Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on private firms' and federal agencies' employee suggestion programs, focusing on the program characteristics that contributed to high employee participation and savings.
GAO found that National Association of Suggestion Systems (NASS) data, input from federal program managers, and a Merit Systems Protection Board study revealed that: (1) successful employee suggestion programs included such key factors as management support, continuous publicity, adequate funding and staffing, monetary awards, and responsiveness to suggesters; (2) federal and private programs varied in the extent to which they had those success factors; (3) slow processing of suggestions and unresponsive replies were the most significant disincentives to employee participation; (4) 11 of the 23 largest federal agencies with suggestion programs had automated suggestion systems; (5) in 1987 and 1988, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued guidance to agencies on using computers to improve their suggestion programs, as well as guidance on program evaluation, planning, and administration; (6) during 1987, the private sector generated about 30 suggestions and realized savings of about $50,000 per 100 eligible employees, while federal programs generated 3.9 suggestions and realized savings of about $11,000 per 100 employees; (7) firms generally granted tangible awards as a fixed percentage of realized savings, at an average of $5,000 per 100 employees in 1987, while federal agencies used a sliding-scale formula to grant awards, at an average of $235 per 100 employees; and (8) federal agencies and firms calculated intangible awards similarly.
