My current employer has a standard "you own anything you do in your spare time, as long as it's not done on work equipment" clause in the contract. Quite a few people here have side projects, discussion about them is open, and the culture is that of respect for these people and the projects. I get the impression that the company likes people with the motivation and energy to engage in side projects, and practically encourages them.
It's admirable how your employer has the contract clause excluding ownership of any work you do on your own time, on your own equipment. To me, that seems like it should be the standard, common sense.
I noticed Dunbar's number (~150 people) is sometimes mentioned, to attempt to explain how trust in relationships break down in large corporations.
I'm curious, may I ask roughly how big your employer is?
Thank you for answering. I just saw your profile - seeing where you work, I feel a bit silly for so casually asking the question!
The topic of company ownership/copyright on employee side projects seem even more relevant in the gaming industry, where - I imagine - there must be a lot of code/library reuse, common patterns and concepts, where side projects could easily overlap with products.
On one hand, I can see that from a management/legal perspective, it could be difficult to justify the risk, especially as the company scales beyond tens or hundreds of Dunbar-sized social groups.
My impression is that companies founded and managed by programmers tend to have respect and trust for the work being done, with understanding that life-long programmers (in contrast with those just doing it as a job) always have side projects going on - and that such projects are perfect playgrounds for learning, exploration of ideas, creativity and innovation.
