I'm presuming you mean 20% personal stuff done on company time? Interesting, although I'm not an employer I would have a hard time justifying paying someone to goof off. :-) Interesting idea though, but just like people that push a 65 MPH speed limit to 75, or breeze through on the "pink" lights, it seems like a company policy that allows 20% goof-off time would get stretched to 30 or 40%.

I think G is simply being realistic in understanding that to push an employee 100% of the time is to have an unhappy employee. Consider also that G has invested in some of the brightest talent, and so it is to G's advantage to have those people exercise and showcase their talents beyond what the employee is normally tasked to do. I know that some of G's products have come from this 20% effort.. sorry, I'm unable to mention any by name, perhaps others here can.

Last night I went to a local pita joint to pick up a quick meal. There were seven employees walking all over each other behind the counter, and the owner was standing in front of the counter, barking orders. Chances are good, very good, that in one month he will have seven new employees. G has one huge advantage over the pita place, and that is the quality of new hires. G hires motivated, intelligent people, the pita place hires high school kids looking for party money. Which group would you trust with 20% of your time?

This 80-20 policy also won't work in many industries. Would it be OK for the postman to leave off 20% of the route? Or the grocery stock clerk to leave a couple of pallets on the floor until tomorrow? The best a company can do in many situations is to allow for a paid break or some other perk.

>>why is then this not accepted across different companies? Is there any other company that does this?

well different companies have different ideas and operate in different way to get the best out of people. and some don't have a concept of this at all.

i remember way back in school we were told that volvo cars were manufactured by teams of people who did eveything on the car, rather than the production line method where each worker keeps repeating the same task ... they believed the workers were more interested and made more effort by using this method because each car 'they' completed really was made by them.

i'm only a very small operation and i'm not as loose as google but one day a week my employes (both of them) do things/tasks that they really want to do (within the confines of the work we do) ... the truth is that the rest of the time their work is somewhat repetitive. IMHO they appreciate this and as a result are happier and i feel we get more done to a higher standard than we would otherwise.

I'm unable to mention any by name, perhaps others here can.

News by Krishna Bharat's 20% extra time, Froogle by Nevill-Manning, Orkut by orkut, ....

The list may go on and on.

one day a week my employes (both of them) do things/tasks that they really want to do

Thats great.

I think everyone wants to do some things on their own, also they work on their own idea with more interest. Top brains will always like to join Google as they not allow 20% for personal work but also finance it if needed. Also the pool of talent provides them the helping hand. Always J of Google.

G hires motivated, intelligent people, the pita place hires high school kids looking for party money. Which group would you trust with 20% of your time?

Microsoft, yahoo, ebay, amazon all must be hiring top guns, why are they not giving it a shot? What problems can it create for a Tech company?

productivity is never 100% for any employee. If they don't have official breaks from work, they lose productivity with email, websurfing, gossip, coffee breaks, sick days, etc.

We don't do the 80/20 split at my company... but we do 90/10. Because of this, we've come up with new projects and ideas that never (or at least not for a long time) would have come to fruition. I personally think it's a great morale tool, especially for developers, and would recommend it everywhere.

I don't Google's 20% is open to whatever the employee wants to do. I believe they are encouraged to be creative and research new ideas without guidance. I have also heard that a lot of Google's top auxilliary products/services have come out this initiative.

Google isn't really telling employees to take 1/5 of their work time for themselves. They're giving their employees an opportunity to think outside the box, allowing Google to monetize their creativity.

They're giving their employees an opportunity to think outside the box, allowing Google to monetize their creativity.

Yes, overall such opportunity is great and motivating. With Google you can have such a great reach too.

What happens in monetary terms? Does they get some special share for such projects or can they run it on their own.

Hmmm, that's a great question and I have no idea. I would guess that the employee would definitely receive some additional compensation if their personal project was taken up by Google.

I've heard that AdWords was one of the things to come out of the 20-time. I wonder what that engineer received in exchange? Whatever it was, I doubt it was even 1/thousandth of 1 percent of what Google has made.

80/20 of how many hours per week?
and are the overtime hours paid or are they hired not per hour but per accomplished mission? ;)

not sure how it is in the US but in europe he law says we are supposed to work 40 hours per week (35 in France AFAIK). I mean a regular employee here.

Good point idolw. I've heard the Googleplex doesn't require overtime for its salaried employees (a.k.a. "unpaid"), but that nearly everyone works rediculous hours, usually 80+/week. I'm sure the 20-time is based on a 40-hour work week, making it much more like a 90/10 rule.

Sounds pretty rough, but I'd still take it for an inside look at the beast.

They are facing a different problem these days, their millionaire employees are leaving plex, a brain drain.

Who owns the product that is created in the 20%?

If the employer comes out with a worker who is happy and a product/service they never thought of, it seems like it is a great idea for the company.