What It’s Like to Go on Sabbatical As a Lawyer
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Our CorporetteMoms morning writer, Ann, just returned from an eight-week paid sabbatical, and offered to write about it. Today she's sharing tips on how to take advantage of an employer's sabbatical policy, how to prepare for a sabbatical as a lawyer, and what it's like to return after eight weeks away! Huge thanks to Ann for sharing! — Kat
I recently returned to work after a fully-paid, eight-week sabbatical (cue the tiny violins)! Now that I’m back at work, I thought I’d share some information about my employer’s sabbatical policy, how I prepared for my sabbatical, and what my first weeks back were like. (I’m a litigator, and yes, even busy litigators can take a sabbatical.)
A few years ago, my employer, a small legal nonprofit, added a sabbatical benefit. Before that, I thought sabbaticals were only for tenured professors. Since then, I’ve heard of other nonprofits that offer sabbaticals, and the practice seems to be growing.
Readers, have you ever taken a sabbatical? What was it like?
What It's Like to Go on Sabbatical As a Lawyer
Where I work, the policy was added as a retention and professional development benefit. Legal nonprofits know they cannot compete on salary, so something like a sabbatical is a great way to reward and recognize long-term employees. In turn, junior employees get their own professional development opportunities. For example, when my manager took her sabbatical, I did her job.
Of course, having rested and reinvigorated employees is also a plus.
{related: open thread: how to take the stress out of vacation planning}
Employer Policies for Staff Sabbaticals
Our policy is pretty simple: After seven years of employment, you are eligible for your first sabbatical, which you must take within the year. (There are some very narrow exceptions that seem harder to get than just taking it when you are supposed to.) After the first sabbatical, you are eligible to take one every five years. (I’m already planning my next one, ha!)
The sabbatical is fully paid for six weeks, and you have the option to add two weeks of accrued vacation for a total of eight weeks. During the sabbatical, you are not supposed to access work email, join Zoom meetings, or do any work at all. No one is supposed to contact you except in really limited circumstances. (I got the impression it had to be something like a coworker's death.)
{related: the best employee perks and benefits}
Now, you must be wondering, does anyone really take advantage of this? Would there be any professional ramifications, like the kind parents face when they take parental leave? Where I work, no. Our policy was designed so employees actually use it. The reason why it’s so successful is everyone takes it — from our executive director down. If there isn’t buy-in from management, there’s no reason for offering it.
For example, I was talking with co-counsel at a Biglaw firm, and he joked that his firm had a sabbatical policy on paper, but it was so complicated and frowned upon that rumor had it only one person ever managed to use it.
{related: unlimited vacation time: pro or con}
What to Do During a Sabbatical
So what do you do with all that no-strings-attached time off? Most people travel. My family took a nearly five-week trip to Asia and Australia, and I did childcare the rest of the summer to save money on daycare to pay for said trip. One colleague moved, another person spent quality time with their college-bound kid, our ED got back into running, and someone who’s up for their sabbatical this year is planning a spa/wellness getaway to decompress.
In the weeks before my sabbatical, I worked with my manager to finish any loose ends and hand off anything I couldn’t finish. As I mentioned, I filled in for my manager, so she mostly filled in for me. We also delegated some discrete tasks to other staff to give them a chance to learn a little about what I do. I also let any outside partners know I was going to be out, and who was filling in. Finally, my out-of-office message stated I was on sabbatical and to get in touch again when I got back.
During my sabbatical, I didn’t peek at any email or hear a peep from anyone I worked with. After I got back, I had a pretty quiet week — it happened to be the end of summer so lots of my colleagues were on vacation. Before I left, I had set up meetings with my team and management to catch up on what went on while I was out. We aren't required to catch up on email, but I’m an inbox-zero person so I did it over a few days.
What It's Like to Return to Work After a Sabbatical
How did I feel when I got back? Well, the sky didn’t fall — the work moved along and I just jumped right back in. Given that my sabbatical consisted of a really ambitious travel itinerary followed by a short stint as a SAHM, I was ready to go back to work. I’m not sure I felt rested (again, personal choice on my part — maybe more rest next time!), but I felt reengaged and full of new ideas.
I know a sabbatical is a tough sell — Americans often don't even take their allotted annual leave. But, hopefully this gives you some information to advocate for a sabbatical policy where you work!
{related: things to do at work to prep for your vacation}
Readers, do tell: Does your employer allow sabbaticals? If you've taken a sabbatical, what did you use it for, and how did it go? If you're planning one — or daydreaming about one — what will you / would you do?
Stock photo via Stencil.
as a public sector lawyer who has never worked anywhere that has a sabbatical option, this sounds completely amazing. would go to new zealand and australia or asia, somewhere you really need 2-3 weeks. and then be really conscious and productive with my time at home (see people, organize….)
Wow, that’s so different! In STEM research, you still do work in a sabbatical, which is really mostly a break from teaching obligations. It does offer a chance to move to a cool place for a few months, but every example I know it was to collaborate with professor XYZ at some far flung university. Or to write a book.
Yeah, this is true in academia in general, not just STEM. And it can be complicated to move abroad for several months so you often just stay home and do more research and research travel than normal because you don’t have to teach. My husband is a college professor but his first sabbatical was in 2021 and we couldn’t go anywhere due to travel restrictions and by the time his second sabbatical rolls around our kid will be almost be in middle school and we think it will be too difficult academically and socially to move her for 6+ months. Hopefully when she’s grown we can live abroad temporarily. I’m bummed the pandemic caused us to miss the ideal window for living abroad with kids, which imo is early-mid elementary school.
It’s probably too late for you to read any replies, but we took our second 6-month sabbatical when I was 10 and my brother was 13, and I think that was a good age for both of us. I left my elementary school one semester early and started middle school when I got back, and my brother left middle school one semester early and started high school when we got back. Those were great ages to explore, and I still have a lot of memories from that sabbatical. My parents had to delay their third sabbatical for a couple of years, though, I was not about to go abroad my junior or senior year of high school or have no home to return to my freshman year of college. They went my sophomore year instead, and they went for a whole year. I visited them in one country on my winter break, and a different country on my spring break!
My prior firm (private practice) required sabbaticals. In addition to the positive reasons for retention and rest, it was a way for the firm to ensure succession planning happened, and to catch any issues – it’s hard to cover up a missed deadline or slow client communication over an absence that long. I don’t know exact details as I left as an associate but I understand that each practice group rotated in seniority order, you had to be a partner for 5 years before eligible but it would likely be more than that, you knew years in advance when it would be your “turn,” and you had 1-24 months to take the sabbatical once it was your “turn” (allowing for you to plan out major trial dates or transaction deadlines, including if you would handle it or needed to bring in a junior or partner for coverage). Sabbaticals were a mandatory 10 weeks. We did not have PTO, it was just hours and handle your work. Each partner was paid a set amount roughly equivalent to 10 weeks’ worth of their prior 2-years earnings, and the partner knew that dollar amount every year so could theoretically wait another full year or two if they thought comp would change. Everyone seemed to love them and there was a similar rule that zero email, zero contact unless someone died. Partners had to leave extremely detailed conflicts instructions allowing the GC to easily interpret and understand, plus another attorney was on every matter because we all knew about sabbaticals, so conflicts surprisingly were not really an issue. Most people used it for travel. Many other firms within the region had a similar practice so it was also accepted to have a sabbatical email reply without people assuming you were on punishment or mental health leave (a concern I have heard from others).
What region? New goals unlocked with this post!
I left a nonprofit that had this option to go to government work and it is one of the things I am most disappointed about losing from nonprofit work. Nearly everything else about government work is better but we don’t get nearly as much leave as we did at the nonprofit I was at and I really feel it.