Sabbaticals - good for staff and business

Alex Blyth investigates foreign work sabbaticals and the benefits to business

Jacqueline Hill had been a management consultant at the Hay Group for six years. She was bored of working for the same company and was about to start looking for a new job.

However, more than two years later, she is still at the Hay Group, happy in her work and as productive as ever. Her employers achieved this remarkable feat of staff retention by allowing her a year off to work as a volunteer at a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Bangladesh.

The practice is becoming increasingly popular. According to research conducted by volunteer travel specialists, i-to-i, 51 per cent of people in their 20s and 30s want to see the world, but 42 per cent of them never do it because they fear they might be out of work on their return.

This is worrying for employers because employees tend to channel their frustrated wanderlust into looking for a new job. Allowing staff time off to volunteer overseas is seen as a way out of the problem.

Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) has run its Business Partnership scheme since 1999. Volunteers from Accenture, Shell, PWC, McKinseys, Boston Consulting, SAP and HP Foods are sent each year on six to nine month secondments in the developing world. Katherine Carver, corporate partnerships manager at VSO, says: “One of the major benefits to employers is that it helps them to keep staff who want a change but want to do more than just travelling for a year.”

Retention is far from the only benefit. Research commissioned by Accenture in 2003 found that 90 per cent of employees felt that it would teach them skills that would benefit them in their job, and Eoghan Mackie, chief executive of Challenges Worldwide, emphasises this aspect. “Each assignment is structured to maximise personal and professional development. Before leaving, volunteers individually with a coach to set goals and on return are assessed against these at regular intervals.”

The skills most frequently mentioned are adaptability, interpersonal communications, problem solving, innovation, and tolerance. As Christine Kent, chief executive at Raleigh International, says: “Training programmes can get very tired and this is an original and effective way of developing your staff, as well as doing good for society.”

The benefit of being seen as a responsible corporate is attractive to many, but is rarely the primary motivation.

For the last decade, Zurich Financial Services has had a programme in India to which it sends about eight staff a year on four-week secondments. They apply their skills in IT strategy, organisational culture, performance management, communications strategy and so on to eye hospitals, disability charities, mental health organisations and others.

Chris Staples, community affairs director, says: “There is certainly a reputational benefit, but it also offers opportunities for focussed skills development, confidence building and motivation.”

Volunteering overseas had a major impact on Jacqueline Hill. She says: “I now volunteer one day a week for local NGOs, and am happy making a difference in that way. It was great that Hay Group gave me the time to volunteer overseas, but it did make me realise how much I enjoyed my life here in the UK.”