Making employee suggestions count.

• Author: Nelson, Bob
• Position: Rewarding Employees - Brief Article

One of the best ways to involve and energize employees is to solicit their ideas and opinions. Real motivation comes from within. People have to be given the freedom to voice their opinions and make suggestions--whether these ideas succeed or fail.

Employees need to know that their suggestions are taken seriously and that they can make a big difference. By carefully reviewing employee suggestions, and quickly implementing those that have merit, management sends a message that employees are valued.

By the same token, many hesitate to implement employee suggestion programs, fearing that costs will outweigh the benefits. This was certainly a question for the management of First Maryland Bancorp (now Allfirst Financial) in Baltimore when it was considering adopting its "Brainstorm" program.

The problem with many suggestion programs is that employee enthusiasm drops quickly, as does the number and quality of suggestions. Instead of being an ongoing program, Brainstorm was designed to last 12 weeks, and the committees formed to review employee suggestions were encouraged to decide on them within seven days of submission. By putting time limits on the program, the bank was able to maintain enthusiasm and to ensure high-quality suggestions.

Employees were encouraged to form teams to come up with ideas for increasing revenues or decreasing expenses. Team members investigated the potential improvements and developed quantitative justifications supporting their assessments. It was not enough to say, "We suggest that Saturday work hours be cut back." To be accepted, the suggestion had to be accompanied by a detailed cost/benefit analysis showing how much money was likely to be saved if the idea was implemented.

Management required employees to maintain all their duties throughout the process. When suggestion programs are rolled out in some institutions, performance suffers as employees spend more time on committees than they do on their own jobs. Four keys led to Brainstorm's success:

Top management agreed to support the program and the suggestions that came out of it. This is a key factor in any employee suggestion program: Once workers realize...