best how to improve the job is often the guy who has done it the longest.
In many situations I have known people who knew better but "I ain't getting paid to think".

Some companies have a requirement in the contract that any ideas, any ideas at all that the employee has while working for the company, belong to the company.
Including: if you work making gate hinges and think up a new dot.com idea....

Fortunately, in the UK, the 1977 patents act declares some inalienable rights, even for engineers, though mostly, engineers who come up with a bright idea where it is part of their job to have bright ideas ie. R&D engineers, get the right to be named on the patent and a generous bonus (£100) from management.

Suggestions boxes have little value unless there is alignment with the idea and commitment by managers.

Just like customer services, it has to be more than some PR waffle, it requires serious thinking about and some professional help to impliment a good "ideas scheme".

The problem is managers. They have the wrong mind set to foster this kind of initiative.

Some one invented a bolt on system for something or other for 4WD cars and offered it to a major manufacturer. They spent more money trying to develop their own version that broke his patent than it would have cost them to pay him royalties. What more can one say.

Ideas schemes remain a great idea but impractical until soemone can find a way to keep managers out of the loop.



JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[VisiGoth]

In the late great steal mills the drop boxes did help. Good ideas did get implemented. There was a cost. Each idea had to be read, understood, and responded to formally. I assume the benefit was worth the cost. Employees were listened too, which is a side benefit.

In an industry where large machinery caused damage or where waste was visible this idea is good. Some things just could not be caught or determined in an ivory tower think tank. An employee who saw the same repetitive thing happening could envision a different way of doing things.


jsolar

 

[proletariat]

I suggested we put a treadmill and weights in the space that used to be occupied by all the employees that quit. I'm still holding out hope.

 

[Ashereng]

Worthwhile for the bosses who benefit. Not so worthwhile for the person makeing the suggestion because he/she usually is not paid.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[ewh]

But it may ease the workers labor, or make him safer.

 

[Ashereng]

How does the boss saving money on toilet paper make my work easier, or safer?

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[Jabberwocky]

Why would you suggest a TP change if it didn't help you in the first place? Unless you want to recognitin of value added to the company at review time.


I think it's a great idea to have some sort of scheme, people in general are both clever and lazy, so time/cost-saving measures will always fall out of that combination. I think both an anonymous option and a documented one should be available, with appropriate response given after review of the suggestion. Some comments won't get made if the person is accountable (don't shoot the messenger), but they could still be useful. Likewise if somebody (especially an employee) spends effort on an idea they deserve to be at least listened to.

For jmw, my contract specifies any ideas I come up "pertaining to company business" are then owned by the company (US R&D position) but at least if I invent the next Google I can retain control.

 

[ewh]

Ashereng,
To quote VisiGoth:

Safety - "In an industry where large machinery caused damage..."

Ease of labor - "An employee who saw the same repetitive thing happening could envision a different way of doing things."

 

[Ashereng]

Jabberwocky,

I was responding to ewh.

I wouldn't, it doesn't, and I don't.

In any case, I am glad you think differently than I on this topic. I just happen to be on the othe side of the arguement fence.

And, I too would like to express my opinion.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[dbooker630]

Where I used to work an engineer was not normally eligible for suggestion awards as it was considered part of your job. That is not to say that no gratitude was given from those production and maintenance persons that could turn in the suggestions.

There are no more personal monetary awards at the company I now work for and suggestions are encouraged from all disciplines, no matter how simple they may be. There are company goals for each person on submissions but the suggestions which save labor or burden receive the most attention.

 

[jmw]

But how many worthwhile suggestions do they get?
Unmeasurable is how many they might get.
In all the dross you only need one really good idea to make it all work but management never quite get the hang of these schemes.
Actually, I should be fair to management (they always get the bad mouth from me) it's probably the accountants that actually to blame in thsi case as usually someone in management comes up with the idea for an ideas scheme in the first place.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[ivymike]

I heard about a suggestion scheme which had a team of "regular employees" get together once a month to review the suggestions of the month... apparently they had a good laugh about 30% or so. One such suggestion was "the company should publish an internal newsletter detailing the happenings of employees' personal lives, to reduce the number of incorrect rumors going around the office."

 

[ajack1]

I once worked for a company as a sub contractor where every employee HAD to make three suggestions every quarter. They were rewarded with points and these could be exchanged for goods ranging from silly little things like pens and baseball caps right up to corporate days out and a cash prize for the best. It seemed to work well. Many of the best ideas apparently came form “lower end” workers. Of course for anything like this to work the workers have to believe in the idea and not just think I don’t get paid to think and the bosses have to take notice of people lower down the food chain.

There was a good program on TV over here in the UK where board members often the MD of larger companies went right back to the lowest jobs and worked as the people doing the jobs did. It was amazing how little they knew about the day-to-day frustrations of the workers and many of their ideas were implemented. A good few said they would carry on with this practice of sending a board member back to grass roots.

Is a suggestion scheme a good idea? Yes it is a very good idea, however only if all parties approach it with an open mind.

 

[HgTX]

We have suggestion boxes and an address to write to as well.

We have a quarterly employee newsletter in which a page or two are dedicated to rejecting the various suggestions and complaints.

Hg


Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[epoisses]

We had such a system in the refinery. The engineer had to calculate cost and benefits of every suggestion, which was a real pain in the @$$ and suggestions usually spent months at the bottom of the pile of paper. 90 out of 100 suggestions were crap. 9 of 100 were rather useful. 1 of 100 saved us an incredible lot of money. The 1 is usually the last one of the 100 considered so a little patience is required...

 

[rb1957]

i think suggestion schemes can be great, but often aren't.

the two positves have already been mentioned, listening to the employee's opinions and thoughts, and finding that 1 idea in 100 that's really useful. the problems have also already been mentioned, menagement must put themselves behind the program (else you'll get the cynical responses, or the "oh not the favour-of-the-month-qucik-fix-again" response); management have to provide the resources for analyzing the suggestions (as epoisses notes, it can take a lot of time).

As for the rewards, doesn't management deserve some reward for getting these ideas into reality; sure the guy who had the idea deserves some recognition, as does the guy who didn't say "this is a dumb-a$$ idea", but at the end of the day everyone gains 'cause your company can stay that much more competitive.

 

[epoisses]

Yes it takes managers with balls! We had a reward scheme of x% (x wasn't big, don't remember, maybe 2 or 3) of the monthly savings during a certain time. These were usually peanuts, unless for the 1 golden idea where we had to pay the guy some 15000 Euro. Management's reaction: "errr.... wait a minute guys...". It's surprising how easily years and years of motivating people by having a suggestion scheme can be undone in a split second! After this lucky event we didn't get any more suggestions during several months.

 

[DrillerNic]

I've worked with the STOP and the START systems (START is basically a version of STOP), which is a safety management system. Many of the unsafe acts or conditions often result in a better way of doing things: "Witnessed crew doing such and such, it would be better if this other tool was used" and so on. If you can get the workforce to buy into it, they can work very well- and in my experience the way to get them to buy in is to offer rewards (I've seen £25 M&S vouchers, to special T shirts) for the best STOP card of the week, and to show them that somebody is following up the cards submitted.

Also I've had very good experiences with Lessons Learned systems- saving time (and money) using new tools, different methods of doing things and so on, all suggested by the drill rig crew.

Again, in my opinion, feedback is the answer to getting buy in: hold a review of all the suggestions regularly, so that everybody sees that the suggestions are all considered; why some are acted on and some arren't.

 

[epoisses]

pfff... as soon as safety gets involved the suggestion system usually tends to degenerate into a time-consuming exercise in political correctness... office nerds telling the gardener to put on safety glasses... slippery floor signs all over the place... caps and warning signs on coffee cups... convex mirrors on every crossing of office corridors... and the real work comes to a grinding halt.