"I pay them to get their jobs done, they do, and I could care less what they do with their own time." That's one of the best answers yet. Anything else is enti

"I pay them to get their jobs done, they do, and I could care less what they do with their own time." That's one of the best answers yet. Anything else is entirely unacceptable. (And reminds me of amazon, worst place I've ever worked.) If they're getting their work done, then you as an employer have no right to complain about what they're doing with their own time and equipment, end of story. Stealing IP is a different issue altogether, of course -- and that's never acceptable. However... the main reason that I pursue side projects is that my work fails to offer an intellectual challenge for me. I get my job done, and then hunt for intellectual exercise in order to keep my brain in shape. Unfortunately, I rarely find that at work.