TIP 60
TAKE A SABBATICAL
Reason may fail you. If you are going to do anything in life, you have sometimes to move away from it, beyond all measurements. You must follow sometimes visions and dreams.
If a weekend or weeklong retreat just doesn’t do it, you may want to go one step further and consider taking a sabbatical. Once reserved for academics, unpaid sabbaticals are now offered by 20 percent of U.S. companies as part of their employee benefits, and 3 percent of them even pay. Even if your company doesn’t offer a formal sabbatical, you may be able to negotiate time off work for personal growth or professional development. More and more employers realize that burnout is an issue, and they’d rather grant a month or two of time off than lose an employee altogether. If you’ve worked for the same company for years, you may need a big chunk of time off, from a month to a year, to reevaluate and redirect your life.
A sabbatical is more than a vacation. Yes, you will want to rest and relax, but it is a time to experiment with new skills and take some risks. Sabbaticals help you step outside of the day-to-day routine and find out what’s most important to you. There can be some risk in taking a sabbatical, both to your employer and to you. You may discover that you don’t want to go back to your old job, or you may decide you do and return to find that your old job has been filled, or you’ve fallen behind your peers. But, more often than not, sabbaticals are a win-win for all concerned. If you decide you don’t want your old job, ultimately your employers will benefit by not having a stale, burned-out employee on their hands. If your old job is filled, you may need to try something new that will broaden your skills and experience. And if your sabbatical shows you that your job is just right for you, you will be excited and ready to get back with a new and profound outlook on work.
Whenever my clients are switching companies, I encourage them to work in as much time off as possible before they start their new job. Sometimes all they can work in is a week, but I’ve also had clients manage two whole months between jobs.
Lucy, a 37-year-old public relations manager, resigned from her job and managed to negotiate a later start date at her new job in a consulting firm. This would give her two months off. She had paid off her debts and had been building her financial reserves (Tips 24 and 27), so she could afford to take this extended time off. I encouraged her to use that time to fulfill one of her lifetime goals, which was to travel to Ecuador and study Spanish. She thoroughly enjoyed her trip and learned a valuable new language skill in the process. As an unexpected benefit, when she returned from the sabbatical, she also realized that it was time to end a personal relationship of seven years. Living and traveling on her own for two months enabled her to gain the independence and strength to do this.
Graham, a 57-year-old executive, took a three-month retreat to experiment with everything from studying software to climbing the Rockies and the Alps. During his sabbatical, Graham wanted to try things that were far removed from his duties as chief executive in a high-stress job addressing the country’s economic and trade issues. He wanted to get away from the daily routine of work and reflect on his greater purpose in life. The first day of his sabbatical, he slept for 27 hours straight. (Don’t worry, this is normal. If you sleep excessively for the first few days or week, you are just repaying a very old sleep debt. Your body needs the rest, so don’t beat yourself up about it. Enjoy the sleep and you will recover your natural energy very quickly.) Since his wife couldn’t join him for the entire trip, Graham did most of it on his own. His mountain treks left him in trimmer shape and renewed his love of the outdoors. When he returned to work, he felt revitalized. As a side benefit, since the office had run well during his absence, he found that people were now used to taking on more individual responsibility, and it was easier for him to delegate (Tip 62). He now valued his personal and family time more and was much better at saying no to evening and weekend obligations (Tip 19). He even decided to reserve Sunday as a day of rest free from business and even social engagements (Tip 89).
Here are a few tips on negotiating your own sabbatical:
• Point out how the company will benefit from the sabbatical. What new skills will you learn? How will you come back a better employee?
• Present a solid plan as to how your work will be handled in your absence.
• Remind your employer that in the information age, it makes sense for you to get an outside perspective, just as academicians do to study new ideas and get fresh insights on problems.
• If you are headed toward burnout, let your company know that this will be a way for you to recharge your batteries and come back with renewed energy and commitment. It is much more cost effective to retain a good employee than it is to train a new one.
• If any of your planned sabbatical activities would directly benefit your company (for example, developing new software skills), ask your employer to pay a partial salary and cover the costs of the training.
• If you plan to work for a volunteer, charity, or nonprofit organization, you may qualify for grants or fellowships. Do some research, and you may be able to swing the sabbatical with little or no expense.
• If you will be gone for a long time, consider subletting your apartment, renting your home, or joining a home-swapping program.
• If you want to go overseas and are on a tight budget, go to places where the currency exchange works in your favor so that you can stretch your dollar.
• Before you begin negotiations, make sure you fully understand how the sabbatical may affect your employee benefits. Will you still have health insurance and be able to participate in retirement or 401K savings plans?
• Before you leave, make sure you have completed your work or trained someone to take over ongoing projects. You don’t want to be worried about work while you are supposed to be off exploring new worlds. And you certainly don’t want to come back to find a bunch of angry colleagues or managers who didn’t know what to do with XYZ project while you were away.
Above all, use this precious time to learn more about yourself, try things you’ve always wanted to try and never had the time to do, go places you’ve always wanted to see. Live outside the box. Don’t worry about what other people may think. This is your time to find yourself and renew your love of life. This is the perfect time to experiment in living one of your values (Tip 52). Listen to your intuition (Tip 57) and see where life takes you for a change. Sometimes we have to get off track in order to get back on the right one.