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Employee Engagement > Innovation > Insights & Trends > Retention

Creative Down Time in the Workplace — Are You Down With It?

I recently read this post about creative sabbaticals on Harvard Business Publishing’s blog. The article, which also features a video of a talk given by Stefan Sagmeister, owner of design firm Sagmeister Inc. in New York City, presents some interesting ideas about our ideas of creative thinking and space in the workplace — and asks how we use free time to refresh and become more productive.

For me, it raised questions from an employer’s perspective as well:

  • Do you encourage “down time” for your employees to help them spark creativity and new ideas?
  • If so, do you have any kind of organized process for this?
  • Do you think it’s healthier for your employees to be constantly busy, or to have opportunities to be idle and think or explore a topic or project completely different from their normal job duties?

I have included the video below; When you have a moment, it’s worth a watch.

Amy Chulik

About Amy Chulik

Originally hailing from Ohio, Amy is a content strategist on the Marketing and Communications Team who has been with both CareerBuilder and the city of Chicago for more than seven years. She writes on a range of recruitment topics on The Hiring Site, striving to bring a dose of clarity and humor to sometimes complicated issues around employee attraction, engagement and retention. In addition, she writes and edits content for the CareerBuilder website as well as CareerBuilder e-books, white papers, emails, marketing campaigns, and anything else that's thrown her way. She is also the voice of @cbforemployers on Twitter. When she's not working, Amy spends as much time as possible reading, writing short stories, eating Nutella out of the jar, waiting for CTA buses and trains, going to see her favorite bands live, dreaming up new adventures, and spending time with people who inspire and challenge her.
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AMS

Wow - really good stuff. I would love to be with a company that had that type of culture and I can see the benefits. Unfortunately I think it is going to take a long time to convince many CEOs and BODs that such an approach can really result in better long term financial results. There is too much focus placed on producing profits each quarter and many companies only pay lip service to "work-life balance"

The younger workforce probably has the most leverage to change this by simply not buying into it. One of the strongest ways to make your voice heard at the top sometimes is to walk out the door of a company where you don't agree with the culture.

Remember even in a down economy - talent can always find employment. don't ever think you can't leave because of all the gloom and doom you hear on the news. Those stats do not apply to educated workers with tech skills.

Thanks for posting

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AMS

Wow - really good stuff. I would love to be with a company that had that type of culture and I can see the benefits. Unfortunately I think it is going to take a long time to convince many CEOs and BODs that such an approach can really result in better long term financial results. There is too much focus placed on producing profits each quarter and many companies only pay lip service to "work-life balance"

The younger workforce probably has the most leverage to change this by simply not buying into it. One of the strongest ways to make your voice heard at the top sometimes is to walk out the door of a company where you don't agree with the culture.

Remember even in a down economy - talent can always find employment. don't ever think you can't leave because of all the gloom and doom you hear on the news. Those stats do not apply to educated workers with tech skills.

Thanks for posting

share
  • spam
  • offensive
  • disagree
  • off topic
 Like

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