Apple to allow employees time off to work on special projects
If you walked into your boss's office and asked for two weeks off to work on an unspecified side project, what would their reaction be? The Wall Street Journal is reporting that if you happen to be one of a select group of Apple employees, you'd be granted the ability to do just that. Tim Cook has introduced an initiative nicknamed "Blue Sky," which allows certain employees the privilege of taking time off to work on special projects not necessarily related to their duties at Apple.
The concept of giving employees the freedom to work on side projects isn't new to tech companies. Google has had a similar program in place for a while now, but what is new is Apple's willingness to embrace this approach.
Blue Sky is apparently designed as a type of benefit addition, allowing some of Cupertino's staff more freedom than they are used to. The program, which was introduced earlier this year on an internal basis, is yet another sign of the cultural shift taking place within the company.
Keeping its top staff happy has become a renewed goal for Apple since Cook took the reins in August 2011, and giving employees some additional breathing room might help prevent the company's hottest talent from looking elsewhere.
Update: WSJ has released the full article here.
[Via Business Insider]
