How to Make an Employee Suggestion Policy
Company policies are instituted to make sure that every employee within a particular company abides by the rules and regulations that have been set up to maintain order. However, policies and the workplace itself are always in need of improvements from time to time, and the best way to learn what needs to be improved is by asking the employees. You may also find HR templates
But employees cannot just spit out suggestions whenever they want and management cannot just adopt any suggestion that they hear. This is why there are employee suggestion policies, which this article is going to discuss so you will know how to create one. You may also see Policy Template Samples.
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Tips on how to create an employee suggestion policy
Just about every company, big or small, makes use of employee suggestion programs to gather as much input as they can from their workers that will allow them to make necessary workplace improvements. So, if you are going to set up a suggestion policy for your company, then the following tips should be able to help you out: You may also see Overtime Policy Templates.
1. Emphasize job functions
When you are setting up the policy, the first thing that you have to do is to emphasize the job function. In other words, you want to point out that you want employees to primarily mention problems or concerns that directly relate to the position that they hold within the company.
All employees have their own specific functions and duties as shown in their individual job descriptions, so naturally, you will not expect them all to have the same problems. So, you should point that out in the policy so that everyone who would like to raise their suggestions would be better able to think of ideas that could help them in their work.
Also, employees who make suggestions that are related to their jobs are more likely to mention relevant or pressing issues within the workplace. You may also see Security Policy Templates.
2. State that employees should stick to performance-related issues
You should state in your suggestion policy what issues are relevant for each employee whenever they would like to submit any suggestions. State that it is best that they stick to performance-related issues as the point of having a suggestion program is to work toward the continuous improvement of the workplace.
By doing this, any improvements that will be done via the suggestions will have a direct effect on the performance of your business. Instruct your employees to make suggestions on operational efficiency, customer service proposal, minimizing wasteful practices and facilitating shipments, or anything else that will benefit the functions and operations of the workplace.
Dissuade your employees from providing their own viewpoints when it comes to taxes, compensation, collective bargaining, or even their own personal complaints. The reason for this is because the company cannot really control most of these issues and be bringing them up will do nothing but waste time. All complaints should be handled directly by the employee’s supervisor. You may also see Printable Business Policy Templates.
3. Use one point person
Having a one point person run your entire suggestion program will allow you to minimize the labor costs. Choose someone who can easily communicate with employees and who has the expertise in dealing with this type of program. You can have a professional from Human Resources do it or you can choose a manager or director from the marketing department of your company.
The person that you have chosen may then summarize all of the suggestions to the management team. And, once that is done, all of the people in the management team may then can decide together as to which of these suggestions will benefit the business the most. By having one person tackle all of the efforts that need to be done, this will likely increase the efficiency and responsiveness of the suggestion program. You may also see Privacy Policy Templates.
4. Acknowledge and reward employees
With your sample policy, you want to make sure that the employees know that upper management is actually reading their suggestions. So, it is very important to acknowledge these suggestions in a timely manner. To this end, make sure that those who handle employee suggestions respond to them within 24 hours from when the suggestions or issues are received.
Acknowledge other less pressing matters within a week. Set up a monthly reward system for any ideas that management decides to implement. So, if the employee were to submit a suggestion that greatly improves performance and productivity in the workplace, then you can reward the employee who made the suggestion with gift cards to their favorite department store or restaurant, or you can even give them something like cash rewards. You may also see Policy Memo Templates.
Steps and best practices for creating an employee suggestion program
Although you already have a suggestion policy template, creating a suggestion program that will allow you to gain insight from employees is a somewhat more difficult task. If you create a program that lacks sophistication or one that’s disorderly, then you can either expect the reputation of your company to go down or hostility from your employees. So here are some steps that will help you build your employee suggestion program: You may also see Policy Memo Templates.
1. Determine if a formal employee suggestion program is needed
If you see that suggestions are just naturally flowing through the office or they just pour out during meetings with employees, then you should just consider having an informal suggestion process as that seems to be the most beneficial. So, instead of placing an employee suggestion box somewhere in the workplace, you can schedule brainstorming meetings for employees to verbalize their ideas. You may also see Company Policy Templates.
2. Develop a formal program if an informal one is not working out
Simply put, if employees are not comfortable enough to voice out their opinions or their ideas, then your informal program is doomed to fail. Talk it over with your management team and the person you put in charge of conducting suggestion programs so that you may all discuss the best way to approach this particular topic. You may also like Travel Policy Templates.
3. Develop your formal plan
Do your research and discuss things with your team so that all of you will be able to come up with a plan that will work out best for you and your business. Think of it as an important business plan that will definitely help pave the way for your business’ eventual success. It might help that you do your research on other companies and see how they are conducting their employee suggestion programs. You may also see HR Policy Templates.
4. Have some guidelines on how employees will share their suggestions
You can put in questions such as, “Where were you able to get that idea from?” or “How is this idea going to benefit the company?” Questions such as these can help prevent these employees from venting their frustrations in non-constructive ways. You may also see Return Policy Templates.
5. Promote your suggestion plan
Once you are able to come up with the suggestion plan that your company needs, then the next thing you have to do is to share it with the employees. You have to remember that your job is not just to create the employee suggestion program, but also to have these employees participate in it.
When you are promoting your program, try to share the benefits that the employees will gain in the event that any of their suggestions will actually help the company. You should have people in different departments within the company to help you promote your suggestion plan so that everybody within the workplace will know about it. You may also see Policy Word Templates.
6. Review the suggestions regularly
You, the person you have put in charge of handling the suggestion program, and a staff team have to go through all of the different suggestions that you have received from the employees. It is important that the staff team consists of employees at all levels across all departments. By doing this, you can make sure that everyone will be able to do a proper evaluation of the suggestions and ideas. You may also see Types of Policy Template Format.
7. Follow through with the suggestion plan
If you have taken the time to actually develop the plan yet you are not going to review and respond to any of the suggestions that employees have made, then this will just make things worse in the company.
The point of the suggestion plan in the first place is so that employees may be able to share what they feel can help the company or to make things easier for everyone, and if nobody is actually willing to listen or push through with their ideas, then employers should definitely expect some form of hostility. You may also see Environmental Policy Templates.
Employee suggestions are always going to be necessary if a company would like to keep moving forward, but how employers handle these suggestions is another thing entirely. This is why there has to be a suggestion policy that will ensure everyone follows the proper procedures on how suggestions will be submitted and implemented to ensure that everything is done for the benefit of the business and the employees. You may also see How to Write a Company Policy.
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