Curious how many 3M employees are supported or encouraged to use 15 percent time for passion projects that might benefit 3M. A friend recently applied for a lab position at 3M, inquired about 15 percent culture, and was told this benefit was built into the fabric of 3M. I haven’t seen this is practice in over 15 years of employment. Am I alone in my view?
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Spending 15% of my time in the lab, rest is spent on making fancy ppt slide decks, technology road maps, strat plans, growth plans, technologies of the future .......
Does the bankruptcy count?
Only 15% of the total 3M population contributes meaningfully to this company. The rest are too busy perfecting their ppt presentation which content were stolen ideas from the first 15% anyway.
Included in this category are managers and vps, who were promoted because the company doesn't know how to get rid of leaders who are incompetent and received multiple ethics complaints.
Blue tape was what, 1988? And Trizact in the very early 90s. Sure, it's post-Post-It but not exactly recent.
I'll add to the list: (in addition to MOF and PSG)
Filtrete
Command
'Blue' tape
Silicone medical tapes
Trizact abrasives
Nonwoven diaper hook and loop
All introduced clearly after the Post-It era, all breakthroughs in their markets.
MOF snd PSG, I believe
when was the last time 3M had a breakthrough innovative product since the Post-It era?
I wonder if that has much to do with lack of innovation. We are too busy maximizing class3 and no focus or support for new new.
It’s alive but only in corp or staff labs. A division lab would laugh at the thought of someone having the free 15% of time to goof around.
When I asked my boss about it he said that is what weekends are for and that if I have time to ask the question I'm not busy enough.
In Austin, it's considered a joke. Our empty suit leader parrots that message to eyerolls.
They just removed the LTI for certain groups. They can adjust and work 15% lesser
15% time is a joke now. Maybe 3M has laid off 15% or more, I’ll give them that. But long ago, 15% time used to be ingrained into the culture so much so that it was running through your veins. Now, there’s just 3M forever chemicals running through your veins whether you work for 3M or not.
A thing of the past. By the numbers—They cut our teams 15 % on 15 different occasions in the last 5 yrs, leaving us with 0 15 % time
You can use your 15% time, of course! But you'll need to find a way to carve it out of the 100+% of your time that you are spending on doing your job plus the jobs of people who've been laid off, on daily emergencies, and in stupid long meetings that could have been an email.
Wait, does your 15% project require money for supplies or equipment or prototypes or, god forbid, travel? Yeah sorry, that's not in the budget.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, HAHA. follow the playbook
Lip service was paid, but never encouraged or given time for it
I am with 3M coming to 30 years and I can say that I don't see any 15% innovation work. With the recent trial and error organization structure, I would say it's 15 % normal operations while 85% constant restructuring to find the operating model. A3M...sounds familiar?
"It's dead Jim"
Consistent decline since 2008 or so. Died somewhere around 2018.
New 3M 15% culture definition : Every year, at a minimum, lose 15% workforce, reduce 15% worker benefits, and degenerate 15% moral values.
A sad demise of a once proud American Midwest company with loyal workforce. The rot started decades ago and we are witnessing the train wreck in slow motion. Camera - Roll - Action … sigh….
“15% time” is a fiction that hasn’t truly existed at 3M for a quarter century. The same can be said for “McKnight principles” which are relics of a bygone era. The current 3M culture is devoid of any creativity, risk-taking, or any investment in anything. Mass layoffs resulted in the remaining 3Mers spending their 15% time scrambling to keep outdated (or broken) systems, processes, and factories barely up-and-running as the company heads toward the abyss.
Depends on the level of enthusiasm by your lower level management.
I work from home and spend about 15% of my time on work.
17 years in 3M and I havent seen