Career breaks encouraged by employers ‘keen to reduce head count temporarily’

Employers concerned about cutting budgets may want to consider offering employees career breaks until the economic climate has improved.

According to Gap Year for Grown Ups, some employers are actively encouraging their staff to travel for a period of time.

Lauren Mackay, brand manager at Gap Year for Grown Ups, explained that she had seen a difference in the profile of the people taking a long break, and she explained: "We are seeing a lot of people being made redundant and taking some time out."

Commenting on the benefit of career breaks from an employer’s perspective, Ms Mackay said: "I think employers are definitely much more in tune with the whole idea of career breaks. With the recession at the moment, they’re encouraging people to take a break and are keen to reduce their head count temporarily."

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One Life Live undertook research recently to see how redundancies and the recession was fuelling interest in career breaks and it revealed that over half the population wanted to take a break either to travel or work overseas as a volunteer.