Improvements Through Gainsharing

Winter Haven program brings creative ideas for city operations

by Kelli Gemmer, Florida League of Cities

Florida’s cities are committed to continuous improvement, and sometimes all that takes is a bright idea. This entrepreneurial spirit is the essence of the City of Winter Haven’s Bright Ideas Innovation Program. The new program, which launched in April, involves the practice of gainsharing, where employees are incentivized to share ideas that benefit an organization or community.

“The employees closest to the work know best how to get that work done,” said City Manager Mike Herr. “Gainsharing is a way of rewarding employees for ideas that improve customer service, save money or create efficiencies.” Inspiration for Bright Ideas came from a similar program that Herr led when he served as County Manager at Polk County. It was named the Suggestions Help Increase and Nurture Excellence (SHINE) employee suggestion program.

Bright Ideas was formed as part of Winter Haven’s commitment to becoming a city that can tap into the innovative capacity of the people who live and work there. This commitment began three years ago when the City completed a strength, weakness, opportunity and threat (SWOT) analysis to identify key areas the City could improve on. As a result, Winter Haven formed five teams of employees, called Key Result Area (KRA) Teams, tasked with shaping the future of the City. Team Two, dedicated to process improvement and innovation, included staff members from different departments, from police to fire to planning. They collaborated to create Bright Ideas.

“Gainsharing has been a focus with private companies, but I think it is a revolutionary concept for local government,” said Rob van Druten, Business Technology Support Manager and KRA Team Two Leader. “We’re trying to build that entrepreneurial spirit and culture by innovating and being progressive in our initiatives.”

Joanna Pena, Winter Haven’s first employee to submit a Bright Idea.

To collect these shared ideas, the City has partnered with Ideawake, an idea management software made specifically for innovation. Winter Haven is the first government entity in the United States and the second in the world to use this platform. The clear and easy system allows employees of any level or department to share their city improvement ideas as an individual, team or department.

The software, which supports more than 500 users, costs approximately $17,000 annually and comes from the City’s information technology budget. The initial amount budgeted for gainsharing is $15,000 and comes from the human resources budget, with a line item for organization effectiveness. Employees whose adopted ideas demonstrate cost savings or increases in revenue are eligible for a gainsharing amount of 10% of the first year’s projected net savings or generated revenue, with a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $3,000. Adopted ideas that demonstrate productivity improvement or cost avoidance are eligible for a gainsharing amount of 5% of the first year’s projected savings attributable to the cost avoidance, with a minimum of $50 and a maximum of $1,500. Adopted ideas that improve customer service or safety but have no measurable cost savings or cost avoidance are eligible for $100.

The program is led by an Innovation Team that monitors the submissions daily and provides mentorship and feedback at every step of the process. The program also offers a degree of transparency within the City. Submitters can see where their idea is in the process and all the other ideas that have been submitted. They also receive notices as their idea moves through the process and can comment and provide feedback on submissions on the platform, encouraging cross-departmental communication and collaboration. For employees who aren’t comfortable with technology, the City hosts Innovation Sessions, where staff members walk employees through the process.

Ideas generated move through a six-step process:

1. Employees submit a short description of their idea on the platform or at one of the in-person Innovation Sessions.

2. The employee works with innovation advisors to create a prototype of their idea.

3. The employee further develops their idea into a complete business case. Innovation advisors and subject matter experts are available to mentor and assist this process.

4. The employee presents their business case to the Bright Ideas Innovation Review Committee. The Committee evaluates the business case and prototype carefully and determines if the idea is ready and eligible for implementation.

5. The employee helps lead the implementation of their idea.

6. The employee receives their gainsharing award.

In addition to improving customer service and being financially responsible with cost-saving and cost avoidance measures, the program also aims to involve the community in vetting ideas. Members of the community, particularly subject matter experts, serve on the Bright Ideas Innovation Review Committee alongside city staff members.

Since the program’s launch, the City has had 25 ideas submitted by 21 employees, and 77 employees have signed in and created their innovation accounts. Ideas have included virtual reality for police training and a digital budget book to better digitally serve residents and improve transparency. The City will also maintain an archive of ideas that aren’t moved forward right away.

The Bright Ideas program is a long-term initiative that is here to stay, said Hiep Nguyen, Smart City Officer. “I foresee it being part of our DNA. It’s a part of what we do, how we onboard new employees and how we attract and retain talent. It’s a confluence of many things that we want to achieve,” Nguyen said. “These ideas have been floating around. People just needed a space to share them.”

This new initiative not only amplifies the voice of the City’s employees and provides incentives for their engagement, but it also benefits Winter Haven residents. Connie Minich, Organization Development Specialist, said, “Being an entrepreneur, having the capability to be creative and innovative together as a team, no matter what department you work in, we know is a win-win for us as a city, for our employees, as well as for our citizens and community.”

Kelli Gemmer is the Assistant Editor for the Florida League of Cities.