Idea management at EVN

In a highly competitive market, good ideas from the company’s own employees can make an important contribution to increase corporate success.

Since the liberalisation of the energy markets, the social, economic and technological conditions under which EVN operates have been in a continuous state of flux. Within this context, the targeted use of employee know-how and above all their creative potential has become increasingly important. Who should actually know better how internal processes, products and services could be further improved than those people who deal with these issues each and every day?

Apart from tangible benefits such as cost savings and optimisation, the active involvement of the work force in the further development of the company naturally also provides positive impetus to employee motivation and commitment. In order to exploit these opportunities as effectively as possible, EVN reorganised its suggestion management system in August 2000, featuring improved access, greater transparency in respect to the evaluation of the submitted ideas and attractive bonuses.

Ideas pertaining to all areas of day-to-day business operations can be submitted on an ongoing basis. Moreover, special idea competitions repeatedly offer employees the opportunity to submit their suggestions on specially-defined topics which are of particular interest to the company. 

Since 2001/02 EVN’s idea management system has achieved extremely positive results:
 

• Since October 2001, more than 700 ideas for improvement have been submitted.
• EVN has paid out more than EUR 50,000 in bonuses in recognition of the value of these suggestions.

In the current financial year, the idea management system of the EVN Group was extended to include the waste incineration plant in Dürnrohr, in order to best take advantage of the expertise and creativity and employees to optimize the facility.