Why offering sabbatical leave can help to retain top managers

Do you offer your employees sabbatical leave to combat the long-term stresses of work? If you haven’t considered introducing this workplace perk before, then you should do so now according to a new study from the Chartered Management Institute in the UK, which reveals that the option to take a sabbatical is a key factor in managers choosing who to work for.

Just over half of managers surveyed by the Institute (53 per cent) said their organisation offered sabbatical leave, compared to 29 per cent who said their employer did not.

Improving wellbeing

The reasons for taking a sabbatical varied. One in four managers said the main reason for offering sabbatical leave was to improve employee wellbeing and mental health. Cultivating a more flexible work culture (36 per cent) and increasing talent retention (31 per cent) were also important.

Anthony Painter, director of policy at the Chartered Management Institute, told The Guardian, that sabbaticals offered benefits for both employees and employers, explaining that ‘they can hit the sweet spot between employee wellbeing and upskilling that benefits the employer’.

Managers working in the public or charity sector (62 per cent) were more likely to say sabbatical leave was available than those working in the private sector (44 per cent). The survey also found that younger managers under 55 were more likely to say that it was important for employers to offer sabbatical leave.

Unlocking potential

Studies have consistently supported the view that sabbaticals can unlock the potential of employees who are feeling ‘burned out, bottle-necked and bored’, to use a memorable phrase coined by researchers Robert Morison, Tamara Erickson and Ken Dychtwald in their paper ‘Managing Middlescence’.

According to Harvard Business Review, sabbaticals are on the rise, but there are different types. There are ‘working holidays’ so people can pursue a specific passion project before returning to their former jobs. There are ‘free dives’ driven by wanderlust so that people can go where they will and wipe the slate clean. And then there are slow burn ‘quests’ for authentic transformation that often start from a position of total exhaustion with work.

Whatever character sabbaticals might take on, the Chartered Institute of Management study gives reasons for why they are taking off.