Companies in industries from tech to retail to hospitality have found a novel way of getting their employees to be more productive: They let their staff pursue their passions, on company time. It may seem counterintuitive, but by allowing personnel the opportunity to do anything from volunteer to create a fully operational nonprofit, firms are giving their people a chance to connect with their communities, learn new skills, and come back to the office energized and invigorated.  In this episode of Productivity Confidential, we talk to Richard Achée, global technology partnerships lead on the Google Chrome enterprise team, about his experience in Google’s famed “20% Time” program, where employees can use a full fifth of their time to pursue personal projects. Achée discusses his own 20% Time project, how its helped him do his day job better, and how other companies can let their staff follow their dreams without hurting the bottom line.

Secrets Of The Most Productive People

Productivity Confidential: Productivity with a Purpose

Impostor syndrome is something that cohosts Pavithra Mohan and Anisa Purbasari Horton have had to battle throughout their professional lives. But as they both discussed on this week's episode of Secrets Of The Most Productive People, it never quite goes away. They learned that rather than trying to make it disappear, they needed to learn how to act in spite of their impostor syndrome tendencies. Mohan also spoke to Fast Company contributor, and author and CEO of The Memo, Minda Harts, about why impostor syndrome is especially prevalent to women of color and under-represented minorities in the workplace. While there are things that individuals can do to not let impostor syndrome get in the way of their success, workplaces also have a responsibility to ensure that they are creating a better and more inclusive culture.

How to Beat Imposter Syndrome

Innovation in employee benefits has a long history. Take sabbaticals, a benefit that began in academic institutions. These long breaks allowed professors and researchers to take time off to pursue personal projects or simply recharge their creativity over the course of several months off. Those novel approaches are slowly inching themselves into the corporate world and companies from Patagonia to McDonald’s to Intel. And it’s not just sabbaticals that are growing in popularity, perks like unlimited PTO, 4-day work weeks, and company-funded personal experiences are becoming more widely accepted across industries. Company leaders see these perks as a way to give back to loyal personnel, and employees are increasingly searching out organizations that are embracing new approaches to time off.    But it’s not as simple as awarding staff a bundle of PTO and walking away. How do you pick up the slack for key team members when work hours aren’t the same as extended leave? How do you decide when an employee is eligible for different tiers of perks? And how do you measure the “performance” of such unique benefits? In this episode, we talk to Mike DeFrino, CEO of Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, about the benefits he’s implemented, the challenges they present, and how these benefits help keep employees engaged.

Productivity Confidential: The Employee Engagement Boost

In Season 1 of Secrets of the Most Productive People, we examined why people found it so difficult to focus in an open office. This week, we try to figure out how beat the distractions that make open office work so hard. Fast Company editorial assistant, Talib Visram, tried out three different methods to combat open office distractions and then reported back to co-host Pavithra Mohan on what he learned, what he'd do differently, and how effective each method was in helping him be more productive.

How to Beat Open Office Distractions

On this bonus episode of Secrets of the Most Productive People, Fast Company assistant editor, Pavithra Mohan, and Fast Company staff editor, Julia Herbst, break down the pros and cons of where we get our work done. Open offices have become common place in many industries. While they may give you an opportunity to collaborate at a higher level, you can't always shut out the distractions when you need to get a solitary task done. You can always work from home to beat the distractions, but what are the downsides? Leave Secrets of The Most Productive People a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. You can follow Fast Company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

More Productive Mondays: Where is the best place to get work done

On this episode of Secrets of the Most Produtive People, Scott Mebus, VP of video and podcasts for Fast Company and Inc., shires his longtime battle with getting enough sleep with co-host Anisa Purbasari-Horton. Some of his issues include a long commute, having a son who is an early riser, and the day-to-day stress of modern work life. He spoke to Dr. Janet Kennedy, psychologist and founder of NYC Sleep Doctor, about what we can all do to get a little bit more shut-eye. Subscribe to Secrets of the Most Productive People on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts

How to Get More Sleep

Winning a Formula 1 race is about more than pure speed. Drivers, pit crews, and team managers need to make hundreds of decisions in the blink of an eye, all while flying around a winding track at speeds up to 200 miles per hour.  For decades, those decisions were driven by instinct and experience. But modern Formula 1 races are increasingly driven by technology and information, with teams analyzing massive data sets to uncover advantages that can mean the difference between standing in the winner’s circle and coming up a few milliseconds short.  Christian Horner, team principal of Red Bull Racing, knows more about what it takes to lead a winning Formula 1 operation than almost anyone. In this episode of Productivity Confidential, we talk to Horner about staying cool under pressure, how data has revolutionized racing, and what it takes to keep a winning team hungry.

Productivity Confidential: Productivity @200mph

Secrets of the Most Productive People returns in February 2020 with Season 4. In the meantime, make sure to catch up on episodes you might have missed on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What to Expect in Season 4

This week's episode is all about YOU. On this bonus episode of Secrets of the Most Productive People, Kate and Anisa answer your most pressing questions about your career, the workplace, and all those other awkward job-related topics. Subscribe to Secrets of the Most Productive People on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts

Secrets of the Most Productive People answer your questions!

Doctors and nurses have to remain productive under pressure. Their decisions are quite literally life-and-death, and quick access to patient data is vital to making informed decisions about patient needs. For years, that data was managed on pen and paper, but the recent revolution in healthcare data has fueled a technology-driven revolution in how healthcare providers do their jobs. On this episode of Productivity Confidential, we talk to Dr. Anil Jain, chief health information office of IBM’s Watson Health initiative, about how data is creating a brand new frontier of care from state-of-the-art hospitals to rural medical centers around the world.

Productivity Confidential: Data and Doctors

If you've ever attempted to meet an ambitious goal, you're probably familiar with just how difficult it is to change your habits. You're also probably aware of how much influence the mind has in determining whether or not you'll be successful in that endeavor. Some days, it feels like your brain corresponds with your body and your actions. Other days, it feels like they don't want to do anything to comply. In a bonus episode for Secrets Of The Most Productive People, recorded live at the Fast Company Innovation Festival, we hear from neuroscientist and Fast Company contributor Tara Swart, as well as author and behavioral designer Nir Eyal, as they talk about the relationship between our brains and our actions. We debunk misconceptions like the right brain/left brain concept and the (false) belief that you only use 10% of your brain. Subscribe to Secrets of the Most Productive People on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts.

LIVE from FCNY 2019 : How to train your brain to make a habit change

Productivity and creativity have always been talked about as if they’re two sides of the same coin. You could only be creative if you didn’t have to think about productivity and vice versa. Joe Brown, senior portfolio director at legendary design firm IDEO, thinks that conventional wisdom is faulty. Brown has spent years not only designing products but designing the systems in which those products live, and he’s learned that creating an infrastructure that separates your creative and productive work is less than the sum of its parts. In this episode of Productivity Confidential, we talked to Brown about where creativity and productivity meet—and how technology is making that convergence clearer than ever.

Productivity Confidential: Productive Creativity

Once revered as a magical work-perk, unlimited vacation has become a polarizing debate among office dwellers. The concept that an individual worker can choose how much vacation they are allowed to claim has inspired passionate opinions on what’s appropriate for workers to expect, what a company hopes for in offering something so elusive, and why any of these opinions matter in the first place. On this BONUS episode of The Secrets of the Most Productive People, Host Kate Davis is joined by the VP of Video and Podcasting, Scott Mebus, to face each other head-to-head and defend their personal stance on unlimited vacation.  Subscribe to Secrets of the Most Productive People on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Is unlimited vacation as great as it sounds?

After years of fighting tooth and nail for it, the labor movement in America finally won the battle for the 40-hour work week. Workers were no longer expected to work day and night without fair compensation. It was a victory that changed the way we think about work, and the modern work week was born.  That was nearly 80 years ago, and since then there hasn’t been much of a discussion about whether or not, with the rise of next-generation technology, it’s still a valuable guide rail for the majority of workers. But, business leaders are beginning to look critically at whether the traditional work week is worth maintaining with all the new technology available to keep employees engaged, and the results have been satisfying. On this episode of Productivity Confidential, we talk to Natalie Nagele, cofounder of Wildbit, about her mission to institute a 32-hour work week in her company and why sometimes the best thing you can do for a company’s success is telling employees to stop working so hard.

Productivity Confidential: Can a Four Day Work Week Work?

Of all the decisions that you'll have to make over the course of your career, one of the biggest is when it's the right time to leave a job? Like many career decisions, the answer isn't straightforward. As we discuss in this week's episode of Secrets Of The Most Productive People, some signs are more obvious than others. For starters, a toxic workplace is almost always never worth staying in. When a role or company no longer offers you the opportunities to grow, it might be time to look elsewhere. And when your job starts to impact other areas of your life in a negative way, you should, at minimum, assess the possibility of change. If you have a problem in your career or on the job hunt, tell us about it. Leave us a voicemail at ‪(201) 371-3278 or tweet with #FCMostProductive and we will find an expert to answer your question. Subscribe to Secrets of the Most Productive People on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts.

When is the right time to quit your job?

Fast Company deputy editor Kate Davis and assistant editor Anisa Purbasari Horton help listeners try to figure out how to work smarter instead of harder and dissect exactly how to get it all done.

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Secrets Of The Most Productive People

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