Home topics workplace hr-and-staff Managing News Staff Managing Cru Digital gives staff ‘Google time’ – 10 hours to do whatever David Olsen December 22, 2010 Brisbane based small business and digital agency Cru Digital is giving staff 10 hours a week ‘creative time’ to encourage creativity in the workplace. The concept is based around Google’s ‘20 percent time’, which allows employees to spend a fifth of their working week on projects of their own choosing. “Cru has a reputation for innovation and creativity and we never stop pushing the boundaries,” Cru’s general manager Rob Ryan said. “To help manage that creative culture, staff get 10 hours a week to carry out research, develop ideas, finish off things that they think they need to get up to standard and support each other. “We ask our designers to get out to galleries, shows and exhibitions and to talk between themselves about what they see.” Employees at Cru, recognised as one of the top 10 digital agencies in the world, visit galleries such as the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), participate in Australian Interactive Media Industry Association events and research websites awarded for their cutting edge creativity. Mr Ryan said the concept gave designers and developers the time to study new trends like HTML5 – a new version of HTML and XHTML, which is being used to build sites for clients unwilling to use Flash. He said creative time had also led to the development of Snapp CMS – Cru’s own partner-centric,