An increasing number of employers — including DuPont, Bank of America, the State of Delaware, Goldman Sachs, McDonald’s and Nike — offer workers extended periods of time away from the office to pursue educational endeavors, travel, volunteer in disaster areas, or just take a break.
About 27 percent of companies in the U.S. offered sabbaticals to employees in 2006, compared with 20 percent in 2001, according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management in Alexandria, Va.
Offering employees long periods away from the office seems an unlikely benefit for companies to offer — and in fact, only about 5 percent of employers are willing to offer paid time off. But companies that offer sabbaticals say they are an important part of their benefits package.
“It’s an extremely healthy practice or policy for companies,” said Wesley R. Bowman, co-director of the Delaware Family Center, who also works with W.L. Gore & Associates and other local employers on stress management and work-life balance issues.
Bowman said companies with high-pressure environments especially should consider offering the benefit to burnt-out employees looking for a change, an opportunity to get their creative juices flowing again.
“It’s one tool in the overall tool box that organizations have to recruit and retain employees,” said Frank Scanlan, internal communications director at the Society for Human Resource Management.
Lawrence Stomberg, an assistant professor of music, said the ability for untenured faculty to take a sabbatical was a major selling point when he applied at the university.
Stomberg, a cellist who has been teaching for 12 years, wanted time off to perform in concert, solo and with his quartet, in venues around the world. His hectic schedule, mostly teaching students one on one, had made it impossible.
“It felt like a good time for me to have a semester away from the normal routine and do more of the things I wanted to do,” Stomberg said. “Artistically, my batteries got recharged, and personally too. … It gave me a better perspective as a teacher, and it was a good thing for me personally.”
Sabbaticals are common at universities. But at other businesses, applying for a sabbatical or nonmedical personal leave can be complicated. Workers must convince their employer they have a worthy project or reason to take time off. More important, they also have to find someone who can do their job during their absence.
“It is always a process of discussion with the manager,” said Jennifer Jonach, DuPont director of human resources for the United States. “It needs to balance the needs of the individual as well as the needs of the business.”
Sometimes companies allow workers time off for volunteer work, especially if they see it as related to their business.
“Anything that we do that helps the community is an extension of what our culture is about anyway,” said Leda Favor, director of human resources at Dade Behring. The company makes clinical diagnostic tools and offers employees unpaid, personal leave for up to six months.
Debbie Meliodon, 48, an executive assistant at Dade Behring for 26 years, is also a licensed counselor who works with the Red Cross in crises. So when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, and, more recently, when a tornado killed dozens in Florida, the Red Cross asked for her help. Her boss granted her the time off.
“My company is very flexible,” said Meliodon. “People are very kind in here, where they will pick up some of my duties while I am gone, and that allows me to go.”
She was able to take off about three weeks in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina.
Meliodon said crisis intervention is her passion: “I find it very fulfilling as something to do and a way to use my skills.”
