I'd love to hear your tips, tricks, and what you wish you'd known before you started. I've got a chance to do this early next year for several months and want to make sure I do it right and maximize the impact.

Kind of an opened ended question.


Do you have a family? Kids? Are you wanting to travel.

I did NZ/Australia for 2-3 weeks.

OP there is some more info here

Find the opportunity (or opportunities) you've always told yourself "I'd love to do that, but I just don't have time" and go do it.

BrazosDog02 said:

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When did we start calling vacations by other names? Have I been out of the Corp world that long?!

We had a guy take a 4 week vacation but half way through it our company "right sized" so his vacation was extended for a while.

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Yeah, unless I'm an extremely high performer, know it, and know I'm safe I'm not taking a sabbatical in this current environment. Granted, the only people I've known to even get this option would be high performers.

Some tech companies, like ARM and Intel will give 4 extra weeks off to be taken all at once every 4 years. They called this a Sabbatical.

Intel used to offer 8 weeks off every 7 years + your normal 3 weeks as well.

I think I am a average performer, but I work with rather old technology that a lot of younger engineers don't want to work with. We have a lot of turn over and are always understaffed. I am not really worried about them getting rid of me because there are a few other companies in the area that use the same stuff and have just as much trouble retaining talent as we do.

evan_aggie said:

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Some tech companies, like ARM and Intel will give 4 extra weeks off to be taken all at once every 4 years. They called this a Sabbatical.

Intel used to offer 8 weeks off every 7 years + your normal 3 weeks as well.

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Very interesting. I had no idea. We never had such a thing. I get 6 weeks and can keep two years worth, so, we had to use it or lose it which generally created an issue with management because they didn't want an employee being gone that long which usually ended in the employee doing it anyway….and well…it was downhill from there. Lol.

Some companies mandate sabbaticals after a certain length of service.

I take the month of July off every year at work and it's very rewarding. By the time I go back it feels like a total refresh. We pick July as we can spend most of it outdoors/beach/fishing which is what we enjoy doing.

Can't recommend enough

Sabbaticals are great if you are lucky enough to work somewhere that offers it. Still pretty rare though.

I early retired for two years and retroactively call that my sabbatical. It was awesome.

BrazosDog02 said:

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When did we start calling vacations by other names? Have I been out of the Corp world that long?!

We had a guy take a 4 week vacation but half way through it our company "right sized" so his vacation was extended for a while.

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Uh, always?

You have maternity/paternity, sick leave, etc. Or should we just call those vacation also?

And generally a sabbatical is more than a vacation. Some posters here are just talking about a long vacation (3-4 weeks). Taking 3 months off is a little different….

htxag09 said:

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BrazosDog02 said:

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When did we start calling vacations by other names? Have I been out of the Corp world that long?!

We had a guy take a 4 week vacation but half way through it our company "right sized" so his vacation was extended for a while.

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Uh, always?

You have maternity/paternity, sick leave, etc. Or should we just call those vacation also?

And generally a sabbatical is more than a vacation. Some posters here are just talking about a long vacation (3-4 weeks). Taking 3 months off is a little different….

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I've heard the word. But, Outside of academia I've never heard the word used to reference time off because I've never known it to be thing. I've never in 20 years heard it used in reference to anything related to people with real jobs. It was just interesting. Anyone I ever worked for would just laugh and fire you (as I have seen happen from time to time), anyone that worked for me and made a request would be denied or relieved of their position. I never thought you could get away with it unless you were a professor or something. Pretty wild times. It's not bad, just different.

Paternity leave is a new army thing. It was never a thing in the time I worked for someone else. Maternity leave was a thing but no one ever took the full amount because, well, the three than did quietly disappeared from the office about 90 days after returning. I'm going to assume it was because they quit on their own.

Anyway, sabbatical is an interesting concept in a corporate environment so I found it neat.

BrazosDog02 said:

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htxag09 said:

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BrazosDog02 said:

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When did we start calling vacations by other names? Have I been out of the Corp world that long?!

We had a guy take a 4 week vacation but half way through it our company "right sized" so his vacation was extended for a while.

---

Uh, always?

You have maternity/paternity, sick leave, etc. Or should we just call those vacation also?

And generally a sabbatical is more than a vacation. Some posters here are just talking about a long vacation (3-4 weeks). Taking 3 months off is a little different….

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Outside of academia I've never heard the word used. I've never in 20 years heard it used in reference to anything related to people with real jobs. It was just interesting. Anyone I ever worked for would just laugh and fire you, anyone that worked for me and did the same would get similar treatment. I never thought you could get away with it u less you were a professor or something. Pretty wild times.

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It's primarily limited to tech companies. The few people I know who had the opportunity to take one worked at Salesforce.com. Otherwise, I do t know anyone in a more traditional company that offered it. My former F250 company wouldn't even consider offering such a thing.

Makes sense though. Tech companies are probably high in PhD people and perhaps these are crossover expectations from academia. It's not a bad thing to have.

I feel like the workforce and office structure is going to be changing for the better in the coming years.

I'm staunchly opposed to change but I'm also staunchly opposed to rigid work schedules and 9-5 office jobs, the changes I've seen over the past 5 years are refreshing, so the concept of sabbatical, while foreign to me, is cool.

BrazosDog02 said:

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Makes sense though. Tech companies are probably high in PhD people and perhaps these are crossover expectations from academia. It's not a bad thing to have.

I feel like the workforce and office structure is going to be changing for the better in the coming years.

I'm staunchly opposed to change but I'm also staunchly opposed to rigid work schedules and 9-5 office jobs, the changes I've seen over the past 5 years are refreshing, so the concept of sabbatical, while foreign to me, is cool.

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Less about PhDs and more about younger, more innovative minded demographic demanding flexibility and change to benefits.

I'm in O&G and we can take them. Not widely taken advantage of, yet, but we have the option.

Thanks for all the replies, and sorry for my delay in replying. I just exited a tech company and don't really "need" to work again for the immediate future. But I'm just over 40 so also don't want to retire obviously. Yes we have kids so I won't be traveling during this "sabbatical." But we are taking them on a long trip to Europe (6 weeks) this summer.

As for me, I want to make sure my time away from work is actually restful, meaningful, and re-charging. That's why I'm thinking of it is a sabbatical and not a vacation.

I have seen this in the religious world. Several of our pastors have taken sabbaticals.

What's the minimum time to qualify as a sabbatical?

aggiefan2002 said:

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Thanks for all the replies, and sorry for my delay in replying. I just exited a tech company and don't really "need" to work again for the immediate future. But I'm just over 40 so also don't want to retire obviously. Yes we have kids so I won't be traveling during this "sabbatical." But we are taking them on a long trip to Europe (6 weeks) this summer.

As for me, I want to make sure my time away from work is actually restful, meaningful, and re-charging. That's why I'm thinking of it is a sabbatical and not a vacation.

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you are in the position of many people that get laid off. they are just tired or it for a while. i have seen many in my line of work that do just the same as what you are describing.


best advice from what i can tell - you can only be off as long as you are not anxious. Anxiety will kill it all for you.

I took a 6 week 'sabbatical' in June/July this year. Next year I am taking a gap year for a lot of reasons and will probably land somewhere else that where I am at now. I work in power gen and it is not real common to be able to do it, but I worked on some pretty intense outages and turnarounds within our fleet earlier in the year non-stop for 6 months straight and the company gave me the time off to unwind.

OP said they will have a few months off, so my only advice is to learn what slow travel is and just enjoy your time and not rush into something everyday.

We get 16 weeks of paternity leave which is a form of a sabbatical. I have taken it 3 times and each time I have come back a stronger contributor and leader. You end up tying up all your major loose ends, the small ones work their way on to someone else desk and if you do it right you plant a bunch of seeds that when you come back have blossomed into opportunities.

When you come back you see things in a totally different way, my advice is take every day the company will give you and be grateful for those types of opportunities. Do something with the time though, dont just scroll your phone. I know a guy who did a non parental sabbatical and he went and did 3 months on an Alaskan fishing vessel. He like me, grew up very blue collar and he was very happy to return to the world of white collar after that

Thanks everyone. Right now it's looking like 6-12 months before I return to a "job." I put that in quotes because I basically have enough passive income to maintain lifestyle without working, so I'm really just looking for a passion after this 6-12 break to reset.

I moved to Europe for a year and did an online masters programs through an American university during the year. Incredible experience. But I learned I prefer to live in America and vacation in Europe and not the other way around.

I think I'd be embarrassed to say 'I took a sabbatical'. I would sounds like some sort of monk that ran off into the mountains for 'find myself'. Vacation, PTO, furlough, sent home packing sounds more typical. Rank and file employees may be able to take extended time off. People close to the nucleus of a company can't. Unless you have some sort of mental breakdown I would imagine. Maybe I'm a boomer.

Did you read the OP or any of my replies? Definitely not concerned about perception at this point. Cashed out and want to chill a little bit in a meaningful/valuable way.

Would love to. Unfortunately, it's hard in my career field.

I've changed jobs a few times the last few years, and keep telling myself to take a few weeks or a month between them. Then I end up having my last day on a Friday and start at the new firm the following Monday...

Comeby! said:

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I think I'd be embarrassed to say 'I took a sabbatical'. I would sounds like some sort of monk that ran off into the mountains for 'find myself'. Vacation, PTO, furlough, sent home packing sounds more typical. Rank and file employees may be able to take extended time off. People close to the nucleus of a company can't. Unless you have some sort of mental breakdown I would imagine. Maybe I'm a boomer.

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there is a guy in my industry that goes off the rails every so often and takes a mental break of 4-6 weeks (usually once per year.)


he has a bad rep and it follows him. he doesn't care apparently!

Comeby! said:

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I think I'd be embarrassed to say 'I took a sabbatical'. I would sounds like some sort of monk that ran off into the mountains for 'find myself'. Vacation, PTO, furlough, sent home packing sounds more typical. Rank and file employees may be able to take extended time off. People close to the nucleus of a company can't. Unless you have some sort of mental breakdown I would imagine. Maybe I'm a boomer.

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Everyone in my company, CEO on down, takes a paid sabbatical. It differs from vacation time in that it has to be taken in 4 or 8 week blocks.

I did. I just gave you my perspective. Hey good for you if you can swing by it.

What industry is this?