Microsoft, Apple, Ford Motor Co., GE and Intel were five of the most profitable companies (excluding banks and oil outfits) in 2012, according to CNN Money. It is no coincidence that all the aforementioned companies are also featured on the CareerBliss 50 Happiest Companies list for 2013. Business owners must strike that delicate balance between getting the most out of their employees, while offering enough incentive to retain the talent that brings innovation and profit to the company. Some of the more unconventional strategies may not be for every CEO, but the results are undeniable.

Google And Its 20 Percent Time

Most employees for any given company are actually at work for 45 hours, five days per week. They are paid for 40 of those hours and the other five are unpaid for lunch. But at Google, employees are paid their salary (presumably based on a 40 hour work week), but are only required to work 80 percent of the time. This policy, known as 20 percent time, gives employees the freedom to work on other projects, sleep, daydream or anything else that is legal. Google, America’s third most valuable company behind Apple and Exxon mobile, is not the first company to use this strategy and won’t be the last. Gmail, Google Talk and Google Sky are just a few of the products of 20 percent time.

Art Fry, a scientist for 3M in the 1970s, is the inventor of the Post-It Note. He spoke of the company’s “15 percent time” in a podcast hosted by the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center. Fry said playing golf during work hours helped him come up with the very simple idea. The rest, as they say, is history. Robert X. Cringley, aka Mark Stephens, said HP invented the concept. He described how the company offered 10 percent time after lunch on Fridays, and provided employees all necessary tools to pursue their own ideas. This would basically be the equivalent to American Express allowing its employees four hours per week to dream up ideas about the best business credit cards the company could offer.

BYOD Phenomenon

The number of companies that embrace BYOD (bring your own device) policies rose from 72 percent in 2011 to 76 percent in 2012, according to ZDnet, citing a survey by mobile management software provider Good Technology. On top of that, 61 percent of companies that incorporate BYOD policies are experiencing higher employee satisfaction, according to mobile expense management company Xigo. The survey further found that 45 percent of employees would take a lesser-paying job if they were allowed to use their own laptop, tablet or mobile device.

BYOD is also advantageous to business owners, in that it passes the costs of hardware to employees. The most frequent complaint from CEOs who resist BYOD is security of company information. But more companies with sensitive records, including healthcare providers and financial institutions, have been jumping on the bandwagon, while upgrading their security protocols.

Whether you’re ready to free up time during your employees’ workdays, and/or allow them to use their smartphone for work purposes, the results are undeniable. A happy workforce leads to better production and higher profits.

Author Bio: Matthew Bryant is a freelance writer from Kansas.