The Employees' Suggestion Scheme at Ports Customs & Free Zone Corporation wins International Awards from US and UK

EIA is a non-profit service organization composed of members from finance, commerce, industry and government, dedicated to the worth, contributions and benefits of employee suggestion systems and other employee involvement processes. It renders to all members of the Association services which cannot be accomplished by individual members or companies, but only through the collective efforts of all concerned. The Association will support all methods of communication between employees and employer for the purpose of ideas expression and exchange.

"SEER" stands for "Savings per Eligible Employee Ratio". The award is given each year in both the industry group category and by employee size. This award recognizes companies that have obtained high levels of savings per eligible ratio through their employees' involvement in the organization's suggestion scheme. In 2004, PCFC successfully implemented 175 of its employees suggestions which led to a savings/revenue of over AED52 million for the corporation with its single award of half a million Dirhams being the highest reward ever paid to an individual employee by any suggestion scheme in the region.

SRS also obtained 2nd prize in the international poster competition in the ideasUK conference 2005 held in Chester, UK. The scheme was also granted 6 highly commended certificates and one commended certificate from the same association for its short-listed suggestions in the international Idea of the Year Competition 2005.

Commenting on the success of the suggestion scheme, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of the Corporation said, "We believe in constant improvement and a total quality culture. In keeping with our ethos of continuous improvement, we have been encouraging involvement of our employees at all levels in contributing with their viable ideas and initiatives under our employee participation scheme. The EIA's acknowledgement of our efforts is by far an indication of the success of the scheme at both local and international levels and has fortified our commitment towards adopting a truly employee inclusive approach towards our quest for increased productivity and overall excellence."

Established in 2000 by instructions of Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of PCFC, SRS has proven to be an astounding success in achieving its mission of enhancing employee motivation by recognizing and rewarding productive ideas. In addition to its numerous intangible benefits over the years, the scheme has resulted in an accumulated savings and revenue of over AED70 million with over AED1.5 million paid in monetary rewards to the suggestors.