Tap The Power Of Employee Ideas

 

Many employees have more to contribute than the specific work for which they are paid. Store 24, a 47-outlet retail chain with headquarters in Waltham, Mass., has set up three programs designed to tap employees for good ideas:

"HOT LINE." Comment cards and posters are placed in all stores. Any card an employee submits receives a response from management and, if an idea is used, the contributor receives $50. "I've been surprised that most cards are suggestions rather than gripes," remarks Steve Brady, Store 24's personnel manager, who says suggestions range from energy saving tips to better ways to streamline the payroll system.

"NAME DROPPERS." Any employee who recruits a new worker who remains with the company for 90 days receives $25 and a company T-shirt.If that new worker becomes a manager, the "name dropper" receives $100 and, if the manager stays six months, an additional $250. Says Brady: "One cashier wanter to quit but decided to stay another amonth until the employee she had recruited had been with us 90 days. She never left and is now a manager."

"SITE LOCATORS." An employee who locates a site on which the company eventually opens a new outlet is paid $1,000. "It's a lot cheaper than paying a real estate broker's fee," says real estate manager Dick Nilo, who provides workers with detailed specifications for an ideal store site.