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JUL 24

Tapping the Creativity of Downtime†

Web-Design Firm Uses Projects Employees Pursue in Their Spare Time at Work to Help Win New Business

Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2008 — In its early days, Chris Wallace's company didn't always have enough work to keep its staff fully occupied designing interactive Web sites for clients. But it didn't want to lose any talent. So he and his co-founders decided to tell employees they could pursue their own interests in their downtime, doing just about whatever they wanted, on the clock.

An unexpected side benefit emerged. Employees spent some of their spare time writing music and building photography and video skills. When the company needed ideas to pitch to potential clients, it tapped into employees' personal projects. Mr. Wallace says he has had meetings with potential clients where 40% of the work he showed them was done by employees in their downtime.

Category: Innovation
Tag: Creativity

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