British Airway's Employee Suggestion Scheme leads to £600,000 fuel saving

Thanks to an Employee Suggestion Scheme, British Airways is saving £600,000 a year in fuel costs. 'Descaling the toilet pipes on planes', thus making them lighter, was one the pick of the ideas submitted to BA's online suggestion box. Overall, the savings resulting from the suggestion scheme have totaled over £20 mn, equivalent to the fuel cost of 550 flights from London to New York.

Leadership at the airline were quick to praise employees, with Jonathon Counsell, Head of Environment at BA saying "This really has been a team effort. It goes to show that small changes here and there can add up to significant savings."

Other clever ideas out of the 200 submitted to the employee suggestion scheme, included replacing glass wine bottles with plastic bottles, washing/cleaning the engines more regularly, switching to lighter catering trolleys and cargo containers and the introduction of lighter cutlery.

In our view, the suggestions are practical and well conceived. In contrast, some of the ideas for cost-savings ideas over at BA's competitor Ryanair, are creative almost to the point of being cruel. Here's some of our favorites:

• Charging for the toilet - CEO Michael O Leary is keen on having coin operated toilets introduced


• Charing £70 to change your name - if your name on your ticket is wrong


• NO seats - standup flights!

As you might have guessed we're big fans of Employee Suggestion Schemes here at Vetter. Why not take a free trial and see if we can help you tap employees' ideas and see similar savings to what BA have gained?

Source: Mirror newspaper