By
Keerthi
If you want to know one of the most effective ways to motivate your employees, give them a sense that you value their input by setting up an employee suggestion box. Employees who feel they are part of a company are naturally less likely to leave than those who are unhappy and feel isolated.
Setting up an employee suggestion box can be a great idea. An employee suggestion box helps obtain employee input to improve internal processes, allowing employees to participate in workplace decision-making. As a result, your people feel more empowered and take greater responsibility for their job.
Employee suggestion boxes are the foundation of successful employee guidance programs.
“Great things are never done by one person. They are done by a team of people.” – Steve Jobs
What is the Purpose of An Employee Suggestion Box in the Workplace?
An employee suggestion box can be invaluable for businesses looking to improve employee engagement, especially if employees are permitted to retain anonymity. For example, employees can offer their input regarding work requirements, processes, HR, benefits, etc. They can also provide suggestions that can help their organization enhance profitability.
Here are some more benefits of having a suggestion box in the workplace:
Encouraging Innovation
Gathering innovative ideas from everyone in the workplace can help build a more creative atmosphere. Management teams and HR departments may quickly get multiple perspectives by allowing everyone to offer suggestions or feedback. This will introduce them to a unique set of strategies and ideas, encouraging a modern, evolving workplace.
Increasing Morale
People often feel better about their employment when they have a platform through which they can discuss their ideas about work. Hearing out employees' thoughts and considering their suggestions conveys that the manager and human resource department value their contributions. This encourages a culture of mutual respect and has the potential to increase productivity.
Addressing Workplace Hazards
Having a suggestion box in the workplace helps raise employee awareness of workplace challenges. A suggestion box, especially an anonymous one, allows users to easily express concerns that they’re probably not comfortable expressing publicly. As a result, your HR Department can identify workplace concerns and resolve them early on, preventing more critical issues from arising.
Increasing Participation
Employees may feel more engaged and responsible in their job if management implements suggestions from a suggestion box. They can feel happy that their contribution resulted in a positive change in the workplace, inspiring them to be more proactive and seek more opportunities to progress in their role. When other employees observe that one individual has made a difference in the workplace, it may inspire them to take greater responsibility for improving their environment.
Increasing Self-Assurance
An employee suggestion box can provide a secure environment for the staff to express their ideas and boost their confidence in their professional contributions. Some employees may feel shy or nervous about expressing their views with co-workers during meetings. Being able to write and offer suggestions might be a low-stress approach to cooperating with the HR team.
“Turn ideas into reality”.
How to Encourage More Suggestions from Employees?
Any organization's HR department needs to understand that employees most likely have something to say even if they are quiet at weekly or monthly meetings.
To encourage the use of an employee suggestion box, management should first ensure that employees know their ideas will be respected and not be judged and criticized.
So, how can you encourage your employees to give their suggestions?
Here are 5 tips that are guaranteed to work:
Listen
An excellent way to encourage your employees is to listen to them when they eventually speak up. Allow them to put across their points clearly and thoroughly, and ensure you do not misinterpret their comments.
When your employees are assured that you care about their opinion, you are encouraging them to communicate openly.
Be Approachable
Your staff will feel free to convey their thoughts or challenges to you only if they feel comfortable approaching you. Be more approachable at work; avoid blocks, and be more accessible. Doing this can yield a positive impact on the growth of the company.
Incentive Ideas
You can encourage your people to convey more at work by executing a non-punishable culture for speaking up.
Develop an atmosphere that rewards employees for sharing their ideas or bringing innovations. Employees are more likely to come up with good ideas for the organization if they know there’s a reward attached. Also, this promotes inclusion because brainstorming is not limited to the senior management.
Implement their Concepts
If you motivate your employees to speak up but fail to execute or implement any of their ideas, it may discourage them from sharing their suggestions. It would help if you used the feedback shared with you. This will make your employees feel like their ideas are worthwhile and valuable.
Is An Employee Suggestion Box Right for Your Business?
Having an employee suggestion box allows your employees to share exemplary ideas for workplace changes. In addition, it may create a happy and open working environment when done correctly.
However, before you commit to a formal employee suggestion box, there are a few things to consider:
- Transparency: For an employee suggestion box to work effectively, you must commit to transparency between employees and management.
- Monitoring: The finest employee suggestion box necessitates tight monitoring, including the time and resources required to follow up on exceptional ideas. You can assign ownership of the management and action to a team of HR employees.
- Preparedness: Suggestion boxes may lead to discovering some fantastic ideas; however, they can also reveal some unpleasant things. If you are managing a suggestion box, you must be receptive to any suggestion that comes your way.
Modern Methods for a Workplace Suggestion Box:
The first vision that comes to mind when we hear the word "suggestion box" is a wooden box with a slot at the front for employees to slip in their suggestions on a piece of paper and a small door at the side for the HR to access the same.
However, in this digital age, people are accustomed to sharing their thoughts via social media applications, emails, and only comments rendering physical suggestion boxes impractical. As a result, virtual suggestion boxes have become highly relevant in today's organizations to encourage corporate innovation and increase employee engagement. You may make an intelligent workplace suggestion box by:
- Using your workplace portal
- Encouraging anonymous emails
- Conducting pulse surveys
- Having an online form
How are Virtual Suggestion Boxes Better than Traditional Ones?
A well-constructed suggestion box can improve a business significantly. It can take an organization from point zero to a unicorn level.
Offering employees a way to voice their suggestions and concerns is critical to maintaining a healthy, productive workplace. While the traditional suggestion box has served this purpose for many years, it is a relic of the past. It's slow, cumbersome, and outdated. But with the advent of modern technology, suggestion boxes can now be virtual and tailored to your specific needs.
Virtual suggestion boxes are quicker and easier to use than traditional suggestion boxes and can also be customized to fit your company's specific needs. Additionally, virtual suggestion boxes are more secure and confidential than traditional ones. They can be password-protected and only accessible by authorized employees.
There are several reasons to virtualize your office suggestion box:
- Accessibility: Virtualizing a company's suggestion box is beneficial in a remote work setting. Employees may live or work in a different region or time zone. With an online suggestion box, they can submit input anywhere and anytime easily.
- Paper savage: There are several ways to go green in the office, and one of them is to use a virtual suggestion box to save paper. Employees submit suggestions, ideas, or complaints online using a form or email, so no paper is wasted in distributing or filing suggestions. In addition, employees can see the status of their submissions online, encouraging transparency and accountability.
- Anonymity: Anonymity is essential when collecting feedback. This is because responders need to feel safe and positive that their data will be confidential. Anonymous online suggestion boxes are necessary for building this trust. They also help remove biases, making the process fairer for everyone involved.
- Fast delivery: Virtual suggestion boxes are a great way to collect employee suggestions. They're faster than traditional suggestion boxes and can be set up to notify specific personnel in real-time when a new suggestion has been received.
- Qualitative and quantitative feedback: The data collected by online boxes can help the organization rebrand itself and improve while saving costs.
Finally, it is up to you to develop an employee suggestion box. However, remember that some of the best ideas come from unexpected places! Choose a small panel of judges, and if possible, rotate the members regularly to read recommendations every week or two. Give everyone feedback on why their ideas were picked or not picked, and begin to put suggestions, big or small, into action. Who knows where their ideas will take you if you get everyone motivated and follow through with results.
Using the proper tool goes a long way in inspiring your employees to give suggestions. However, some employees won’t provide any suggestions unless they are sure they can do so anonymously.
Want some more pro HR tips or guidance? Want to give your HR functions the edge to take on today’s competitive marketplace? Trust Exela HR Solutions to help your HR team focus on enhancing experiences for your employees. Exela HR Solutions is a global leader with decades of experience in providing holistic human resource solutions, right from payroll and recruitment to C&B, T&E, and HRBP services. Get in touch with our experts today to learn more about our offerings.
DISCLAIMER: The information on this site is for general information purposes only and is not intended to serve as legal advice. Laws governing the subject matter may change quickly, and Exela cannot guarantee that all the information on this site is current or correct. Should you have specific legal questions about any of the information on this site, you should consult with a licensed attorney in your area