Taking time off work for special reasons - Not only do many organisations allow time off work to cover a wide range of duties and activities undertaken by their employees, but they are often also prepared to pay for it, as revealed in the second part of our survey of practice in over 100 organisations. Time off for some public offices, such as lay magistrates and local councillors, is, of course, governed by a statutory framework, but we uncover a wide variety of other circumstances where many employers allow leave (outside of normal holiday entitlement), ranging from studying for or sitting exams to engaging in sporting activities or getting married. The other critical question, inevitably, is whether time off is allowed on a paid or an unpaid basis. In this respect, our analysis shows that: the most common forms of paid time off are exam leave (offered by 81% of all respondents in our sample), study leave (76%) and volunteer reserve forces training (54%); while other less common types of paid special absence include relocation (33%), special police duties (17%), sporting activities (16%), pre-retirement leave (15%) and moving home (14%). It seems that - in addition to legal obligations in some areas - employers grant paid or unpaid time off because of factors such as recruitment and retention considerations (for example, in the case of career breaks or sabbaticals); a wish to raise the profile or gain good PR for the organisation (sporting leave or special police duties); or a desire to be seen as a good employer (pre-retirement and disability leave).