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[Simon]

As part of an improvement project I've been researching employee suggestion schemes; so far I know they can be a useful source of ideas and they're just ‘one' part of an overall business improvement strategy:

'A Price Waterhouse Coopers innovation study conducted in 2000 claimed 29% of viable ideas come from employees, while 46% come from customers, suppliers and market intelligence. It found a "structured idea management process" - gathering ideas from staff, customers and suppliers - was a major innovation success factor.'

According to ideasUK, the Siemens Standard Drives (SSD) suggestion scheme generates ideas which save the company about £750,000 a year. The electrical engineering giant receives about 4,000 ideas per year, of which approximately 75% are implemented.

A survey of staff idea schemes published in December 2004 by IRS Employment Review ranked the SSD scheme as number one for value of the organisations polled. Pharmaceutical company Pfizer's scheme came second with a value of £250,000, and Chessington World of Adventures' ideas scheme - valued at £50,000 - was third.

I've been trying to find further details of the three organizations schemes to see if I could borrow some best practice, but so far I have been unable to find anything on google. I may try to contact them directly.

A survey by Sheffield University shows successful employee suggestion schemes have the following characteristics:
- They enjoy management support
-  They provide recognition and reward
- They are well publicised
- They are regularly updated.
- Staff involvement in a scheme's design can also improve its chances of success.

A useful list of do's; of course it's never a case of ‘one size fits all' and I understand the success of the scheme will depend very much on the prevailing culture and systems of the organization and how carefully the programme is rolled out and operated. I just wanted some ideas that could perhaps put some detail on the points listed above.

I would be interested in hearing any good and bad experience members have had with employee suggestions schemes either as an idea generator or idea collector.

Regards,
Simon