So British Airways is asking its staff to volunteer to work for upto a month for free. (The Chief Executive has already said he is working in July for no pay!)

It all seems a bit topsy turvy. After all normally, I turn up for work. I do my job. I get paid. I go home. that natural order has been changed by BA’s new suggestion. In a moment of generosity, it has even agreed the staff can spread the loss of wages over six months.

BA has had an existing scheme inviting staff to take a month unpaid leave for some time. The airline says this latest development came about because some staff wanted to part but their work wouldn’t allow them to be out of the office for that long. Bingo. Now you can still help out. Come to work. For Free. BA is quite clear. This is a voluntary scheme. No-one will be forced to do this. I believe them.

What I find tricky is how this will work in reality. Some staff will want to justify why they couldn’t take part ? Others will join in because they feel they have to.

There will be BA managers who will view staff unfavourably if they didn’t take part especially when promotions are up for grabs. I can hear the private whispers…..He wasn’t a team player. She didn’t pitch in. I Did my bit  It will create two tiers – those who pitched in…and those who didn’t.

It has overtures of, “Daddy … what did you do in the war?”

Would you work for free to help out?

We have entered the economic twilight zone – where all is not as it seems….and where one day’s good numbers can be a mirage to b e destroyed by the next day’s reality.

We always knew it would come to this – when we would be in that tricky economic area where things are still getting worse – but not as fast. It is like the skier going down the slope who is still descending but slowing down.

Some call it glimmers of hope. Others call it Green shoots – Here we have our QI Traffic lights – where the colour is the sign of what is going on.

We are now clear of the static red – when things were so grim that there was seemingly little hope.

And we have not yet hit that magic area of Green – whether it be weak – it still tells us things are getting better.

We are stuck. Right in the middle. Waiting. With signs suggesting neither one way or the other. Just waiting.

The economic twilight zone – it won’t last forever but that’s where we are today.

Are you in the Twilight zone? And how does it feel?