Rhetorical or Genuine Slack Time? Temporal Attributes, Barriers, and Outcomes of Slack Time.

OVERVIEW: This study examines the temporal attributes, barriers, and outcomes of slack time in R&D organizations. The study findings indicate that slack time has a waved occurrence, organically arising from downtimes in core work and uptimes in personal creativity. Endemic overcommitment of employees and high perceived opportunity costs prevent slack time from being used effectively in many organizations, resulting in merely rhetorical slack time. The findings suggest that genuine slack time requires formally allocating resources to pay for discretionary time and insulating employees from urgent demands. The study identifies three main outcomes of genuine slack time: (1) It diversifies creativity sources, leading to a spectrum of innovativeness and applications; (2) it increases employee motivation through autonomy and empowerment; and (3) it functions as a cultural lever signaling trust. The study contributes a nuanced conceptualization of slack time grounded in practitioner experiences and offers insights for managing slack time to foster innovation and employee engagement. PRACTITIONER TAKEAWAYS: Slack time manifests as pockets of free time that arise opportunistically during slow periods in regular work and when employees experience personal momentum. Genuine slack time requires that employees are not 100 percent committed to core work and that they are protected from urgent demands during slack time usage. Slack time boosts employee motivation and retention and can contribute to a balanced early-stage innovation portfolio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]