There?s hardly anything new about employees taking sabbaticals. Except that so far most have opted for them either to study…or perhaps train in a field allied to their jobs?something most employers also gladly allow. In corporate jargon, that would be ?value addition?. Few employees would take a sabbatical to reach out to people and make a difference in the real sense of the word. Fewer still would allow their employees to venture on such a sabbatical. But surprisingly, the clan of such people is steadily growing.
Take for instance the 16 people who have joined the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on sabbaticals from their respective companies. Some are on a paid sabbatical, some on an unpaid one.
Says D Subhalakshmi, a sabbatical member, UIDAI, ?So far we have got close to 1,000 applications from people across the country who want to join UIDAI either as a volunteer or on a sabbatical. People from Rohtak, Hisar, Trivandrum… have applied. And most of them, the applications suggest, are driven by the very idea of inclusion. They want to associate with this programme because they feel it will make a real impact to the country. They want to be part of the process to set up a robust framework of governance.? Subhalakshmi, an IIM (A) alumna with 11 years of work experience, is on a year-long sabbatical herself from Genpact. In her present role, she is handling HR and operations. Among others there is Mihir Sheth, BA in economics from Harvard University, on a two-year sabbatical from India Life Credit and Holdings Pvt Ltd, and Suraj Saharan, who is on a six-month sabbatical from Bain & Company Inc.
?Such sabbaticals were largely an international trend, but recently companies in India are also adopting it. Earlier most companies used to allocate funds for CSR, but now they are looking at making a direct impact by being more participative. It is a positive move for all the stakeholders.
It enhances the organisation?s image as a responsible corporate citizen and interested employees also get a chance to contribute to society,? explains E Balaji, CEO, Ma-Foi Management Consultants.
Meghana Mamutra is one amongst those who took the path less travelled. She is on a two-year secondment to teach underprivileged children. Part of the corporate marketing team for value-added services at Aditya Birla Group, Mamutra filled up a 17-page letter as part of the application process. It wasn?t just her?88 other employees of Aditya Birla too applied for it. ?I was cautioned that my move wasn?t going to be good for my career…especially because I was also due for my promotion just then. So, I spoke to the HR about it. They told me this sabbatical will be considered as managerial experience. That was quite relieving. Moreover, I was also promoted from manager to senior manager,? says Mamutra.
HR managers in several other organisations are also initiating policies to this effect. Infosys, perhaps the pioneer of the concept, prefers to call it the ?community empathy policy?. Since the launch of the policy in November 2008, 24 employees have taken it up?a figure that the Infosys HR would ?like to take up to 50 per fiscal year?. The number of Infosys employees who opted for the sabbatical have consistently increased since 2008?four were selected in 2008 by the internal selection committee, 10 in 2009 and six so far in 2010. All sabbaticals are entitled to a fellowship allowance from Infosys and this is decided as per company policy. ?We observed that employees are interested in doing their bit for the welfare of the community, but busy work schedules and financial constraints become a hurdle in their aspirations,? shares the Infosys spokesperson. However, those who?d like to believe that the sabbatical term would be much like a holiday, please take note. ?We monitor their work on a regular basis. Every employee who proceeds on the sabbatical is required to submit an audited and approved report from their NGO, which is then verified by Infosys,? he adds.
?We wanted to help the employees respond to their inner calls?to enable them to connect with the organisation, their work as well as the society at the same time. So, we launched the sabbatical policy last year. But it?s only for those employees who have been in service to the company for at least seven years. They are allowed to take a sabbatical up to an year, wherein during the first six months they are entitled to get 50% of their salaries. Besides, throughout the term, they continue to enjoy medical coverage and their gratuity also continues. Presently, there is one employee who has taken the sabbatical to teach. We received a lot of applications for the sabbatical, but found that many of the applicants weren?t clear about what exactly they wanted to do during that time,? says Prince Augustin, executive vice-president, Human Capital, auto sector, Mahindra & Mahindra.
Such an initiative by the corporates is also helping NGOs find committed people to work for the cause they advocate. Teach for India, for instance, has about seven employees from corporate houses such as Aditya Birla Group, ICICI Bank and the Axis Bank who have taken a sabbatical to teach children in under-resourced schools. Axis Bank started its sabbatical policy in 2008?two people could avail it for two years each with full protection of their salaries. ?About 15 people applied for it that year. Last year the number rose to 18,? says Snehomoy Bhattacharya, ED, Axis Bank.
For Manjari Mansingh, strategy consultant in Global Delivery India team, IBM Bangalore, an opportunity offered by IBM?s corporate service corps programme is what she describes as a ?life changing experience?. As part of the six-month project, Mansingh got to work on two projects in Luxor, Egypt. One of them was working on preserving the cultural heritage of the Nubians and the second project entailed empowering Egyptian farmers for viable and equitable partnerships so as to maximise their output and increase their income standards. ?The experience was very challenging…and humbling. It has made me culturally more sensitive. Working at the grassroots made me realise the importance of things that I otherwise take for granted?the Internet for instance,? says Mansingh. Good going indeed!
The make-shift health worker
Filariasis. Does the term vaguely remind you of a disease you read about in your school science book? Maybe, the photograph of swollen legs that would have accompanied the text ring a bell? Pardonable if you don?t. After all, it?s not a disease many in India know about, despite the fact that its incidence in India?s coastal regions is alarming. Ask Naveen Krishna Tarur, a supply chain management consultant with Infosys. He literally has all information related to it on his fingertips. ?It?s a communicable, vector-borne disease. All it might take is the bite of an infected mosquito for its parasites to be transmitted to humans,? says Tarur.
It?s difficult to point out what spawned his interest in this domain of healthcare. Maybe his keen interest in bioinformatics and clinical trials. However, what comes out unmistakably is that he strongly feels for the cause of those suffering from elephantiasis and vitiligo. ?Dermatological diseases have a social, economic and a mental burden attached to it,? Tarur says. To begin with, he tried helping the Institute of Applied Dermatology, a NGO in Kasaragod, over the weekends. Then in October last year, he decided to take a sabbatical and focus his attention on the cause. ?There?s acute incidence of it in the coastal areas. Most people suffering from it are so poor that they are unable to visit a doctor or reach a hospital,? he adds.
The decision to take the sabbatical wasn?t impulsive though. Knowing well that he would only get 50% of his salary during the sabbatical period, he started saving nine months prior to it. After all, such a decision is anything but easy. Support from the family?his wife, 75-year-old mother and five-year-old daughter?helped tremendously.
The last one year of sabbatical has seen Tarur manage different portfolios. One amongst them is morbidity management. ?The idea is to help people help themselves. Research has proved that half an hour of routine physiotherapy can actually help in substantially reducing the lymph size. There are several instances he derives inspiration from. He recollects one of them?a woman from Kerala was divorced by her husband simply because she was suffering from acute elephantiasis. Her legs had disfigured. Therapy helped reduce the size of the legs and subsequently her husband took her back.
Tarur also did advocacy for a national programme on filariasis. ?It was essential because people suffering from it just have no voice,? he says. From the PMO, the Planning Commission, the Ayush department?Tarur attempted to garner as much support as possible from different quarters for the cause. As a result, the government came up with a plan to treat 1,000 people in the district of Gulbarga and Alleppy. The next crucial cog in the wheel was to coordinate the programme with the other local NGOs. Mass camps and workshops were conducted.
It wasn?t an easy decision though and Tarur had to overcome his set of fears to venture into this domain. ?I was quite afraid in the beginning. It?s said that if you stay in Alleppy for three nights without the mosquito net, only God can save you. Now that fear has gone.?
Vitiligo is another area which, he thinks, requires urgent intervention. ?Pandit Nehru ranked it as one of the three major medical problems of India, the other two being leprosy and malaria. Leprosy, thankfully, has been eliminated. Patients suffering from vitiligo also feel stigmatised and distressed,? he says with concern.