Speaking at Business in the Community's Responsible Business Week, Hilton Worldwide CR manager EMEA Caroline Meledo said these 'intrapreneurs' can be vital to organisations, if given the right support.
She defined such employees as people who work on innovative projects, often in their own time, and inspire creativity within organisations.
"These people can be the eyes and ears of the leadership," she said. "If they get buy-in from the top for their ideas they can combine their front-line experience with the business intelligence of the guys who have been running the show for a long time. We often talk about a culture of risk mitigation, but who has a culture of risk taking? These guys can inspire that."
Veolia national innovation manager Julie Angulo revealed the company has a Dragon's Den style programme. Employees can present their ideas to a panel of both internal and external leaders who have the authority to offer resources if it is a highly developed idea which they believe will add value to the business.
Angulo said that this system has the backing of Veolia head of UK and Northern Europe Estelle Brachlianoff. She added that the scheme was seen as a good alternative to traditional idea pipelines.
"We get involved at a very early level," she said. "In the old days we might develop a whole system for millions of pounds before realising no one would buy it. This way we get involved very early on in the process to see if it is viable. We reward success but don't punish failure. It's better to fail often and cheaply than to have one very expensive failure on your hands."
