First British Airways asked staff if they felt like working for nothing. Now British Telecom says they should go and work for rivals - just for a while.

The offer - if that's the right word - is the latest attempt by large firms to find a creative alternative to firing staff.

BA boss Willie Walsh did at least say that he would work in July without pay before making the suggestion that his employees follow suit to save the struggling airline.

A BT spokesman said staff were being asked to volunteer for secondments of at least a month to companies in "like-minded industries", during which they would be paid by the firm to which they were being lent. "We're looking for new ways to keep staff during a recession," he said. "We've used secondments for some time to improve skills."

It's not just in Britain that this tactic is being tried. Spanish bank BBVA is offering to pay long-term staff a third of their salary if they agreed to go away for up to five years.

BT has already cancelled all pay rises and cut the majority of its bonuses after two profit warnings.

Its workforce, including contractors, fell by 15,000 to 147,000 in the year to March, and it expects a similar scale of cuts this year.

The BT scheme is still at the planning stage and it is not yet willing to name the other firms involved for commercial sensitivity reasons.