When HR exec Peter Tortorice came to his company, the suggestion box was something most employees avoided. One change, however, turned that around and resulted in great responses.
What we did
Our employee suggestion box was gathering dust, and we thought we knew why.
We had asked employees to give us any idea they could think of for improving the environment here or changing a policy. Most of the ideas were, honestly speaking, a bit farfetched and of little value.
To try to stoke enthusiasm, we handed out small awards even when an idea didn’t make the cut, but that didn’t seem to help much.
Then, during a meeting where we were trying to solve a narrow problem, it hit me: Maybe we needed to narrow our approach.
The campaign trail
With that in mind, we relaunched our suggestion box with a themed three-month campaign focused on getting suggestions for cutting costs.
We got lots of good ideas, and a couple really made a difference. So we gave out awards and then we moved on to the next themed three-month campaign: improving our retirement plan.
Again, good ideas flooded in. And they keep coming in every time we run a new campaign.
It’s hard to explain why the new system works so well, except that maybe when we provide direction, people are better able to formulate good ideas.
Whatever the reason, we’ll accept the results.
(Peter Tortorice, HR administrator, Chicago)
