One of the consequences of the move towards a better work-life balance is that more employees are negotiating time off work in addition to their annual leave. Sabbatical leave is a voluntary arrangement between employers and their employees and can be paid, partly paid or, more commonly, unpaid.
People take sabbatical leave for a variety of reasons: because they want to take a long holiday, climb mountains, write a book or do some voluntary work. It's a breathing space in which they can recharge their batteries and experience a different kind of life.
What's in it for your employer?
The main purpose of sabbaticals is to offer employees an opportunity to take a break from the long hours and stress of office life. However, the sabbatical can also have many benefits for the employer:
It is a way of saving money when business is slack
It can be a reward for long service
It provides opportunities for employee to acquire new skills
It can help prevent mid-career burnout
It keeps a person creative and productive
It is a means of retaining staff who might otherwise leave and go elsewhere.
Avoiding problems
The problems commonly associated with taking a sabbatical are not as overwhelming as you might at first imagine.
'I'm worried about losing touch'
You can develop different methods of maintaining contact - receiving in-house magazines, browsing the company website and emailing colleagues and business contacts. Some companies insist on formal reviews to ensure you keep your knowledge and skill levels up to standard.
'How will my colleagues react?'
To avoid any resistance on the part of your colleagues, consult them in the early stages of planning your career break. Be extremely sensitive to their feelings and views and try to choose a good moment to take your sabbatical.
'Will I lose my employment rights?'
It's vital to remain an employee of the company during the break to ensure that your service is counted as continuous when you eventually return. Any break in contract may not count in length-of-service pension contributions.
Another reason for maintaining continuity is to protect you against redundancy while you are away. You'll only have the same rights to redundancy payments as anyone else if you can prove two years' continuity of employment. You will not be protected if that continuity is broken.
Planning a sabbatical
There is no law that guarantees anyone an automatic right to be granted a sabbatical. This is a voluntary arrangement which is agreed between employers and employees. If you would like to ask for one, it pays to think through what you want in detail, so that you can approach your employer with a watertight plan for a mutually beneficial arrangement.
First decide how long you want to take off and for what purpose. How will you make best use of the time to enhance your life?
Next, decide exactly what you want to achieve. What do you want to gain from the experience?
Identify the benefits – including savings if the leave is unpaid - for your employer, and the learning experiences that you'll bring back to work
Say how your leave can be organised. Who will do your work while you
are away? If and when your sabbatical is agreed, you'll need to:
Plan how you'll keep in touch with your colleagues and with what is happening in the industry
Agree a programme of review meetings or emails, to ensure that the sabbatical is continuing as planned and to identify any problems
Decide how you are going organise your return to work. Will you need a mentor? Will you need retraining?
Planned properly, sabbaticals are a valuable way of ensuring that you don't have to choose between going to work and having a life. If you're clever, you can
have it all!
