Guides / Employee feedback and voice
Employee suggestion box: ideas, rules and digital options
A suggestion box works when people can see that someone reads it. Most go quiet within months because nothing visible happens to what goes in. Here are prompts to put in front of staff, rules that keep a box alive, and how a digital suggestion box changes things.
Why suggestion boxes go quiet
- Nothing comes back. A slip of paper with no name cannot be answered, so the person never learns whether anyone read it.
- It is opened rarely. When a box is emptied once a quarter, people stop believing anyone opens it.
- It is in the wrong place. One box at head office does nothing for the night shift at site four.
- Handwriting gives people away. In a small team, staff assume the manager will recognise it.
- The prompt is too open. "Suggestions welcome" gets far fewer answers than a specific question.
Twelve suggestion box ideas to ask staff
Change the question every month and put it on the box, the poster or the link.
- What slowed you down this week?
- If you ran this site for a day, what would you fix first?
- What do new starters struggle with most?
- Which piece of equipment is always broken or unsafe?
- Which rule makes no sense on nights or weekends?
- What do customers or residents complain about that managers never hear?
- Where are we wasting money or stock?
- What made your best shift this month go well?
- What would make handover easier?
- What training is missing?
- What do you have to work around every day?
- What would you tell head office if they asked you directly?
Rules that keep a suggestion box alive
- Read it on a fixed day, and say which day.
- Answer every suggestion. On a board, in a briefing or in a reply: "we did it", "we're trying it", or "we won't, because".
- Give it one owner, with time set aside to do it.
- Say what it is not for. Urgent safety problems go to a supervisor or emergency services. Personal complaints go through the grievance procedure.
- Never hunt for the author. One attempt to find out who wrote something ends the box.
- Count what comes in, by site and month, so you notice when a box goes quiet.
Paper, online form or a two-way digital suggestion box
| Question | Paper box | Online form | Two-way digital box |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can you reply to the person? | No, unless they add a name | Usually no | Yes, in the same thread |
| Works for other sites and nights | Only where the box is | If they have a work login or email | Yes, from their own phone |
| Other languages | Rarely read | Only if the form is translated | Possible, with translation |
| Follow-up questions | No | No | Yes |
| Record of what was done | Paper, if kept | A spreadsheet | Cases and actions on record |
An online form is fine for office staff with a laptop. For frontline teams, the difference that matters is whether you can ask a question back and whether the person sees your answer.
Choosing a virtual suggestion box
- Opens on a personal phone, with no app or account to set up.
- Lets you reply to the person and ask for detail.
- Works in the languages your staff use.
- Lets you choose who reads suggestions, by site or region.
- Keeps a record you can export.
- States plainly what is recorded and who can see it. Vague promises put people off once they find the limits.
Suggestion boxes are one of several channels. Our guide to employee voice for frontline teams compares the others.
Where Tellhaven fits
Tellhaven works as a suggestion box that answers back. Each site gets a link or QR code, people type or talk in their own language, and your team replies in the same thread and records what changed. It also takes concerns, not only ideas. See employee feedback software.