Benefits of a Suggestion Scheme

People, both in teams and as individuals, always have been and always will be the source of creativity, innovation and improvement within an organisation. The harnessing of this talent is crucial to the success and growth of any organisation.

Increased competition and the demand for improved customer service means that managers have to consider how they meet increasing demands without increasing costs. They have to utilise existing resources fully.

There is therefore a need to proactively encourage employees to generate ideas for innovation and improvement. ideasUK can help organisations to develop and maintain successful staff suggestion schemes to assist with the achievement of these objectives.

The purpose of a staff suggestion programme is to promote the involvement of employees in assisting the organisation in achieving its goals. Whilst the predominant benefit is often direct savings and cost reduction there are many other benefits which can be achieved.

	Promoting creativity and innovation throughout the organisation
	Indirect cost savings
	Safety improvements
	Improved quality and service to external and internal customers
	Improved communication
	throughout the organisation
	Empowerment of staff
	Opportunity to recognise and be recognised
	Promote continuous improvement
	Assist with the delivery of other Quality Initiatives. EFQM, IiP etc
	Improved staff Morale

Membership of ideasUK will assist you in achieving results in all these areas and help deal with the necessary support from:

	Executives - who have a unique role to play in support of the programme
	Management - management support is crucial and can be demonstrated in a number of ways
	Employees - demonstrate their support through participation in the programme
	Administrators - efficient administration is essential for the success of a programme
	Evaluators - who have an important role to play in order to gain maximum benefit from the programme.

ideasUK also provides information on various types of programmes used by member organisations. These include staff suggestion schemes (both centralised and decentralised), team initiatives, recognition programmes - stand alone or run in tandem with a suggestion scheme and informal programmes.

In addition ideasUK provides advice and guidance to assist member organisations in the requirements necessary to either start up a programme or maintain the momentum of an existing one. Some of which are:

	Administration. Who in the organisation should be responsible for the administration of the programme?
	Plans and Procedures. Necessary in order to deliver on the objectives.
	Business plan and Marketing Strategy.
	Links with other quality initiatives operating within the organisation (EFQM, IIP, Balanced Business Scorecards etc,) and how the staff suggestion scheme will integrate with these.
	Inland Revenue Concession. Tax-free awards for suggestions.
	Evaluating the Programme. Making sure it is staying on track.