The Stage

The ability to adapt and improve key processes and outputs is a vital aspect of organisational success. Creativity and innovation have a significant role to play in ensuring this and employee suggestion schemes are one way of being able to obtain input and ideas from the people who work most closely at the customer or manufacturing/production interface.

An Employee suggestion scheme can be described as a formalised mechanism, which encourages employees to contribute constructive ideas for improving the organisation in which they work. The overall aim of these schemes is to gather, analyse, and implement ideas in order to create results that have a positive impact on the business and or deliver new value to customers.

New ideas can enable organisations to find new sources of competitive advantage. New ideas might relate to:

• New products and services

• Improvement of current products and services

• Improvement of processes (e.g. continuous improvement initiatives).

It is important that organisations proactively seek feedback and suggestions and that mechanisms are established that encourage and facilitate the provision of ideas and feedback from employees.

Often a monetary award or some other form of recognition, usually proportionate to the benefits generated, is used to reward individuals or groups whose ideas or suggestions are implemented. 

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