Sabbaticals have historically been uncommon in the United States, primarily found within academia, a handful of unconventional businesses and some non-profit organizations. However, this employee retention and rejuvenation benefit is on the rise among forward-thinking companies that recognize the value of offering their employees several weeks or even months away from their jobs.
The benefits of sabbaticals are numerous; they can serve as the ultimate work-life balance perk, allowing individuals to embrace a slower pace of life, pursue hobbies, delve into passion projects and explore various educational opportunities.
According to research featured in the Harvard Business Review, some employees in managerial and professional roles take unpaid sabbaticals if their employers do not provide paid sabbatical benefits. However, the appeal and effectiveness of sabbaticals, in terms of recruitment and retention, is greatly enhanced when the employee experiences no disruption to compensation, as was the case of Hank Bao, a senior product manager at ZocDoc.
Built In sat down with Bao, who shared the transformative experience of his immersive sabbatical while his employer and colleagues handled the workload during his absence. As he explained, the entire team ultimately benefited in a surprising way upon his return.
ZocDoc improves the healthcare experience for patients with technology.
What sabbatical opportunities are available to team members?
Four years into my time at Zocdoc, the company introduced a new sabbatical policy. The policy allows employees to take four weeks paid sabbatical leave after five years of consecutive tenure with one additional unpaid week per subsequent year and up to eight weeks paid leave after ten years of continuous service. As I approached my five year work anniversary, I knew that I wanted to use my sabbatical to do something unrelated to tech that would be difficult to fit into my typical daily life.
For background, during the COVID-19 lockdown I started baking pastries as a hobby and gradually built up to tackling recipes for French pastries such as croissants and canelés. Early on it took me a dozen attempts to make a decent croissant. I decided to use my sabbatical to continue improving my baking skills by taking Le Cordon Bleu’s intensive patisserie class in London.
While on sabbatical I completely immersed myself in what turned out to be a very intense course. The chefs were firm but talented educators and my classmates were great companions from beginning to end, including during our stressful practicums. I emerged with a diploma, new friends, some minor burns and great stories.
What benefits have you seen as a result of taking a sabbatical?
My sabbatical allowed me to pursue a hobby with a level of focus that would have been hard to achieve otherwise. I am extremely fortunate to have gone to baking school without worrying about work or even how to pay for my empty apartment in NYC.
My sabbatical allowed me to pursue a hobby with a level of focus that would have been hard to achieve otherwise.”
I came back to work well-rested and with some fun stories. And—after I took a brief reprieve from baking—my coworkers started benefiting more from my new skills too!
How does your company allow employees to truly unplug while on sabbatical – and to ease the return to the workplace?
My sabbatical was conveniently timed. My team was at the end of a long-term project, which made me feel better about leaving them with minimal open threads. While I was actually on leave, the company made it easy to unplug; after giving my contact information to my teammates, I signed off from Slack and logged out of email. Everyone respected my time off as they do for my usual vacations and did not contact me once. When I returned to work I had a few weeks to wrap up the last loose ends of the previous project and explore options for the next project to tackle.
Overall, I benefited from good timing with my project and baking school. However, it was the flexibility and support of my teammates that gave me the confidence to pursue my sabbatical and fully disconnect. I have seen this respectful treatment for other sabbatical takers too, with people being very helpful in coverage while their teammates were away. It is exciting coming back relaxed and refreshed, and in my case with a new skill set, knowing my work was covered and I had the full support of my team and company.
