Group Suggestion and Reward Scheme for TCO Business Units results in accumulated revenues of AED 64,255,711 in five years

The Group Suggestion and Reward Scheme (SRS) of The Corporate Office (TCO) of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC) and Nakheel that was introduced in October 2000 has proved to be extremely successful, with the scheme resulting in accumulated revenues of AED 64,255,711 in five years.  SRS was initially implemented within PCFC, however, since the beginning of 2005 the scheme has been renamed Group SRS with the aim of covering all TCO Business Units.
The SRS was instituted with the mission of enhancing employee motivation by recognising and rewarding useful suggestions which, when implemented would lead to the improvement of Performance, Customer Service, Quality, Environmental Friendliness, Employee Welfare and results in savings or increased revenues.
To date, a total of 4686 suggestions have been received by the Group Suggestion and Reward Scheme. Of this 3148 suggestions are under process, 1089 have been rejected, while 449 suggestions have been implemented. The total amount of money that has been given away as cash awards has touched AED 1,285,826.
“The success of the Suggestion and Reward Scheme has exceeded all our expectations. When we introduced this innovative program five years ago with the directives of His Excellency Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman, we hoped to increase the participation of our employees in the overall functioning of the Corporation by giving them an opportunity to come up with suggestions that would benefit PCFC on various fronts,” said Ahmed Hussain, Executive Director, Group – Environment, Health, Safety, Security and Privatization Division, PCFC. “We are overwhelmed by the response generated by this scheme and I sincerely appreciate the efforts of our staff in making the Group SRS a huge success. I specially thank Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, for his constant support and guidance in promoting the Group SRS.”
“The Group SRS has not only resulted in bringing in substantial revenues to the Corporation but has also motivated the employees to increase their contribution in their respective departments. The Scheme has helped tremendously in enhancing the productivity and customer service of PCFC, while contributing to environment conservation,” he added.
Some of the award winning suggestions through the SRS include, levying fees for the renewal of import code of all companies, which is estimated to generate an annual recurring revenue of AED 1 million to the Corporation. The PCFC employee who came up with this suggestion was awarded a cash prize of AED 52,000.
An employee from the civil engineering department suggested relocation of the 132 KV sub station that was planned to be built by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) in the north of the Jebel Ali container terminal, to the inside of the container terminal to avoid redundancy of having two sub-stations of the same size in one area. This suggestion has resulted in savings of AED 50 million for PCFC won the employee a cash prize of AED 500,000.
In 2004 SRS won the prestigious Technology trophy in Chester, UK, for the invention of a special measuring tool called the ‘Q-Calliper’ by Subbiah Chandrasekaran. He was presented with a cash reward of AED 20,000 for this achievement.
Another employee suggested ventilation of the gas containers to avoid any build up of gas and to charge AED 60 per container. This resulted in improved environment, safety and increased revenues to the tune of AED 103,973 per year. A cash prize of AED 8,999 was awarded to the employee who came up with this idea.
“Our employees have demonstrated that creativity and innovation can go a long way in increasing efficiency in operations and building the overall image of PCFC, Nakheel and other Business Units, from a global perspective. In the months ahead we look forward to the continued support and participation from employees across all our Business Units, through their valuable suggestions that will result in mutual growth and development,” added Hussain.
The process of making a suggestion should begin with the employee intending to offer the suggestion, discussing it with colleagues or superiors who can help implement it. The suggestion can be related to any activity, area or department within PCFC, Nakheel and their subsidiaries. The first draft of the suggestion should ideally be drafted using the SRS electronic form that greatly facilitates the online submission of the suggestion. The suggestion and solution recommended should be stated clearly, supported if necessary, by drawings, photographs, diagrams and data statistics. The expected benefits should be quantified as far as possible.
In case the suggestion has a ‘Facilitator’, the newly submitted suggestion will automatically be routed to them for comments. The facilitator can request for more details or add his comments and forward it to the concerned Area Representative, who will in turn forward it to the concerned department for further action and comments. The automatic workflow will forward the suggestion as per the actions taken by various job owners until it is finalised – implemented or rejected. All these steps are performed electronically and hence is fast and accurate.
“Further, every year SRS will award prizes for the employee with the highest number of suggestions, the highest revenue generating suggestion, highest cost saving suggestion, the best overall suggestion, best teamwork, best invention and highest number of supervisions. In addition, monthly raffle draws are conducted to reward all employees giving suggestions, regardless of their suggestions being implemented or rejected,” concluded Hussain.