I agree with Forum writer Jasmine Liew Chia Wei on making it easier for employees to speak up (Remove the fear for employees to speak up at work, March 28).

Years ago, I championed a successful suggestion scheme in our company which gave workers a mechanism to channel their thoughts to senior management directly, via written submissions, bypassing their supervisors and immediate managers. 

Kudos to the general manager for supporting this. The mechanism allowed the raising of good ideas and feedback, which the staff’s immediate supervisors might have otherwise suppressed for self-serving reasons.

The fear of being exposed by subordinates was also a strong incentive for supervisors to improve. 

Not only were the workers and junior staff happy with the monetary rewards for their contributions, but the scheme also created a strong psychological incentive for the managers of those departments to up their game.

Companies that are willing to tap the latent talents of all their employees tend to do better than those whose senior management thinks it knows it all. 

Lee Seong Wee