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© Copyright 2000 Rogers Media. The following article first appeared in the April 2001 edition of
BENEFITS CANADA magazine.
Time out
Sabbaticals reward and recharge employees. The benefit can also help organizations retain staff and
influence performance.
By Kathryn Dorrell
the concept of sabbaticals inspires images of aging academics cloistered away in musty old European libraries.
This vision comes from my university days when it seemed the only segment of the working population afforded
the privilege was professorial types. It's time to dust off that dated image and take a new look at
sabbaticals--something a few Canadian organizations are doing.
"There is a shift towards more alternative work arrangements and sabbaticals are part of this," says John
Jackson, senior consultant at Watson Wyatt in Toronto. "This whole concept is going to be increasingly
common in the workplace in the future."
While sabbaticals remain more common in the public sector, more companies are offering leaves as a benefit
to reward performance or tenure. The benefit addresses the much-talked-about work-life balance issue that
employees at all levels and life stages face today.
Law firm McCarthy Tetrault, for example, introduced a formal sabbatical policy in 1998 for its partners.
Since then, 18 of the Toronto-based firm's 150 partners have taken paid leaves. Toronto's Bain & Co.
offers six-month leaves to its key consultants and pays salary but no bonuses for the sabbaticals.
John Izzo, co-author of Values Shift: The New Work Ethic & What It Means for Business, says
companies in the U.K. are using sabbaticals as a retention tool with "increasing popularity." He adds: "I
think you're going to see time, and time off to do things [employees] are interested in, becoming a core
part of the benefits package."
PRIVATE SECTOR PIONEER
One private sector pioneer of sabbaticals is the Sun newspaper chain. It began offering an eight-week, paid
leave (in addition to accrued vacation time) several decades ago to full-time employees who have worked for
the company for 10 years.
"It's a reward for being there--an added benefit for longevity that helps us keep employees and lets them
know that this is a good company to work for," says Chris Harrison, manager of employee relations at the
Toronto Sun newspaper. "It [builds] loyalty and morale because employees come back from their
sabbatical and talk about it. People four years away from it may be thinking of another job but [the
sabbatical] makes them stay."
TAILOR MADE
The benefits of sabbaticals for both the employee and employer, are evident. But many organizations are
struggling with the concept, admits Jackson.
One of the difficulties lies in how to structure these leaves, which actually afford employers a great deal
of flexibility. The organization can determine the duration of a sabbatical, who receives the benefit and
whether or not it is paid. For example, many Canadian education boards allow employees to bank a percentage
of their pay and put it towards a paid leave at the end of the set period.
Employers could also curb healthcare costs by incorporating sabbaticals into a flexible benefits package
that allows workers to use credits to purchase more than just a few extra days off every couple of years.
With most provinces adopting a one-year parental leave policy that either parent can take advantage of,
employers will have no choice but to find solutions to the challenges of employees vacating the workplace
for longer periods of time. The lessons employers learn from extended parental leaves, such as implementing
effective retraining, replacement and work redistribution practices, can be applied to sabbaticals.
Jackson encourages employers to structure sabbaticals as part of a total rewards strategy. This enables the
plan sponsor to promote the benefit within the organization. He adds that employers should base the
criteria for a leave on behaviour that they want to reinforce such as tenure or exceeding performance
targets."Sabbaticals may not be a solution for all employees," he concedes, "but in some workforces they
will be well received."
Kathryn Dorrell is associate editor with BENEFITS CANADA.
kdorrell@rmpublishing.com.
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