Would you work for free?

BA asks staff to work for nothing

This story grabbed my eye today.

I don't question that BA's motives are genuine, in really trying to cut costs and survive. But it does raise an important question.

Has BA ever offered its staff bonuses of 1 week to 1 month's salary in the days when they used to make a profit?

It reminds me of the old days of pre-online marketing consultancy, when you'd seem to get approached at least every month by someone with a new product or business idea, who wanted you to help them market it (or in other words do all the sales) in return for a mumbled promise about commissions, incentives or so on. Basically work for free and take all the risk.

Now, marketing consultants probably shouldn't be completely averse to taking on the odd speculative project, but only ever if you have significant downtime you're willing to use up, and you can afford to turn away paying work.

Personally, if I ever get any of this thing called spare time, I've got a very long list of things I'd like to do for myself thanks!