too much vacation---how can I transition to a sabatical?

[Deleted]

I currently have too much vacation days, so I have to use them.  So I have the next 3 days off and am just doing nothing in the house and LOVING it so far (stay up as late as I want, sleep in, plan a low key day tomorrow (will still hit the gym, but otherwise low stress day planned)).......I hear  a lot about this sabbatical thing for a year......I think I need one........

[Deleted]

Back when I was working I used to get very burned out. I found that vacations really weren't "relaxing" because we always had to "DO" something. The wife would want to visit her family (a 24 hour drive) or something that actually resulted in more stress on me. I found that just taking a couple of days off where I could veg generally did more good for "me" than 2 weeks off.

[Cookies Galore]

Random days off are beyond necessary!

[Deleted]

I am off next week and have nothing planned. I am definitely looking forward to it.

[NancysSummerSip]

Vacations days with nothing to do? Are you people nuts? When we go on vacation, we have a notebook's worth of printed itinerary planned, with alternatives.

I'm fine with a normal Saturday-Sunday off, but a three day weekend makes me itch. I have two days off coming up this month for surgery, and I'm already wondering what I will be able to do besides lie on the couch on each of those days and recover.

[Phoenix84]

The only industry I know of that gives "sabatical years" is academia.  Which is crazy, especially since professors pretty much get the summer off as it is.

[Icelandic Woman]

Lazy do nothing days are the best!!!

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Aug 7, 2013 13:20:55 GMT -5 Phoenix84 said:

The only industry I know of that gives "sabatical years" is academia.  Which is crazy, especially since professors pretty much get the summer off as it is.

Ummm, no they don't.

Summers are our busiest times, I can't remember the last time I was able to take a vacation while the students weren't in session during the school year.

During the summers, professors spend the 3 months doing everything that they didn't have time to do during the school year to keep their activities up.  That's when they work on their volunteer activities, write papers and grants and everything else required to get tenure.

Oh, and most professors are only on a 9 month contract if they don't need to do other activities like these.

[Phoenix84]

Aug 7, 2013 13:55:23 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Aug 7, 2013 13:20:55 GMT -5 Phoenix84 said:

The only industry I know of that gives "sabatical years" is academia.  Which is crazy, especially since professors pretty much get the summer off as it is.

Ummm, no they don't.

Summers are our busiest times, I can't remember the last time I was able to take a vacation while the students weren't in session during the school year.

During the summers, professors spend the 3 months doing everything that they didn't have time to do during the school year to keep their activities up.  That's when they work on their volunteer activities, write papers and grants and everything else required to get tenure.

Oh, and most professors are only on a 9 month contract if they don't need to do other activities like these.

Regardless, getting a "sabatical year" is something else no one gets.

[steph08]

Aug 7, 2013 14:02:52 GMT -5 Phoenix84 said:

Aug 7, 2013 13:55:23 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Ummm, no they don't.

Summers are our busiest times, I can't remember the last time I was able to take a vacation while the students weren't in session during the school year.

During the summers, professors spend the 3 months doing everything that they didn't have time to do during the school year to keep their activities up.  That's when they work on their volunteer activities, write papers and grants and everything else required to get tenure.

Oh, and most professors are only on a 9 month contract if they don't need to do other activities like these.

Regardless, getting a "sabatical year" is something else no one gets.

Not quite true. I know someone who works for Intel and every 7 years they get a paid sabbatical. I think it is 12 weeks or so.

[souldoubt]

Some individuals from accounting firms take sabbaticals.  From what I've seen these are generally partners and/or others high up the food chain who rack up ridiculous billable hours during the busy season. Some of the people we work with regularly I can only imagine what their billable hours are but I'm not sure if all of them take sabatticals but they probably should.  Anyways I'm at the point now where I get almost 30 days off a year not counting holidays.  It took me a while to get there but since my balance has been built up I can take a day off every 2 weeks and still be maxed out since we don't have a use it or lose it policy.  When things slow down I take off random days usually making it a 3 day weekend but sometimes I'll take a day mid-week just to relax by myself.     

[travelnut11]

I took a 9 month sabbatical for my 30th birthday and went traveling.  I'm not in academia and it was non-paid (after my accrued PTO was used up) but it wasn't that big of deal to my office.  Officially it's a personal leave of absence but my office was fine with it though a little confused when I requested it.  I think they thought I was leaving to work for the competition but wanted to hold on to my job there and come back if I didn't like it?  I thought that was kind of weird but once I explained my plans my boss thought I was a genius who had come up with a great employee retention tool for people who get burned out. 

A software company in my area gives a paid 4 week leave of absence every 5 years to its employees and the only stipulation is that you must go somewhere you've never been before. 

A friend of mine is a school psychologist in the public school system and is on a one year leave of absence from her job.

So it's not that uncommon...I think most people can't afford it and/or aren't willing to make the sacrifices required to save up for a chunk of unpaid time. 

[movingforward]

Aug 7, 2013 15:24:16 GMT -5 travelnut11 said:

I took a 9 month sabbatical for my 30th birthday and went traveling.  I'm not in academia and it was non-paid (after my accrued PTO was used up) but it wasn't that big of deal to my office.  Officially it's a personal leave of absence but my office was fine with it though a little confused when I requested it.  I think they thought I was leaving to work for the competition but wanted to hold on to my job there and come back if I didn't like it?  I thought that was kind of weird but once I explained my plans my boss thought I was a genius who had come up with a great employee retention tool for people who get burned out. 

A software company in my area gives a paid 4 week leave of absence every 5 years to its employees and the only stipulation is that you must go somewhere you've never been before. 

A friend of mine is a school psychologist in the public school system and is on a one year leave of absence from her job.

So it's not that uncommon...I think most people can't afford it and/or aren't willing to make the sacrifices required to save up for a chunk of unpaid time. 

Holy crap, where do you work?  I want a job there.  I have been debating on taking some time off (probably 3-4 months) to travel in a couple of years but feel certain that I would have to quit my job in order to do it. 

[simser]

Aug 7, 2013 14:05:14 GMT -5 steph08 said:

Aug 7, 2013 14:02:52 GMT -5 Phoenix84 said:

Regardless, getting a "sabatical year" is something else no one gets.

Not quite true. I know someone who works for Intel and every 7 years they get a paid sabbatical. I think it is 12 weeks or so.

I know some people who work for Intel too
It's 8 weeks every 7 years. And I can't wait for mine. We actually age people on sabbatical too- "he's on his 4th sabbatical". My first one is going to be Europe

[Cookies Galore]

Aug 7, 2013 14:02:52 GMT -5 Phoenix84 said:

Aug 7, 2013 13:55:23 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Ummm, no they don't.

Summers are our busiest times, I can't remember the last time I was able to take a vacation while the students weren't in session during the school year.

During the summers, professors spend the 3 months doing everything that they didn't have time to do during the school year to keep their activities up.  That's when they work on their volunteer activities, write papers and grants and everything else required to get tenure.

Oh, and most professors are only on a 9 month contract if they don't need to do other activities like these.

Regardless, getting a "sabatical year" is something else no one gets.

We allow sabbaticals/personal leave of absences. One of my coworkers is actually in the midst of a three-month stay in a convent.

[Phoenix84]

Isn't a "personal leave of absence" unpaid? 

I suppose in theory someone could take a lengthy period of leave.  We can bank up to 240 hours, which is 30 days of leave per year.  If you carry over 240 hours and build up some additional hours of leave throughout the year, you could in theory take two months or more of leave, assuming your supervisor would approve it.  Which I would doubt in my case.

I'm not sure on the specifics, but we can supposedly take "leave without pay."  But again, it needs to be approved by your supvervisor.  I doubt too many would be too keen on saying "yes" if you ask if you can just take off for a year or two.

[Deleted]

 Some ministers and (RC) priests get to take sabbaticals, and get paid a stipend to do so. Some high-ranking institutional physicians do, as well, and so do some ("Board of") Directors.

[travelnut11]

Aug 7, 2013 15:49:33 GMT -5 movingforward said:

Aug 7, 2013 15:24:16 GMT -5 travelnut11 said:

I took a 9 month sabbatical for my 30th birthday and went traveling.  I'm not in academia and it was non-paid (after my accrued PTO was used up) but it wasn't that big of deal to my office.  Officially it's a personal leave of absence but my office was fine with it though a little confused when I requested it.  I think they thought I was leaving to work for the competition but wanted to hold on to my job there and come back if I didn't like it?  I thought that was kind of weird but once I explained my plans my boss thought I was a genius who had come up with a great employee retention tool for people who get burned out. 

A software company in my area gives a paid 4 week leave of absence every 5 years to its employees and the only stipulation is that you must go somewhere you've never been before. 

A friend of mine is a school psychologist in the public school system and is on a one year leave of absence from her job.

So it's not that uncommon...I think most people can't afford it and/or aren't willing to make the sacrifices required to save up for a chunk of unpaid time. 

Holy crap, where do you work?  I want a job there.  I have been debating on taking some time off (probably 3-4 months) to travel in a couple of years but feel certain that I would have to quit my job in order to do it. 

I work in pharmaceutical research as a computer programmer.  Probably some of my luck in this regard is that we are always short on qualified programmers so rather than lose me and have to hire another experienced programmer they approved the LOA.  The bottom line for me was that I was taking the time off and if I needed to quit to do so...so be it.  I realize most people are not in that position but I was single and unattached and had saved up for the travel. It helped that I went to South America where everything is cheap so I could travel a long time on the cheap.  So I got a housesitter who paid nominal rent and ended up living cheaper in SA than I can here in the USA.  It worked out great and I hope to do it again later when I have kids. 

I guess you'll never know if they'll allow the time off unless you ask.  They may say no and if losing your job would be catastrophic then maybe don't do it but my take on it was if they said no I'd have a great time on my trip and worry about getting a new job when I got back.  You have to know your own job prospects for that though and of course I had money saved up for my return if things didn't work out with my employer.  They did though and I moved right back into my project as though I'd never left.

[yogiii]

Aug 7, 2013 17:24:35 GMT -5 Phoenix84 said:

Isn't a "personal leave of absence" unpaid? 

I suppose in theory someone could take a lengthy period of leave.  We can bank up to 240 hours, which is 30 days of leave per year.  If you carry over 240 hours and build up some additional hours of leave throughout the year, you could in theory take two months or more of leave, assuming your supervisor would approve it.  Which I would doubt in my case.

I'm not sure on the specifics, but we can supposedly take "leave without pay."  But again, it needs to be approved by your supvervisor.  I doubt too many would be too keen on saying "yes" if you ask if you can just take off for a year or two.

I'm currently on a personal leave of absence for almost 1 year.  I'm an engineer and work for a large company.  I'm doing an extended maternity leave.  Yes it had to be approved by management and it's unpaid.  3 years ago I did the same thing but only took off 5 months.  I figure this is my last kid, so I went big this time.  I know a few people who have used this to attend school across the country and also another person who used it to take the summer off and travel.  I think if you're worth enough to the company, and the company is big enough there is a very good chance you'll get approved

[Formerly SK]

Aug 7, 2013 16:27:40 GMT -5 simser said:

Aug 7, 2013 14:05:14 GMT -5 steph08 said:

Not quite true. I know someone who works for Intel and every 7 years they get a paid sabbatical. I think it is 12 weeks or so.

I know some people who work for Intel too
It's 8 weeks every 7 years. And I can't wait for mine. We actually age people on sabbatical too- "he's on his 4th sabbatical". My first one is going to be Europe

I worked for Intel many moons ago.  I had loved the idea of their sabbatical program.  Then I realized all the fantastical crap you have to put up with for seven years just to get the sabbatical and decided it wasn't worth it. 

I'm so glad I quit.  I remember one of the excuses they gave for giving your blood/soul to the company was your stock options and how fabulously rich you'd get.  Just checked - my option price was about what current price is.  So much for those fabulous profits!

[Deleted]

I worked for a big pharma that allowed sabbatical after 10 years.  You did have to apply for it and have it approved.  Mostly they wanted  you to go away and get smarter.  You were not allowed to work for anyone else during the sabbatical.