I don't know if you've made your final decision yet, but if you ask me, I know what I want to be when I come back in my next life. I want to return as an employee of SuperGroup Creative Omnimedia.

I understand that the concept of reincarnation does not often figure in the science of career counseling, but a fellow can dream, can't he? And if I may be so bold, may I suggest that once you learn more about this most excellent company, you, too, will want to send off a resume to SuperGroup SuperQuick.

So, why am I so excited by a teeny-tiny Web design company in Atlanta? Why do I suggest that you pack up your button-down shirts and pack in your golden parachute to sign on to Team SuperGroup? It isn't because of what they do. It's because of what they don't do.

According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, the inspired co-finder of the business, Chris Wallace, has instituted a policy where employees are allowed to fill their downtime with whatever activities they choose. That's right! Instead of trying to look busy with worthwhile work pursuits, SuperGroup's SuperLucky employees have carte blanche to "pursue their own interests in their downtime, doing just about whatever they wanted, on the clock."

Sad to relate, the employees of SuperGroup waste their free time with worthless endeavors like "writing music and building photography and video skills." These avocations are not only promoted by the company, but are used to entice new clients into the Omnimedia network. For example, the time the company was pitching for new business from The Weather Channel — they convinced their potential client that they could not only turn pixels into snowstorms, but could also write music for the site.

"To prove its abilities, Mr. Wallace presented the Weather Channel with a CD of employees' original music — and won the business," Simona Covel of the Journal reports.

Not only does the company benefit, but employees with a free pass for their free time also gain new skills to put on their resumes, not to mention a workplace experience that is truly rare in today's nose-to-the-grindstone economy — an "ego boost."

According to Wallace, employees usually spend about an average of one half-day a week on their personal projects, and only occasionally have to be reminded that work for their clients comes first. The only problem, he says, is to "weed out potential hires that seem to thrive on a more regimented structure."

As someone who has spent not half-days, but whole half-decades working on personal projects in the midst of highly regimented organizations, I must applaud the visionary thinking of SuperGroup's management. But I am not convinced that the youthful employees of the company are using their personal time to their best benefit. Writing music tracks and polishing Photoshop skills actually sound like work to me. I say: If your boss is going to open the gate and let you be a free-range employee, why not take full advantage.

What are top three activities to occupy your free, highly paid hours at work? I thought you'd never ask.

Workplace Personal Activity No. 3 — sleeping.

No longer will you have to glue yourself to your Aeron Chair, or prop your eyelids open with toothpicks to look like you're awake. In a personal-choice work environment, you'll be able to get the quality sleep you've been seeking. A well-rested work force will mean fewer workplace accidents, like the time your boss asked you to tell her what you really truly thought of her ideas, and you answered honestly.

Workplace Personal Activity No. 2 — gossiping.

If you think it's fun to spread malicious rumors about your co-workers in your spare time, imagine all the damage you could do if you had a full workday for your rumor-mongering activities. After only a few days devoted to spreading poisonous lies, there are sure to be fights breaking out in the break room and nervous breakdowns in the executive suite. Sweet!

Workplace Personal Activity No. 1 — tunneling.

Sneaking out the back door is a good way to get out of the office, and everyone appreciates the classic false fire alarm ploy to empty a workplace. But given enough free time, there's no reason you couldn't dig a tunnel under your workstation and escape whenever you choose.

Of course, when you have a job where nobody cares what you do, or don't do, who would ever want to leave?

Bob Goldman has been an advertising executive at a Fortune 500 company in the San Francisco Bay Area. He offers a virtual shoulder to cry on at bob@funnybusiness.com. To find out more about Bob Goldman and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.