So I was telling you yesterday about this scheme for gap years for adults. It comes from a survey from i-to-i, a volunteer travel service. The headline figures suggest that 74 per cent of businesses would rather see a good employee take time out than lose them altogether, and that 44 per cent of bosses would be willing to pay someone in their absence to keep them enthused.
Reasons for supporting the idea varied, with over half saying a sabbatical would help motivate people and more than half also suggesting it adds to someone's working skills. It will be worth watching as a trend, and it'll be worth looking out for unwanted side effects too. How many people in small business, for example, can afford to send someone off doing whatever they want to without paying them? The answer is almost certainly 'not many' - the business life is all too hand-to-mouth at the smaller end of the market.
So here's a means of incentivising people that is likely to be available only to the larger employers. Is it going to drive the more gifted job candidates away from the small business market, which can't compete with it as a perk? I hope not. But I've got this feeling...
