Many organizations and decision-makers are unaware of the incredible value implementing an employee suggestion program provides.
If your organization is ignorant of the value, or even worse hesitant of using an employee suggestion box, your organization is
missing valuable opportunities. Employee suggestion programs improve innovation, efficiency, employee engagement, company culture, cost reduction,
customer experience, and employee experience.
Using a solution like DirectSuggest has been shown to positively transform organizations of all sizes, in all industries.
We reached out to more than twenty employers and decision-makers to elaborate on this by sharing their experiences as well
as the value in implementing an employee suggestion program.
Martin Lindstrom
, New York Times bestselling author, culture transformation
consultant and author of "The Ministry of Common Sense: How to Eliminate Bureaucratic Red Tape, Bad Excuses, and Corporate BS", LinkedIn
Employers and their HR professionals should not only listen to but celebrate suggestions from employees.
The best way to assure that a company's practices and policies make sense is to get input from the employees on the frontlines.
If their suggestion gets implemented and celebrated this holds symbolic value for other employees that their employer listens,
values and responds to their employees as integral members and builders of their culture. Celebrating indirectly gives the rest
of the organization permission to change.
We've captured well over half a million employee ideas and suggestions, so we know that listening to employee ideas can have an
immeasurable impact on organizations. There are countless benefits, from improving employee engagement, recruitment and loyalty,
to reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Put simply, employee ideas make better, happier businesses.
We've actively set out to establish an underlying culture that champions open dialogue and lets the employees know they
are in a safe place to voice their opinions, ideas, and concerns. One of the ways we have done this is by actively soliciting
feedback, especially from the less vocal employees.
This has been extremely valuable to us because it has allowed us to create new product offerings and become more efficient
and successful as a company. Employees are on the front lines, the men and women in the day to day, so if there is anyone
you should be getting feedback from it is them.
Not all great ideas are spawned by the product and engineering teams. I saw a number of product ideas come from the customer service
team members, marketing team members, lab technicians and Human Resources. It goes to prove that large companies who do not utilize
employee suggestion programs are doing themselves a MAJOR disservice.
Justin Fong
, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), LinkedIn
The people doing the job usually know it best and hence will be able to provide workable solutions.
I think there is a tremendous value in listening to employees for suggestions. Everyone wants to help and
feel like they play an important role in the company. Coming up with ideas like this gives employees a sense of belonging.
Working in the gaming industry requires listening to employees because there are so many areas of virtual reality
that can be explored and it is highly beneficial to elaborate off an already creative idea or example. This way we
can adjust procedures to fit the general need and be more fluid with making progress in our business. We began to
do this and saw huge improvement with employee communication and computer/ video game related development within our team.
By honoring employee ideas, you show them how much respect you have, which makes them feel good and want to continue working hard.
We specialize in working with established businesses to create ethical, profitable change. Our methodology is 100% revolved
around listening to employee suggestions. Businesses know ethical change is important, though when asked, most employees feel
they are not responsible to create it. When in fact, they are the ones best placed to create new ideas, experiment and then implement.
If CEOs & Leaders focus on empowering these qualities within their employees, showing their suggestions
are valued and acted upon, they will get results and engagement like never before.
The biggest value in listening and implementing employee suggestions is the morale it can bring to your team.
Your employees will see that they aren't just tools and they'll value that you care about them to listen to their suggestions.
Morale is important and it will make sure that your employees follow you through thick and thin.
I believe seeking and implement employee suggestions increases employee job satisfaction as employees feel
they are positively influencing their organization. So, we are always open to implementing good suggestions made by our employees.
Bottom Line: Always open to implementing good employee suggestions
'We feel, as a team, that everyone's opinion matters and it costs nothing to listen. So even though the final decision is mine,
I love to have the input and opinions from other team members.
My team is diverse because we are all from different backgrounds so we all have individual qualities and experiences.
Sharing these with each other makes us stronger in our broad range of collective qualities.
I feel taking suggestions from other employees gives me the opportunity to have my mind opened to different concepts,
allowing for a successful business.'
Employees' suggestions are key to our innovation and moving our business forward. I allow my directs to use 20% of
their workweek to dream up new projects and to work on new ideas that they believe can help the company move forward.
Some of our best stuff has come from this.
I find employee suggestions very valuable especially when I encounter a new problem and struggle to go through it. Listening to your
employees' ideas doesn't make you any less of a leader. In fact, I believe that it shows character, maturity, and heart--three essential
qualities of a great leader.
At CodeCrew we take employee suggestions extremely seriously and actually use them a lot. We're a full-service email marketing agency and,
obviously, oftentimes the managerial team doesn't have time to review each and every single client request, so we value our employees'
input immensely since they're the ones on the frontlines dealing with everything.
I think reviewing, implementing and (arguably most importantly) rewarding employee ideas for process improvement is an essential
practice for any business. Everyone at every level is looking to do their job more efficiently and ultimately, we all want to
follow the path of least resistance.
While management can always provide overall direction, you have to trust that your employees are the SMEs in their particular function.
Rewarding suggestions for best practice is also critical for raising awareness and encouraging your teams to come forward with their ideas.
Showing employees that you recognize them and value what they do is critical for engagement. It shows them that what they
do matters and helps them see how their work drives the company forward. It can be as simple as congratulating teams on the
company's social media platform, sending a personal note of thanks, and acknowledging their hard work in every conversation.
By putting your employees first – recognizing them, providing frequent check-ins and feedback, celebrating their professional
and personal achievements – you are creating human moments that matter, unique touchpoints that will go a long way toward
providing connection when the they need it most.
Listening to employees and more so, encouraging employees to share suggestions and providing channels for them to do so is vital
for businesses in any niche, because there is nobody more qualified to spot an opportunity, workaround, improvement or problem that
can be resolved than those that are hands on in the thick of it.
You can spend thousands of dollars on R&D and consultancies to far less effect than simply listening to employees and rewarding innovation.
Yet not only do few businesses actually recognize and action this and nurture employees in this regard, but some actively discourage it,
or ensure that the reaction (or lack thereof) that those who do come forwards receive makes them discount bringing their ideas forward
again in the future.
This is one of the biggest issues; integrating reporting protocols and encouraging employees to use them.
Too many ideas stop with the immediate supervisor of the person suggesting it, or simply aren't properly considered,
and this costs businesses large sums of money that could otherwise be made or saved, for obvious reasons!
Feedback from our employees is vital. As leaders, we are more 'learn it alls' than 'know it alls,'
and understanding that each employee brings a unique background and perspective and drawing on our collective
experience has helped us thrive as an organization. By creating a culture where everyone can contribute ideas
and feedback, we are stronger.
Often, this suggestion box is the first indicator senior leaders may have that there is a problem to solve that front-line employees are facing.
Employees have given feedback and suggestions on everything from technology and equipment to workload and leadership.
We have the suggestion box configured to send an email to senior leaders. We usually resolve or at least connect with
the employee who submitted feedback within 24 hours.
Our company employs people globally and having an accessible, centrally located place for feedback ads to our open-door culture.
Work was suddenly being delivered faster and of much greater quality because
the business needs were being conveyed with much more clarity.
The key is that often the ones able to enact change are not the ones on the front lines where the changes need to be made.
Managers need to recognize that, while they only see the end result, they may be missing the struggle that goes on getting
that result delivered. If the employees doing the work have ideas of how it could be done better, you should listen. Any
suggestion they have is to make their lives easier, sure, but when their lives are easier it means your product will be
delivered faster and with better quality.
JazzHR uses employee feedback to inform almost every area of our business from operations to product development.
Listening to employee ideas like these not only sparks creative initiatives, but it also results in a more engaged workforce
and increased retention. When leadership actively listens, employees feel motivated to be more productive, do their best work,
and ultimately stay with the company longer.
As a CEO, I’ve always valued my employees’ opinions because we can always pick something sensible from them.
Employee suggestions are helpful because it benefits both the employee and the company as a whole.
First, it improves employee morale, as well as their job satisfaction. And by giving employees an active role
in the direction of the company, it increases their engagement. In turn, it creates better output, which helps
the company in the long run.
Simon Sapper
, Director of the Makes You Think Consultancy, LinkedIn
The reason why employee suggestions are often so effective is that the people doing the work will know much better than anyone else
what makes a task easy or difficult. The experience of service users is increasingly integrated into planning - from IT rollouts
to Intensive Care medicine. That is a path employers would do well to follow, especially in process-driven organizations who may have
forgotten about outcome or mission.
Acting on employee suggestions is therefore not only good for the business in an operational sense, it is also a gateway
to enhanced employee engagement which has been shown to boost productivity
As a leader you can’t think it's all about you and you are the only one that always has to come up with great ideas for your company.
This type of mindset will destroy the morale of the employees under you. Being a great leader means you listen to and encourage
employee suggestions as well as respond with excitement, support and acknowledgement to the best insights. You want your employees
to feel comfortable sharing their thoughts on points of improvement and to come across as someone who values well constructed
opinions that have the best interests of the business at their core.
Oftentimes employees working on the daily ins and outs of the company have a unique vision into what needs improving and this type of
valuable feedback should be cultivated and collected as a priority of any experienced manager or decision maker.
Failure to elicit, listen or react to employee feedback is a massive failure on any organization's part.
Provide a safe pathway for employees to bring forth their feedback. Once the information is received by the organization,
provide an appropriate response to the employee. Employees need to see response and action if you want true engagement and input.
There is no doubt that implementing DirectSuggest will transform your organization. No matter the industry, company size,
or location of operation; fielding and implementing employee suggestions will provide incredible value.
By doing so you will:
Show employees that their employer listens, values, and responds to their ideas as integral members and builders of their culture
Create new product/service offerings
Deliver your product/service faster and with better quality, becoming more efficient and successful as a company
Gain direct knowledge of the obstacles faced by your customers and employees to spark creative initiatives
Improve employee engagement, recruitment, retention, and loyalty
Learn different concepts key to innovation and moving your business forward, creating better opportunities for your business
Show character, maturity, and heart - three essential qualities of a great leader
Spot an opportunity, workaround, improvement or problem that can be resolved by creating workable solutions
Know what business processes need fine-tuning (or overhauling)
Create human moments that matter by giving employees a sense of belonging through developing an open-door culture
