The aim of a classic company suggestion scheme is to make direct use of the experience of the company’s own employees in order to identify grievances and potential for improvement in the company through the participation of employees and to find solutions.
According to individual rules, employees
systematically recorded, evaluated and awarded prizes – this often takes place in IT systems that are already available on the market for this purpose. As a rule, the evaluation and awarding of prizes is organized centrally within the company. An IT system or commissioned employee or even a team receives the suggestions for improvement and discusses with the managers the extent to which a suggestion can be implemented and what value it has for the company.
However, experience has shown that developing appealing forms and hanging mailboxes on company premises are not enough to tap employees’ potential for ideas. Internal online idea platforms allow easy access and processing of submitted ideas.
It is imperative that the introduction, use of contributions and awards be made transparent to employees so that the conditions of participation are clear to each contributor. Positive examples and good experiences are usually the most motivating for new proposals. Nowadays, systems for using employee ideas are used in almost all large companies.
The advantage of this method is in particular that employees are motivated to release their individual skills, specific knowledge and creativity in the company in order to develop significant improvements and innovations.