Sabbatical: Work-Life Balance

What’s A Sabbatical?

You hear more and more about people taking sabbaticals. Work-life balance. It’s no longer just for tenured professors and those in the medical field. Some Fortune 500 companies even encourage it. The difference between a sabbatical and vacation is the time allocation, intention, and true break from the intensity of work. Whereby a vacation is typically a week or two, a sabbatical is a longer period of up to a year. It can be the adult version of summer camp with joy, learning, and new adventures. Employers provide this opportunity for employee retention and increased job performance. During a sabbatical, you can recharge and pursue your unique areas of interest. If this is of interest to you, please read on to find out how.

Fortune Magazine, ForceBrands, and Glassdoor noted 23 companies still hiring and offering sabbaticals after 5-10 years of service from 4 weeks up to 12 months in the case of Starbucks. Any surprises here for you?

• AARP, Adobe, Alta Planning + Design, Autodesk
• Bain & Company, Biogen, BrewDog
• Charles Schwab, Chicago Public Schools, Clif Bar
• Deloitte, eBay, Epic, Genentech, Harry’s
• Intel, Modern Times, New Belgium, One Medical
• PayPal, Perkins Coie, REI, Starbucks

Sabbatical Benefits

According to SHRM, “Workers’ sabbaticals hold potential benefits and risks for companies. In the best cases, they allow employees the freedom to grow outside the everyday structure of company life—but they also bring the risk that employees will take their new skills and move on to different opportunities. Even so, for employers, the benefits of offering sabbaticals outweigh the risks.”

My colleagues have gone on sabbatical for various reasons:

• Decompress: When you are away from work your brain can take a career break so you can come back refreshed and energized. Your time out to examine your goals and priorities.
• Education: How about being able to focus on a master’s degree or technical certification including AWS Certified Architect, Azure, CCNA-Cloud & CCIE, CISSP, PMP, ITL, and Scrum Master without splitting your attention on a full-time job and family responsibilities? You gain a new skill that increases your expertise, job performance, and ultimately your paycheck.
• Life Change: Although more companies are offering parental leave some new parents want to spend more family time. On the other end of the life continuum, some colleagues need to take time caring for a parent or family member.
• Exploration: Many of my colleagues have hobbies they want to explore further without the constraints of working. They are book writers, budding chefs, travel enthusiasts, and adventurers with bucket lists to explore. We fall into the last category.

My Sabbatical

When I worked for corporations even when I was on vacation, I was still conducting business especially when I was in sales. Close the next deal. Quota retirement.

This is the first time I have taken off an extended period since starting my career consulting practice. New client activity and volunteer commitments put on hold. Blogging allowed. My company, my rules. So, what did my husband Pat and I decide to do? We are in Málaga, Spain for a month as part of our 10-year bucket list travel adventure.

How did I select this place? I was enchanted by our month stay in Sitges outside of Barcelona a couple of years ago, so I looked at the map and found the biggest font city on Google maps along the Costa del Sol (sun coast) in Spain. That’s how the Montanino’s figure it out. Font size. And travel plan by Excel spreadsheet. He’s a former electrical engineering sales executive and I’m a research zealot. Match made in heaven over 20 years ago.

Learning Moments in Málaga

Pat and I spend on average 60 days outside the U.S. We do our normal routine but in global venues. Not your cup of tea? I understand. Most of our friends have reasons for not traveling including children, job demands, elder care, health issues, finances or no desire. Hanging out at home can be equally as nice. Unless you live like us in Seattle whereby fleeing the rain dreariness makes sunshine a clear destination. Hence, Spain with a total immersion experience.

Here are the top 5 things we have learned after 1 week in Málaga:

1. Civility: People are more civilized and affluent compared to anywhere we have been in Spain. Lovely walks on the harbor promenade with cordial people even if they are on those dreaded Lime scooters.
2. Economics: The exchange rate continues to improve for us with 1.00 euro to 1.10 dollar. Groceries are 20% less here and the fruit tastes better.
3. Gastronomy: Restaurants offer Michelin star level meals at budget pricing such as El Merendero on the beach or Aire Gastrobar in the historic district. Yesterday Pat enjoyed a white gazpacho with mackerel, who knew a mayonnaise-based soup existed and tasted amazing?
4. History: The Phoenicians colonized Málaga back in 1000 B.C. Their word “Malac” means salt and back then this was a fish-salting center.
5. Population: Málaga is a municipality, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 571,026 in 2018 which is comparable to Boston.

Have you been on sabbatical? Would love to hear about it. There’s a great work-life balance in your future. Land your dream job with a company offering a sabbatical program, you deserve it.