LABTIME: Giving staff the freedom to explore

At Ashfield Digital & Creative we focus heavily on innovation, whether this is co-creation activities such as “Kollider”, or leveraging the latest technologies from artificial intelligence to virtual reality. We understand how important innovation is as a strategic driver for growth, productivity and the development of our teams.
Inspired by companies such as Google who have a “20% time” policy allowing employees time off to think of ideas that will most benefit Google, we wanted a way of allowing our staff dedicated time to pursue ideas that they wouldn’t normally have time to focus on during a busy working day. We came up with the concept of providing each individual 100 hours of allocated exploration time, or to put it another way LABTIME.
During this time, individuals or indeed teams of individuals, will be able to experiment with anything that intrigues them. This could include investigating new software, looking at activities to increase morale, fleshing out a new working method, or even building a prototype for a future client project!
To ensure success, the Ashfield Digital & Creative leadership team has given three overarching promises:
1. Once booked, time will be ring-fenced to allow working on the idea without distraction
2. We are not going to dictate what ideas to work on
3. We will listen to ideas and provide support to nurture them.
It is very important to us that we don’t limit creative freedom with lots of rules and conditions, so our onl...

Source: Ashfield Healthcare News - December 9, 2016 Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Sarah Edwards Tags: Ashfield Source Type: news