Arrive Magazine - March/April, 2008

Business Class

Taking a_STimeout

A sabbatical
from the office
isn’t simply
an extended
vacation. It can
actually lead
to a whole
new lease on
your career

Some days—OK, most—you feel everyone wants a piece of you.

The boss wants a massive project— yesterday. The guy across the partition

BY MICHELE MEYER

hums his school song while divebombing paper airplanes at your head. And when you’re finally, truly focused, your phone rings with yet another “friend” wanting a favor.

So it’s natural if you fantasize about dropping off the face of the earth for a few months. Who wouldn’t rather be hang gliding in Bali, studying with a pastry chef in Paris or writing the next Eat, Pray, Love?

And being paid to do it.

Sure, it’s a dream. But can grown-ups take a timeout to regroup or address a family health crisis without their career careening off track?

Yes, depending on the employer. Often referred to as sabbaticals, such official escapes have long been built into academia, where freedom to travel serves as a time of rest, or Sabbath, after years of studying and teaching. Outside universities, however, such leaves cannot be taken for granted. Only one-fifth of firms nationwide provide a formal paid or unpaid sabbatical with a job waiting upon the person’s return, reports the Society for Human Resource Management. And

few dare to cut the cord: Just 14 percent of American workers take two weeks of vacation in a row annually, reports the Families and Work Institute.

Even so, “taking a three-month break in a 35-year career is a blip on the radar screen,” says Gabriella Goddard, who learned to speak Chinese during her two months away from being a London bank marketing officer. “They’ll cope without you, and they might appreciate you more due to your absence. Plus, you return energized and with clarity and decisiveness about your professional and personal life. The company has a whole new lease of life out of you—probably five more years. And they didn’t have to motivate you or spend a lot on training.”

Do Your Homework

You also should be grateful—and show it with hard work—if your employer allows you to help your mom move into a nursing home or your son heal from a broken leg (after living his fantasy, riding a motorcycle). True, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 enables workers to take up to 12 weeks without pay to attend to health crises of a child, spouse or parent. Still, a doctor’s note may help reassure your employer.