Sabbatical for social good - Part 1

One often hears of people giving up their corporate jobs to pursue work in the social sector. Priya Fonseca finds out what draws them to this field

On hearing that a colleague who seems well entrenched in the corporate lifestyle has decided to pause the typical career trajectory and opt for a sabbatical or even a complete career switch to get into the social sector, most people react with surprise, shock and awe. While the trend is much more established internationally than it is in India, there are several corporations that actually encourage their employees to pursue social sabbaticals that can last anywhere from a few months to two years.

Alessandro from Switzerland studied economics and supply chain management in Milan and Rotterdam. After consulting with Bain and Company for one year, he moved to Procter & Gamble in Switzerland where he set up e-commerce market knowledge and led it for two years. Currently, Alessandro is working as a volunteer with Under The Mango Tree for three months where he hopes to add value by using his experience to create access to the export market; develop e-commerce and map the new value chain. Alessandro says, “I have finished my first 3 year assignment with P&G and am taking a sabbatical until December when I shall rejoin the company. This is what I negotiated for. P&G sponsors this kind of sabbatical. It has a developed program with UNICEF. Part of the P&G culture is to support communities and social responsibility projects. They have a partnership in this area with UNICEF. I wanted to do something different with my partner and as the company program was only for employees I have chosen to work here independently in India.”

Similarly, Richa Goel who was a senior analyst with Deloitte and now a Teach For India Fellow teaching in Mumbai explains, “I was working with Deloitte but they don’t have a sabbatical program. I joined them as a fresher and was working with them for two years in HR on areas like employee engagement and performance management. My seniors have been very supportive and have even told me they could treat this break as a sabbatical and the position is open to me should I want it.”

What drives individuals from corporate backgrounds to consider and actively pursue working in the social sphere? For Alessandro it was very clearly the fact that, “We all have rights and therefore we also have duties. The more you have, the more you should give back. That was the way I was raised. But I was not pushed into this nor is it something my family expected me to do. It’s a decision I took to do something useful.” Richa adds, “I felt I could do a lot more. I wanted to work with people. I was being constrained to an organisation. Now I work with a larger pool of people and am gaining knowledge about how these communities work.”

Posted by admin (The Times Of India) on Jan 16, 2013

TO BE CONTINUED