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reward and recognition  

Bright Ideas Brings Results


By Bob Nelson, Ph.D.

As a program manager for a nuclear clean up facility located in Buffalo, New York, Kathy Atkinson was chairperson of a committee charged with preventing pollution and minimizing waste of all types in the organization. She knew it was difficult to get the behavior she wanted and even more difficult to show successes when she did.

Kathy decided to set some new goals and create an incentive program to get the desired results she was after. She benchmarked with several organizations including Florida Power & Light, who had previously won the prestigious Baldrige Award for quality. FPL had good success with a program they did in conjunction with the Bill Sims Company and ultimately she contacted them as well for their perspective and help.

Kathy's specific program goals were 1) to reduce waste streams (chemical, radioactive, & hazardous), minimizing or substituting as possible, and incorporating the latest technologies; 2) increase energy efficiency and conservation; and 3) purchase recycled materials.

What resulted was the Bright Ideas Program, which consisted of two parts: first, generation of new, bonafide original ideas and, second, implementation of those idea. At each of these two stages employees received "scratch off" coupons for points that could be redeemed for merchandise selected from a catalog.

Everything was kept simple. Employees submitted a narrative explaining an idea with an estimated cost, benefit and savings that was then signed off by their manager. All recipients became eligible for a grand prize drawing that was done every quarter for a cruise. The more scratch off tickets one received, the more chances they got to win a cruise.

For an cost of $25,000 per year (less than half of what was budgeted!), the program earned a documented $2.2 million in savings and "cost avoidance" the first year and a half, delighting management and written up as an innovative best practice by the Department of Energy. The Bill Sims company carried all inventory, tracked all administration for the organization, and even allowed employee points to be redeemable "forever." One enthusiastic couple took a camping trip using 100% of the camping equipment earned from the program!

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Last chance to catch Bob live in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Dallas this week! Contact Joel, Mark or Nick at 1-800-575-5521 for special client pricing for his public seminars.
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Bob Nelson, Ph.D., is president of Nelson Motivation Inc. in San Diego; a best-selling author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, The 1001 Rewards & Recognition Fieldbook and Managing For Dummies; and a frequent presenter to management groups, conferences and associations. For more information about tax-free recognition and incentive programs offered by The Bill Sims Company visit www.billsims.com or call them at 1-800-690-1860.


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Do you need to improve morale, reduce injuries & work comp costs, boost sales, or motivate your employees to turn in more money saving bright ideas? Are your absenteeism, healthcare costs and turnover spiraling out of control? Our solutions deliver the results you need fast....

For over 40 years, The Bill Sims Company, Inc. has offered employee motivation and recognition programs that have helped large and small firms like yours not waste valuable clock time or money. We provide your business with more than 50 years of employee recognition, motivation and appreciation experience that will help you develop an employee appreciation, employee recognition reward and employee suggestion programs you need to inspire better employee performance, meaningful morale, sales incentive results and bottom-line profits. With employee motivation and morale improvement, you will have sales and performance improvement as well. Through our employee appreciation, recognition reward and employee suggestion programs, your company will continue to improve in employee performance, meaningful morale, sales incentive results and bottom-line profits.

We also offer behavior change programs that will make your work place a safer place for your employees. One client invested $20,000 and achieved $1.3 Million in savings in 9 months alone. Order our free DVD to learn more.