There’s an apocryphal story that an employee once came to Thomas Edison with a good idea. Mr. Edison was so impressed by the idea that he subsequently paid the man, for the rest of his career, to just sit in an office and think all day. Although the employee never had another idea of the same magnitude, both he and Edison, it is said, benefited greatly.
Naveen Jain, the CEO of Intellius, a Bellevue, WA, tech company has taken the message of this story to heart. The company awards $100,000 every year to its employees for their good ideas. The ideas range from mobile apps to internal software applications.
The point is not that Edison and Intellius rewarded employees. Every successful company does that. The difference is that Edison and Intellius are rewarding people for looking forward and not for past accomplishments. Innovation was Edison’s byword and today is no different, innovation still reigns supreme.
While most businesses are not in a position to award thousands of dollars in “idea grants,” they can still be forward thinking in their business strategy. Business owners and HR executives should be looking at the latest products and services and determining how and when these innovations can be incorporated into their existing operations.
Outsourcing and computerization are two of the most obvious solutions to many HR problems. An HRIS can relieve the Human Resources department of many of its most tedious duties. HR can then concentrate on the more important aspects of their jobs, increase efficiency and lower administrative costs.
The future is now but will not remain so. Are you looking forward to tomorrow’s (HR) solutions or just reveling in the past accomplishments?