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| How can you increase the chances that your suggestion will be adopted and you will receive an award of cash or paid time off? Read the questions and answers below before submitting your suggestion. They offer some valuable pointers to success. |
| Any full-time or part-time employee of the Commonwealth of Virginia can submit a suggestion. Salaried employees may receive either a cash award or days of paid leave. Wage employees are eligible to participate and may earn cash awards but not paid leave time. |
| ESP is looking for innovative and creative ideas for making state government better. Winning ideas reduce costs, increase productivity, eliminate waste, improve safety or working conditions, or increase state revenue.
Suggestions are not eligible if they concern taking actions that would be expected in the performance of your job (either your regular responsibilities or a special assignment) or propose changes that
you can implement without higher level approval.
More information about eligibility of suggestions can be found in the ESP Procedures Manual . |
| Some ideas do not fit ESP criteria because they would result in increased costs. Some ideas are ineligible because they are not new. For example, the idea of turning off lights and equipment not in use already appears in standard operating guidelines.
Other examples of using procedures or resources already available are:
- updating phone or computer messages,
- moving or sharing equipment for more efficient use,
- flexible scheduling, and
- various paperless payroll and leave processes.
Revenue-increasing suggestions may be good but are not eligible if they simply recommend increasing an existing fee.
The suggestion form asks some questions to help you screen your own ideas before submitting them. These questions will make you aware of some kinds of suggestions that are unlikely to succeed. |
| Yes. Submit a group suggestion online by checking the box in
Section IV of the Web form and then entering the names of group members. If the suggestion qualifies for an award of cash or paid leave time, the amount will be divided equally among eligible members of the group. |
A complete, accurate, and clear suggestion is more likely to be adopted than a brief, sketchy idea.
- Double-check your understanding of the current situation; if you do not understand and describe that correctly, your suggestion may lack a solid basis.
- Estimate any savings you think your idea would generate.
- Give specific details so that the evaluator can understand your proposal and evaluate it fully.
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| If you provide a valid e-mail address when submitting your suggestion, you will receive an automated receipt notification. This notification assures you that your suggestion has been received and will be considered for evaluation. |
| If your suggestion appears to be eligible and complete, DHRM will
send it to an appropriate agency for evaluation. |
| The Agency ESP Coordinator will receive the suggestion from DHRM and forward it for evaluation by an employee with expertise related to your idea. If relevant, a fiscal officer will review your estimate of the financial costs and benefits of implementing the idea. |
| Measures are in place to ensure that your identity is not revealed to those evaluating your suggestion. Once your suggestion is submitted, it is assigned a Suggestion ID Number. Identifying information, such as your name and e-mail address, is stripped from the suggestion by DHRM before it is submitted to the evaluating agency. Evaluators will know your suggestion only by its Suggestion ID Number. |
| Every effort is made to have evaluations completed within 90 days from submission. Suggestions that require more research, however, may take a longer evaluation time. |
| It is possible that the agency was already in the process of considering the change(s) you suggested. Normally, you will be informed of this as the reason your suggestion was rejected.
In general, suggestions are valid for one year from submission. If your suggestion is within the one-year period and you were not told that it was rejected for the above reason, you may contact esp@dhrm.virginia.gov to request a review of the situation. |
| Cash awards are based on the net savings achieved during the first year of implementation as follows:
| First Year Net Savings |
Cash Award |
| $100 or less |
No cash award |
| $101 to $500 |
25% or one day of leave (employee option) |
| $501 to $20,000 |
25% |
| $20,001 or more |
$5000 + 1% of amount over $20,000 |
Although both you and the evaluator will estimate potential savings, cash awards are based on actual net savings resulting from the first year of implementation. If your suggestion creates a net increase in revenue, the award determination process works the same way.
For suggestions that result in non-quantifiable benefits (improvement in operations, safety, service to the public, etc.), salaried employees may receive paid leave time in lieu of a cash award. |
| State and Federal law requires that taxes be withheld from award checks. An award of leave time will be taxed like other paid leave when it is taken. |
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