In a bid to cut costs the telecommunications company will offer the staff who make the decision to take a year off an upfront payment of 25% of their salary.
A spokesman from the organisation said: "BT has a tradition of innovation for flexible working practices and is piloting a number of special leave options in order to reduce labour costs during these challenging economic times."
"Many types of flexible working arrangements have been in place for some time and others - including special sabbaticals, term-time and part-time working - have been modified to reflect the current economic climate. These are being piloted in certain parts of the business and we will evaluate the potential to make these more widely available in due course."
"BT's innovative working practices include broadband-supported home-working, as well as secondments to and from other organisations. These are innovative ways to help keep employees during these tough economic times."
BT has already been forced to announce 15,000 redundancies and this most recent news story comes as the Confederation of British Industry advises employers to seek alternatives to the redundancy process.
Some other examples of employers taking cost saving action:
- British Airways asked 40,000 employees to take unpaid leave or work for a month without pay
- Honda's Swindon factory shut down for four months between February and June 2009
- Mini halts production for a month
- Workers at JCB in Staffordshire voted for a wage cut of around £50 a week in order to save their jobs
- KPMG asked staff to volunteer for a four-day week or take a sabbatical of up to 12 weeks on one-third of salary.
- The Financial Times is offering staff an extra week or more of holiday at 30% pay
