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The Times of India Monday December 31, 2007
Bumper year for city in IT hiring |
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The Hindu Business Line Monday December 24, 2007
De-risking the staffing business |
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The Economic Times Thursday December 12, 2007
Career detours:Pursue dreams amid sabbatical breaks |
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The Economic Times Thursday November 29, 2007
Rupee blow : IT cos to go slow on hiring support staff |
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The Hindu Business Line Monday November 26, 2007
Building high performance teams |
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The Economic Times Tuesday November 13, 2007
IT giants fine-tune bench management |
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The Hindu Friday November 2, 2007
IT companies tighten purse strings to cut costs |
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Times of India, Sept 17, 2007
Indian tech campuses turn melting pots of diversities |
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Times of India, August 23, 2007
IT companies create shadow talent pool |
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Economic Times, August 22, 2007
IT companies show the door to deadwoods |
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Times of India, June 26, 2007
Bubble CEOs’ fill vacuum on top |
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DNA, June 15, 2007
Men are top job ditchers, women loyal, says study |
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Economic Times, May 28, 2007
Recruitment Sector gets into M&A mode |
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Times of India, May 03, 2007
Women slam move to ban night shift |
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Business Line, March 06, 2007
Venture Capital firms' move to recruit, retain talent |
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Business Line, March 01, 2007
Union Budget 2007-08 for Women |
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Times of India, Feb 22, 2007
Talent also has a shelf-life |
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Career detours: Pursue dreams amid sabbatical breaks |
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The Economic Times |
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December 12, 2007 |
"We have requests from people who want to take a career break. This trend is new in India and is limited to people with a lot of experience"
Want to take a career break without losing your job in the current company? Want to go globetrotting, explore your creative skills, upgrade your technical skills, teach or go for higher studies. If you have been waiting to fulfill any of your personal goals for long, then sabbatical could be your answer. Sabbatical is a voluntary arrangement whereby your employer might give you time off work — paid or unpaid — over and above your usual leave allowance.
For instance, J Sasidhar who founded Dharma Systems, an IT company in the US, has returned to India on a three-year sabbatical to set up a high-end furniture store chain under the name Mon Chateau. He says, “After 25 years in the IT industry I felt my job didn’t offer me any new challenges and I wanted to explore my creative skills. So I decided to return to India and do something different.”
Sabbatical is a prolonged hiatus, generally ranging from six months to a year in an individual’s career. Globally, sabbatical, paid or unpaid, is a very popular concept. In India too, the concept is slowly becoming popular among IT professionals. While some IT companies like IBM, Infosys and Accenture offer sabbatical leave ranging from one to two years, other companies provide sabbatical leave on a case-to-case basis. Hyderabad-based Satyam Technologies provides sabbatical leave based on merit. The company usually gives sabbatical leave for higher education depending on some parameters such as duration of the leave and how critical the employee is to the organisation.
“In India, sabbatical leave boils down to higher studies as against global practices where people take sabbatical for various reasons such as pursuing a hobby, for travelling, for doing research or for teaching in a university.
Women employees in India take sabbatical leave to relocate with their husbands. Also, companies give sabbatical option to employees who have been with the company for five to seven years at least. And the reason for taking paid sabbatical leave should in some way lead to value addition to the current job profile,” says E Balaji, COO of Ma Foi Management Consultants. Higher pay packages also helps in taking unpaid sabbatical leave for a few months.
Infosys Technologies gives the option of taking leave for a year after an employee has been with the company for a few years. Besides higher studies, many IT professionals, particularly women employees, also take sabbatical leave to spend time with their families. “These days people take a few months off from work to pursue their hobbies. A lot of people want a change in their lives after a few years of work. It is a common practice among both men and women,” says Nirupama VG, managing director of the recruitment firm Ad Astra Consultants.
As international HR recruiting firms enter India to tap into the growing talent market, India Inc is likely to not view the sabbatical breaks as ‘unprofessional’, which has been the case in the past.
The biggest fear for people keen on taking a sabbatical is of the image it gives future employees. India is still a country where ‘temporary’ job profiles are looked down upon and permanent profiles are preferred. It is an attitude that still confronts temporary staffing majors in the country. Says an HR expert, “Offer an employee a temporary project versus a permanent job, and he will go for the permanent post.”
But the good news is that although the numbers may be few and far between, it is a trend that is finding its way into corporate boardrooms. Says Pravin Chand Tatavarti, managing director of the global HR company Allegis, “We do have requests from few people every year who want to take a break in their careers. However, the trend is still new in India and is limited to people with some years of experience.”
Sabbaticals are also popular with people in other professions. People who choose to take sabbatical leave vary from freelancing writing projects and editorial assignments taken up by women on a break to consulting assignments and project roles handled by CXOs on leave. However, professionals like architects and designers are also known to take sabbaticals every year for a couple of months before returning to take on huge projects or overseas assignments.
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