Georgia Company Makes Unique Use of Company Downtime

When SuperGroup Creative Omnimedia, a Web site design firm, was first founded, employees didn't always have enough work to keep them busy, according to this article in the Wall Street Journal. But instead of sending employees home—or to the unemployment line—owner Chris Wallace and the company's co-founders decided to tell staff they could work on personal projects.

Whatever they wanted.

On the clock.

And instead of finding his employees passed out on couches or vegging out to Judge Judy, Wallace discovered that employees were using their spare time to pursue creative interests—interests that would come in handy later when the company was pitching ideas to potential clients. According to the WSJ, Wallace recalls "meetings with potential clients where 40 percent of the work he showed them was done by employees in their downtime."

Granted, this lax approach won't work for every company. But if you've got a talented group of self-starters with some time on their hands, it could be a useful motivation technique. For more ideas on employee motivation, visit NFIB.com's Tools and Tips section.