Federal Personnel

Agencies Need To Make Greater Use of Employee Suggestion Programs Gao ID: GGD-87-44BR March 17, 1987

In response to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Government Employees' Incentive Awards Program to determine if agencies have established effective suggestion programs.

GAO found that suggestion program activities and results varied widely throughout the government. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) reported that: (1) one agency received 16.1 suggestions per 100 employees during fiscal year (FY) 1985, and adopted 8,940 suggestions at a savings of $71 million; (2) another agency received less than 1 suggestion per 100 employees during that same year, adopted 1, and reported no tangible benefits; and (3) some agencies reported no activity in their programs, while others did not have a program. Although OPM regulations encouraged agencies to provide the necessary resources and establish effective promotion and publicity activities, there were wide variations among the agencies GAO reviewed in the level of management emphasis and resources devoted to the program.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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