Sabbaticals ideal refresher

When Mark Synnott wanted to build a house, go on an OE, and compete in a coast-to-coast race, he simply stopped working and his employers held his job open.

Synnott, now managing director for the real estate firm Colliers International, has taken four sabbaticals during his working life - three with Colliers and one with IBM, a total of 17 months of unpaid leave.

"I spent my last sabbatical in Australia, Hawaii, the South Island and the Cook Islands," Synnott says. "I could have taken paid leave, but didn't want to set a precedent that all sabbaticals would be paid."

The term sabbatical is used loosely by today's employers.

Traditionally, it referred to a period of extended study leave for a tertiary lecturer or researcher, but now it can mean taking leave for family time, hobbies, travel, sports, sunbathing or sanity.

Sabbaticals are being proposed in interesting places.

In 2003, a Ministry of Education taskforce recommended teachers should have the right to take a "rejuvenating" sabbatical in keeping with practices in Australia, the Netherlands, Canada and France.

This year, the ministry and the Post Primary Teachers Association agreed on a sabbatical pilot scheme to start next year. To be eligible, teachers must have 20 years' teaching service and an unbroken service period of seven years.

Less restrictive are the sabbatical criteria at Youthlaw, a national community law centre that offers free advice to people under 25. Employees are offered three months' sabbatical leave after three years.

"We work in an area where it's very easy to get burnout," office co-ordinator Jeanie Richards says. A sabbatical provides opportunities for staff to study or to swap jobs with someone from a youth legal service overseas."

Synnott says sabbaticals not only reduce the risk of burnout but raise retention rates and give employees a new lease of life.

"Sabbaticals result in happier, healthier employees. People recharge their batteries and come back clear-headed and motivated. One of our people even spent the time losing weight.

"We are trying to build the expectation of taking a sabbatical into our business culture."

Such an approach seems to be successful. Colliers' senior marketing manager took a seven-month OE sabbatical, its financial controller took three months off and its communications manager is about to do the same.

Synnott says anyone from receptionist to senior manager can apply for a sabbatical as long as seven months.

Another firm with a similar approach is Text100.

Steven Murphy, human resources director for the public relations firm, says the company's global policy is to offer five weeks' annual leave after the first year of employment and three months' leave on full pay after six years.

"It's worth every cent it costs," Murphy says.

"After five years people start to consider their next employer and after six they really need a mental break. This perk pays us back in staff retention and attraction and people come back really pumped up for work."

Elizabeth Meadows, human resources manager for Microsoft New Zealand, says Microsoft does not have a formal policy but staff can apply for as much as 12 weeks' leave of absence to pursue personal interests.

"Whether it is termed a sabbatical or extended leave, it's important to take a holistic view of the role work plays in your employees' lives and be flexible enough in both policy and practice to accommodate changing circumstances or particular passions outside the workplace," Meadows says.

But who picks up the workload when someone heads off on a sabbatical and does it increase the likelihood of burnout for those left doing all the work? Synnott says that although the rest of his team picks up the extra work, this is offset when the work is shared equally. And some people want to step up to the mark and show they can take on additional responsibility. "If it's a specialised role we might just figure out a way to hold the fort," Synnott says.

So should sabbatical leave be paid or unpaid? Synnott says that depends on the structure of an individual's package, the reason for the break, and the length of time spent working for the company.

"If we do pay, we look at it as an investment in our people," he says.

Few New Zealand employers have progressed to the point where sabbaticals are formally offered. For others, the concept of allowing an employee to take a sabbatical whilst their job is kept open will undoubtedly result in some eye rolling.

Although Colliers' Canadian owner, Colliers McAuley Nicholls, support Synnott's policy of sabbaticals for his 220 staff they don't encourage their other branches throughout the world to follow suit.

And they have suggested Synnott should set up a formal structure for the New Zealand office's traditionally casual approach to sabbaticals.

He says that although some employers might see the concept of staff sabbaticals as pandering to staff, the employers may be workaholics in need of a break themselves.

Meadows reinforces this point, saying that sabbaticals serve a positive purpose in fast-paced industries where it can be a battle to encourage workers to take leave of any kind.

"We work hard to encourage employees to take breaks and achieve the level of work-life balance that works for them," she says.

Whether casually or formally offered, gradually increasing awareness for the sabbatical is good news for job candidates who like a remuneration package packed with options - and for employers who like people packed with punch.

Tips on sabbatical policy

* Survey your employees to validate the relevancy and importance of sabbaticals as a benefit before introducing them. Research shows that the desire for sabbaticals as an employment benefit varies depending on the industry.
* Put a real dollar value on sabbaticals and use this when promoting staff benefits during remuneration negotiations.
* Fully document conditions under which sabbaticals may be taken. Case-by-case sabbaticals can foster resentment and cause misunderstandings.
* Be open to a new employee negotiating a total employment package in which benefits such as sabbaticals can be swapped for other benefits. Flexibility of benefits may help be the way to retain staff in a tight job market

* Tips courtesy of Aacorn International Management Systems, Marketing Magazine and online management resources