3M, a multinational conglomerate based in the U.S., currently offers more than 60,000 products to businesses and consumers around the world. 3M has been a pioneer in using discretionary time as a tool for innovation, which is called 3M’s 15% Culture. Since 1948, 3M has allowed its engineers and scientists to set aside 15 percent of their time to work on innovative projects that excite them.
Many inventions by 3M were the result of this allotted time, including Post-it Notes, Scotch Tape, automobile window treatment films, and multi-layer optical films that make smartphone or laptop screens brighter.
Other companies haveutilized the discretionary time program to boost innovation with different
stipulations. For example, Atlassian assigns 20% of engineers’ time to let its employees work on anything that is beneficial to the company. Genentech allows up to 25% of scientists’ research time to be devoted to a problem of their choice. W. L. Gore allows all employees to have 10% of their time to work on projects that are “unique and valuable” products.
However, when researcherscollected data from employees who worked in companies that offered a discretionary time policy, they found that not all employees who were eligible took advantage of the policy. Only those who were highly disciplined with time management did. The main reason for not using the discretionary time allowed was essentially being tied up with normal workloads.
Although discretionary time is a good tool to boost innovation, its utilization rate must be monitored and managed. If the utilization rate is low, regular workloads may need to be lightened a bit, or time management training should be provided.

Bibliography
· 3M (n.d.). Our brands. 3M. https://www.3m.com/3M/en_LB/company-mea/our-brands/
· 3M. (n.d.). 15 percent culture: creativity needs freedom. 3M. https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/sustainability-us/stories/full-story/~/creativity-needs-freedom/?storyid=f0214e0a-d1d6-46f5-a197-ada388bf98fd#:~:text=A%20core%20belief%20at%203M%20is%20that,our%20resources%2C%20to%20build%20up%20a%20unique
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