The Daily Nation DN2 ­ Friday
Date: 11.09.2015
Page 5
Article size: 193 cm2
ColumnCM: 42.88
AVE: 103791.11
Employee side
hustles can help
breed innovation
By mlllicent mwololo
mmwolo!o@ke. natlonmedla.com
Some call it the side hustle, others call it the side
project, but it's been coined as daylighting — working
jobs on the side while at another one. And for young
creative and IT professionals, it has become a way of
life. The slash/slash generation are best described as do­
it­all twenty­somethings that undertake multiple careers
— often creating brand names for themselves.
Side hustlers have been labeled the black sheep of
the workplace. If they're taking on outside projects, they
must not be committed to the company, right? If they
need extra money, they must not be able to manage their
finances, right?
While those examples are not unheard of, everyone
has their own reason to side hustle. Today, daylighting is
commonplace — perhaps even encouraged.
Professional side hustles keep employees on their toes,
and this encourages product and services development.
This creates a high level of awareness of any emerging
technological trends within the company. Companies that
strive to attract and retain the best talent know very well
that killing side­hustling (especially for IT companies), just
kills innovation.
However, can companies accommodate multiple
interests and passions to further develop the potential
of their employees? Can companies, actually free
their employees from the rigidity of the corporate
policy? It is no longer enough to just focus on work/life
The rule allows employees to spend 20 per cent of their
time at work on "Innovation time off' pursuing their own
ideas that relate to Google and then 10 per cent of their
time on stuff completely unrelated to Google. This could
be reading a book, drawing in Photoshop, or going to a
museum. By doing this, Google gains a loyal employee
by allowing them to do whatever they want without 'Big
Brother1 looking over their shoulder. At the same time, it
captures innovative thinking.
Some local IT companies try to encourage employees
to venture in their own side hustles. The side hustles
keep employees on their toes, and this encourages
product and applications development and a high level of
awareness of any emerging technological trends within
the companies. Killing this, just kills innovation.
Building own business gives employees a legitimate
real­world experience to gain more skills hands­on. For
employers, this can be a source of continuing education
and job training they do not have to pay for as employees
get hands­on skills on how to manage multiple projects.
They also get to notice gaps at their routine jobs and get
to streamline processes at work to get more work done
in less time.
3. Learn business
One overlooked aspect in many companies is
employees who understand the big­picture fundamentals
balance. Companies today also need to focus on the
of the business. Running a side hustle gives employees
work/work balance.
a firsthand look at managing sales, profit margins, cash
Side projects reflect the different interests and passions
flows and customer service. When an employee brings
of each employee. In fact, it is an emerging trend for
that entrepreneur's mindset back to the office makes for
recruitment professionals to investigate if a job applicant
a more agile and sawy team member.
has a side hustle and the specific advantages that this has
Such employees start to see opportunities to improve
brought in improving the skills set of the applicant.
processes and workflows and creative ways to drum up
World over, companies that know what it means
more business.
to have loyal talent that goes beyond work are not
2. Show initiative
suppressing creativity. They are ready to nurture it from
the perspective that a happier workforce is proven to
In the workplace, the ones who get ahead are the
be more productive, and loyal. By encouraging side­
ones proactive about their career paths. Side hustling
hustles, business leaders are making more well­rounded
employees are self­starters and go­getters who improve
employees, whose increased knowledge and experience
on their skills really fast. They thus get ahead of the pack
and bring with them new ideas to the office.
Js bound to give back.
For instance, Google has encouraged innovation and
outside interests with the enactment of the 70/20/10 rule.
Ipsos Kenya ­ Acorn House,97 James Gichuru Road ­ Lavington ­ Nairobi ­ Kenya