How to Create an Employee Suggestion System?

What is an Employee Suggestion Box?

Do you want to know one of the most effective ways to encourage your employees? Employee suggestion boxes allow employees to engage in workplace decision-making. Individuals feel more empowered as a result, and they assume more responsibility for their work. Although it may seem self-evident, let's define what an employee suggestion box is: An employee suggestion box is a system for collecting employee feedback in the form of comments and recommendations in order to improve internal procedures and/or products. Successful employee suggestion systems are built on the foundation of employee suggestion boxes.

Your employees' proposals can supply you with major and small ideas and suggestions for improving your company's income, cost savings, customer service, and perks.

Here are a few ways that an employee suggestion box might benefit your company:

Why Do You Need an Employee Suggestion Box?

Giving honest feedback at work isn't always easy. Employees automatically try to adapt their feedback to avoid offending or upsetting anyone. As a result, businesses are frequently forced to rely on antiquated processes and practises. While a suggestion box isn't the most formal way to get employee feedback, it does provide a few advantages over other methods.

1. Employees feel valued

Employee suggestion programmes that function well can boost employee engagement, inspire teamwork, and foster corporate loyalty. Employee morale and overall satisfaction may rise as a result of this. Employees feel more valued when suggestions are implemented or problems are addressed through suggestion boxes.

 2. An environment of free thought is created

Not every employee is confident enough to speak freely. This could be related to a fear of making waves or a fear of being scared in the past.

So, with an employee suggestion box, you can give people who are disenfranchised a voice and foster a culture of free thought.

3. There is always room for improvement with new suggestions

The suggestion box encourages employees to not only find problems, but also propose solutions, and it is a simple and cost-free method to produce fresh ideas, not just for the benefit of employees but also for company ideas.

 4. Increased interaction between employees and management

By providing employees with a formal opportunity to communicate their thoughts, a suggestion box can increase communication between management and employees. Employee suggestion systems that are well-designed allow employees to participate in fleshing out and implementing ideas. This strengthens the bond between teammates.

How the Suggestion Box Should Be?

• It should be mobile:

While the physical form is becoming obsolete, the online, anonymous workplace suggestion box is becoming increasingly significant in today's organisations for fostering corporate innovation and increasing employee engagement. You can make a modern workplace suggestion box by using your company's intranet, letting people send emails without giving their names, doing pulse surveys, and having an online form.

• It should be private:

The employee should have control over the confidentiality of the suggestion. When submitting anonymous input, an employee may choose not to reveal their own identity, especially if they believe their thoughts will be scrutinised by management. Employees who don't want to use their real names can voice their thoughts anonymously in comment areas. Employees can choose to provide their name if they desire credit for a suggestion. Putting their name on their comments gives them confidence that their useful criticism will be taken into account.

• It should be fun and encouraging:

You may transform it into a game or a competition as a way to make it more enjoyable and boost corporate spirit at the same time. When your employees make suggestions that benefit the company, you can award them. Give the entire team a prize if the idea was anonymous.

• It should be shared, commented on, liked:

Allow your employees to share their ideas and requests on their mobile devices at any time and from any location. They can quickly discuss, comment on, and like each other's ideas with the use of a mobile tool.

How to Create an Employee Suggestion Box?

• Decide what kind of system you need.

Providing a secure and anonymous channel for your employees to submit feedback is the quickest way to demonstrate their faith in you. Anonymous suggestion boxes provide one such option, but they do so at the expense of the simplicity and time-efficiency that employees demand. Nobody wants to type down criticism while looking over their shoulder at a scary white box in the corner of the workplace. Instead, it's critical to establish a confidential, safe, intuitive, and efficient system for gathering employee feedback and suggestions. So you need a plan and a user friendly system to start.

• Discover digital tools that your employees can easily access.

The suggestion box is still alive and well, but it has evolved into a digital pipeline for pushing new ideas. This is typically in the form of a mobile app that you and your employees can use on their phones. So take a look at some of the best suggestion box software options on the market to make sure no feedback gets lost in the shuffle. An online suggestion box should make it easier for employees to submit ideas, keep your information safe, make it easier to collect ideas, help you automate reminders, and use less resources than a paper-based suggestion box. It should also be easier to set up and manage than a paper-based suggestion box.

• Make your employees aware of the digital suggestion box.

Let your employee aware of the suggestion box. If it's possible, include the following in your communication:

Why is employee feedback important to you?

How frequently will proposals be reviewed?

Prizes for the best suggestions

It's also a good idea to mention certain guidelines. While you don't want your employees to think you're closed to criticism, feedback that isn't constructive isn't going to help anyone. Request that people refrain from doing so and instead give suggestions for improvement.

• Set topics to collect suggestions.

If you don't want to encourage merely things like "install a pool table in the lunchroom" or "allow us to go home early on Fridays," set guidelines for themes accessible to recommendations. Cost-cutting, quality-improvement, productivity-improvement, process-improvement, revenue-generation, and morale-enhancement are likely to be among them.

• Prepare incentives to increase suggestions.

Implementing a non-punitive culture for speaking up at work can inspire your employees to express themselves more at work. Create an environment where your employees are rewarded for expressing their ideas and bringing fresh ideas to the table. Employees are more inclined to come up with good ideas for the company if they know there will be a reward for them. This also promotes inclusion because brainstorming isn't limited to senior executives.

• Implement ideas and express your gratitude.

If you can get your employees to offer ideas but then don't use any of them, no matter how good they are, it may discourage them from contributing more.

It's critical that you act on the feedback and ideas that have been offered to you; this will make your team feel as if their suggestions are worthwhile and valued.

Above all, remember to say thank you and give credit when outstanding ideas have improved a process. This will get your employees to be more creative, which will make the suggestion box work better.

• Always feed on feedback.

When you get a submission, make it a point to examine it within a certain amount of time. Ensure that all recommendations receive feedback so that employees may understand why their ideas were approved or rejected. Because a rejected suggestion can be discouraging for your people, always congratulate them for submitting it and urge them to keep sending in more.

BONUS: Meet Sorwe, Your Digital Suggestion Box!

Although it is a very valuable action to take the suggestions of the employees, there are some points that need to be considered in order to achieve their goals. Some of these points are the use of digital tools with anonymity, the persuasion of employees about anonymity, the evaluation of suggestions with necessary internal communication studies. With the Sorwe Suggestion System, you can realize all of these points and create a sustainable suggestion culture.