Could You Benefit from a Sabbatical?

The short answer is an enthusiastic “Yes!,” and the long answer is, well…”Yeeeeeeessssss!”  Most people associate sabbaticals with being a professor or a minister, but sabbaticals are utilized by many people in many industries on an individual level to combat burnout and reconnect with meaning and on an institutional level to accelerate personal & professional growth and as a business tool for improving employee retention and achieving excellent performance.  

My business partner and friend Amy Hagar and I reconnected after we each had an experience of whole-life reorientation through the experience of taking a sabbatical - mine was 5 months during the early pandemic and Amy’s was 2 years during a relocation & home building project.  We realized we shared a deep gratitude for the benefits of the sabbatical experience and really wanted to share this with colleagues both inside and outside of our fields.  

So we have written a series of articles around the topic of sabbaticals.  Since we both come from a science background, we love data, so we have included all the best resources throughout the series.  

This first article starts by simply defining what a sabbatical is and is not, and then Amy & I each share our own personal sabbatical stories to get the discussion kicked off.  Future articles will cover the full history of this important - and underrecognized - professional tool, so stay tuned!

“I like to reinvent myself — it’s part of my job.”

― Karl Lagerfeld

What Is a Sabbatical?

A sabbatical is

• a prolonged period of time taken away from the work of the job that pays the bills
• A time for rest and renewal (They’re separate - we’ll talk about it!)
• Mutually beneficial, i.e. it benefits the worker and the company, just in different ways.

While a traditional sabbatical is time away from work or work-related activities (hint: schooling counts as one of these work-like activities), a sabbatical can be part of a person’s job or career.  Sabbaticals can be paid or unpaid, happen to be planned or unplanned, but usually they are months in length and have some stated goal of personal or professional development.

What Is Not a Sabbatical?

There are lots of things that qualify as “leave” in the human resources world that look similar but  are not sabbaticals.  The most important distinction to make is that parental leave or caregiver leave is not a sabbatical.  Parental leave may be similar in length; many people find their sweet spot for parental leave falls in that 3-6 month range, just like a sabbatical.  But the purpose is dissimilar: the point of parental leave is to allow a family time to integrate a new family member, but the goal of a sabbatical is rest and renewal to improve well-being and performance.  The point of caregiver leave is to allow a valuable employee time to order their life after a loss or huge life change so they can continue to be productive at work in the future.

Anyone who has been one of these life situations or has observed the wan complexion and eye-bags that adorn the faces of new parents and caregivers of those with chronic conditions can attest: taking care of a loved one with constant needs is not primarily a time of rest and renewal.  Additionally, one cannot know whether the arrival of a new family member will be a lucky time involving no health issues or whether there will be NICU stays, surgical recovery or complications, colic, feeding difficulties or any variety of health issues that may necessitate the family’s full mental and physical attention during parental leave.   And while there may be lots of waiting around in doctor’s offices or at home associated with caregiving, often grief or family arrangements take up all one’s time and attention.  

Time taken away from your regular work to do other work is also not a sabbatical.  Special training opportunities, study abroad, a visiting professorship, or travel assignments are different, but one is still “at work.”  Also, time taken to do a job that is very similar to your own is not a sabbatical.    These kinds of activities are sometimes considered privileges, but are not a sabbatical because the rest of a sabbatical is not just sleep - though that’s important - it’s a mental rest from your usual brain activities.  An example of a break that is nice but probably doesn’t offer the full benefits of a sabbatical would be a journalist taking time away to write a book or a doctor taking a long-term assignment with Doctors without Borders.  Though they may be very memorable and enriching, these experiences also require a great deal of professional effort that can lead to even more exhaustion.

What Do People Do on Sabbatical?

We have covered some types of leave & activities that are not sabbaticals, so what kinds of activities do people choose to do on sabbatical?  Typically people will plan a sabbatical to include one or all of the following: rest, travel, skill acquisition, or healing.  We will cover each of these areas in detail in this article series, but I'll begin here by talking for a moment about the most controversial aspect of sabbaticals: rest.

I have taken two defined sabbaticals during my professional life.  I took my most recent sabbatical at the beginning of the pandemic for 5 months.  Many people may have had time away from work in the spring of 2020, but many of them may not have had something I had, which enabled me to take a true sabbatical and not just time away from work.  That thing was stable childcare.  I want to pause here to do 2 things: talk about the cult of productivity that is part of American culture AND honor those of you who struggled through 2020 & 2021 with spotty childcare, new parental responsibilities, and constantly shifting work demands - that was a hard time, and we will all be processing those challenges and traumas for years to come.  

A person on sabbatical may have extra flexibility in their schedule to take special time with kids or family, and that time with family may be a major component in cultivating rest & renewal.  But being the primary provider of childcare is not compatible with taking a sabbatical.  This is something that is hard for us to conceive of as a culture: that someone could be not at work as a laborer, not at work as a parent, but about the valuable activity of resting and reflecting.  It does not sit well with us.  Playing is for children and puppies, and rest is for people who are sleepy because they had a productive day.  This cultural edict is spoken loudly to us from the time we are little. In much of the Western-influences world, productivity is king and queen.  

In her book Untamed, Glennon Doyle tells an important story of something that happened at the beginning of her marriage to soccer superstar Abby Wambach. Abby repeatedly did something audacious: she rested in their home in the middle of the day.  Glennon was shocked, astounded, and angered by this behavior.  She could not settle this anger with her wife until she realized that the anger came not because Abby was resting, but because she, Glennon, was denying herself rest.  

“I think we are only bitter about other people's joy in direct proportion to our commitment to keep joy from ourselves.”

― Glennon Doyle, Untamed

We all do this.  A lot.  It’s probably the reason that only 6% of all companies offer sabbaticals, but according to the annual MetLife Employee Benefit Trends Study 69% of people would be drawn to a company that offers sabbaticals.  If you, personally happen to be having an emotional reaction reading this article about the idea that someone could get paid or chose to change their lifestyle in order to to rest and reflect; And that the rest & reflection might make them a better person and a better worker, just be conscious of the reaction.  Though, as we are casting about for the pill, program, or personality that will renew us, we tend to deny the possibility that purposeful rest might be what we are looking for.  There is the possibility that we are all worthy of rest, just by virtue of our existence.

In the next article, Amy and I will set the stage by telling our own personal sabbatical stories - we are looking forward to sharing with you!