I’ve used downtime to re-write forms my division used to make them more understandable and then presented the work to my supervisor.

Another time, I dedicated two days to writing a program (and another day testing) that cut out most of the repetitiveness out of a project I was assigned to, which allowed me to finish it in 1/3 of the time.
.-= Edward´s last blog ..I’m a volunteer! =-.

And one question: when does a hobby (companies love their people to have hobbies, because it seems the can relax) become a side object which needs to be supervised? And how does the company find out about it if I don’t tell them?

Happy holidays!
.-= Valentina´s last blog ..Cross-targeting: telling a story the customer can relate to =-.

As I pointed out in your “for side work post” bottom line is your loyalty belongs to your full time position. Therefore, you should not take on side work if it’s going to interfere with your day job. Period.

I happen to love marketing and helping people. Most of it is free advice some are paid projects. As a number of people and books point out: If you’re living your passion, it never feels like a job, day or night.

Confession – I deliberately left that reference to money/ rewards to observe reactions.

My personal view is that money alone doesn’t reward/ fulfil us – but is a great mechanism that helps us create more options for ourselves. It is this latter ability that we sometimes loose sight of, as we take high moral ground.

As a business owner/manager, what I can pay an employee depends on my businesses stage of life, as much as the state of economy/ business success etc

If I am a start-up blessed with great people, I may not be able to pay at par with national average. In this situation, I may reward with non-monetary incentives and also support income-supplementing side jobs.

However, most national firms that set benchmarks and pay industry-leading packages, usually expect complete focus on your role with them [implicitly, no side projects unless they're an esoteric, non-business field]

Re alleviating discomfort: I think early disclosure and communication is key – most people stop after one or two conversations whereas creating comfort requires regular reassurance and communication, until it becomes ‘normal’.

Cheers
Anita

> Great point re: the current redefinition of careers. I think that’s part of what’s driving this phenomenon in the first place.

To think about:

If you were a manager (you are, yes?) could you fault an employee for supplementing their income if you paid less than national average? competing firms? If you do social media… How much MORE discomfort would get from employing helping a small, local business by building them a website over say… having a weekend lawn mowing gig?

And is money always that which “rewards us the most?” I’d beg to disagree I think.

I have seen a lot of wariness about side projects because such information has been used to drive side projects.

While nothing illegal may be done/ no clients stolen, I think the ‘discomfort’ it creates in client/agency or manager-executive situations indicates that something’s not quite right.

While the specifics vary, the discomfort leads to people being guarded and eventually a break comes about.

My own views on this are still evolving as we redefine careers [multiple & parallel works lives] and employment contract [real/virtual/4 days a week] etc

My current blunt bottomline is that we pay attention to what rewards us the most – the higher paying job gets/ demands more attention, even if our side-projects are a labour of love.

Cheers,

Anita

Somewhat relating story:

I have a good friend that found out his passion actually was beer. Sure, many of us enjoy beer, but he went far enough as to take on a beer distributor job, and is sent all over to beer tastings. He receives special free samples that we all can try (used to, now he’s engaged and he’s long gone).

He may not have been a high performer in his first job, but when he pursued his passion he became a top performer and loves his new life.
.-= Rich DeMatteo´s last blog ..A visit with Blogging4Jobs =-.

I feel that the top level employees, will only grow stronger. The bottom tier of low performing employees are most likely not passionate at all about the work they do during the day, and therefore their performance probably struggles. So, if those low level employees take on side projects that they would “fall in love” with so to speak, then maybe losing them altogether wouldn’t be the worst thing for the manager/company.
.-= Rich DeMatteo´s last blog ..A visit with Blogging4Jobs =-.