Your employees are a gold mine of free money - if you are willing to mine their brains for new ideas.

Some proof: The national organization that promotes employee suggestions [the Employee Involvement Association (EIA)] reports its member organizations get nearly 1,000,000 suggestions from their employees each year. That figures out to more than 20 new ideas a year from every 100 eligible employees. EIA member organizations report average savings of nearly $500 per eligible employee from ideas employees submit. Average net savings per suggestion adopted: nearly $7,000.

With an effective employee involvement program, imagine what your employees could do for you. Average savings of nearly $500 per employee. With 25 employees, for example, an employer who systematically taps the brains of employees can expect ideas worth up to $12,500. With 100 employees, an employer can expect ideas worth up to $50,000 a year!

Imagine how much new money you can free up -or generate for your business or organization -if you'll ask for, encourage, welcome, and reward new ideas from your employees.

An example:

Marshall Hospital, in Placerville, CA, in 1996 got ideas worth just under $300,000 in savings from just 12 employees!

Dennis Bietz is manager of the intensive care unit at Marshall and coordinator of the employee suggestion program. He explains that Marshall Hospital has had a suggestion program for several years, "but we're pushing cost saving ideas now because we have to." Some of the ideas:

• Nurses have to use protocols of care (nursing care plans) for each patient. The hospital was having all this paperwork printed outside. The simple idea - copy the paperwork in-house. Savings: $50,000 a year!
• Attorneys and others ask for copies of patient records. In the past, this copying was outsourced. Again, a simple idea. Do the copying in-house. Savings: Another $20,000 a year.
• The hospital had been using disposable wipes for patients. The idea - switch back to reuseable wipes. Savings: $24,000 a year.
• "We were giving away free coffee in the cafeteria to the staff, to visitors," Bietz says. "It was a tradition. But someone suggested switching to charging for the coffee. We didn't want to do it, but we were spending $40,000 a year giving away coffee." They switched, and are saving the money.
• The hospital had been using large IV (intravenous) pumps to pump IV solutions into patients. The idea -eliminate the pumps, use tubes and bags alone. This change saves $50,000 a year.
• Bietz explains how the Joint Commission (the health care facility accrediting body) and OSHA require hospitals to educate employees on such topics as general safety, fire safety and infection control. "What we did was send people off to classes every year, for three or four hours each," he says. The idea -use a large newsletter with pertinent information, followed by a test. A 30-minute process. Savings in time and salaries: $24,000 a year.

Another example: Dixie Carriers, at its Houston, TX, location, is saving hundreds of thousands of dollars a year with ideas from employees. The Houston location has 250 employees operating 52 tow boats. That's four or five employees on a boat. Though separated into small units, these employees still come up with ideas to save money and improve the operation. Cathy Hooper , quality/office supervisor, gives some examples.

• Hooper tells how cargo is loaded through big, giant hoses. The cargo (chemicals, gasolines, liquid) flows through the hoses. "Some of the liquid would remain inside the hose, dry, and then polymerize into a hard coating," she tells. "We had to get them cleaned out. It was very expensive." A mechanic came up with the idea. Put dry ice into the tubes. It prevents the polymerizing. Savings: $250,000 a year or more.
• The procedures and duties for the captain on a boat are in a manual. The idea -organize these procedures and duties in daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly sheets. Says Hooper, "Now, every duty is right in front of them. It helps them in documenting the duties being done, helps the boat crew learn duties better."

The Dixie Carriers suggestion program is four years old. This past year, the boat crews submitted 60 to 70 ideas.

What Marshall Hospital employees and Dixie Carriers employees are doing with their brains...your employees can do with their brains, too.