Apple’s Blue Sky Program Gives Employees Two Weeks for Side Projects

Tim Cook has made some changes at Apple. Perhaps most intriguing, is the CEO’s approach to his employees. While Steve Jobs was known for sometimes being cruel to his underlings, a new program at Apple gives certain employees two weeks to tackle other projects within the company.

According to Wall Street Journal’s Jessica Lessin, Apple initiated the side-project program, called Blue Sky, earlier this year. Essentially, the system allows Apple employees to work on projects that may fall out of their usual scope of responsibilities.

But Lessin also says Blue Sky is a “far cry” from similar programs at Silicon Valley employers like Google. Apparently, the two-week breaks only apply to a small, select group of Apple employees.

Google’s 20-percent program allows its employees to spend 20-percent of their time on other ideas.