June 30, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Sabbaticals
July 1, 2011 at 7:15 am
No, and I don't know anyone who works for a company that does.
Where do I sign up?
July 1, 2011 at 7:35 am
I have heard about these places that offer these so called 'sabaticals' but in my entire career I've never worked for one. If these things are real they exist only perhaps in silicon valley or government organizations.
Personally, I'd rather have a more liberal & flexible vacation policy because if you work hard and consistantl meet schedules you deserve some recovery time, especially in this business.
The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival.
July 1, 2011 at 7:35 am
I'd be happy to take one or two weeks per year at peace. I think you've got to be incredibly lucky to be a production dba and get that amount of time off...as the somewhat cynical quote goes 'if they can get by that long without you they don't probably need you', have no desire of proving that! US is a workaholic culture, unless you run your own shop such benefits are pretty tough to come by.
July 1, 2011 at 8:33 am
I got a "sabbatical" by enlisting in the Army Reserves a few years ago...got six months off for basic training and AIT, came back to work for a while, then got 14 months off to go to Iraq, and have been back since. It was an unpaid sabbatical, of course, but it was still an extended absence that brought a number of benefits:
- I'm a better programmer after my Army experience: more disciplined, more organized, with much more attention to detail
- I certainly came back recharged, ready to work, looking forward to my office job as a change from Army life
- Before I left, I was really forced to clear the decks of my outstanding projects. All those loose ends that accrue? All those manual processes that you meant to automate? Those annoying bugs you just work around? All those scripts you meant to document? That all went from "some day" to absolutely having to get done.
- When I came back, it was to a completely clean plate. Plus, with years of experience at the company, it was as though they got a new hire who didn't have a multi-month learning curve - my boss had a valuable asset with 100% free bandwidth to apply anywhere.
There are definitely downsides - obviously, the company lost 20+ months of productivity. I fell behind in some technologies, as well as some business developments. And my attention span still isn't back to what it used to be - I used to be able to work, head-down/nose-to-the-grindstone, for hour after hour; when I got back, it was more like a 20-minute burst, then distraction, then a 20 minute burst, then distraction...still, I think it's been a net positive for the company, and certainly for me.
July 1, 2011 at 9:16 am
No, I have never worked for an organization that offered sabbaticals. I have heard of them most often in academia, where professors take a sabbatical to either write a book, or take a job in industry, etc. which gives them an excellent opportunity to gain "real-world" experience for the practical application of what they teach.
I DO think there is a big difference between a sabbatical and a long vacation, or some long-duration unpaid leave (like for family reasons). If I were in management at a company, I would be more likely to grant sabbaticals if I knew that they would be used to grow the employee's experience/skills, etc.
If I were an employee, I would not want to abuse the privilege by just using that time as a vacation.
July 1, 2011 at 9:25 am
I got sabbatical to learn Azure. I suspect this would not happen in today's depressed economy.
July 1, 2011 at 9:32 am
reh (7/1/2011)
I got a "sabbatical" by enlisting in the Army Reserves a few years ago...got six months off for basic training and AIT, came back to work for a while, then got 14 months off to go to Iraq, and have been back since.
reh - It takes guts to put your life on hold to enlist in the Army Reserve. Hats off and a big "Thank you" to all those who do!
July 1, 2011 at 10:04 am
No, our company does not offer sabaticals.
If it did, I would expect that the time away would be spent doing something related to my job that I couldn't do during the regular course of the work week; learning a new programming language, attending seminars, experimenting with database concepts not used at work by volunteering for projects were these concepts could be applied (does Habitat need database work?).
I wouldn't want to confuse sabatical, which is time away, with vacation, which is time off.
July 1, 2011 at 10:06 am
reh (7/1/2011)
... when I got back, it was more like a 20-minute burst, then distraction, then a 20 minute burst, then distraction...
Huh. My company thinks that's "productivity"!
Seriously, though, while I have never had a sabbatical, I did take a full four weeks consecutive off back in 2005. Rode to Alaska by motorcycle with my sweetie, up the Dalton Highway to Prudhoe Bay. No cell service for long stretches, none at all on the North Slope, plus you can't answer a cell phone while riding a motorcycle! (unless you put in the wiring, which no way would I do) The only schedule was the day we left, the day we caught the ferry, and the day we had to be home, plus one "work stop" in Anchorage to visit a branch office and have lunch with the manager. I "had" to do the work stop because I only had one week to train my backup, even though I had planned this trip a year in advance, and notified my company! (That's just plain foolish.)
And I came back completely recharged and ready to take on the world. How do you put a value on excitement, new ideas, energy? That's a flaw in the regular business world, IMHO.
I think the business gets a lot of value for a sabbatical.
- They have to plan ahead for you to be gone
- They find out what you really do, and can evaluate it in your absence
- They get an employee back with a different mindset and attitude (generally hugely positive!)
- They have an opportunity to show respect for your work, your skills, and your dedication (= retention policy)
- Depending on the sabbatical, they get back a more skilled employee (could be soft or hard skills)
I think more businesses should consider sabbaticals as part of their compensation package.
And I think more employees should ask for them.
If I could get a sabbatical, I'd consider one of the following to do in that time (note: I work in the insurance industry as a developer / business analyst / project manager).
- Visit several providers (hospitals, clinics) to find out how they utilize our website and determine improvements we could make to service them better. (Hey, my mom was a registered nurse, OK?)
- Set up a home server utilizing SQL Server or MySQL and learn more DBA-oriented tasks :hehe:
- Build a website from scratch using different tools than we have at work (for comparative purposes)
- take some Agile training courses (full disclosure: I LOVE Agile; currently a Certified Scrummaster)
- Spend at least one hour each day taking photos (gotta do something different, to recharge!)
Steph Brown
July 1, 2011 at 10:08 am
There are lot of companies which use the word 'sabbatical' to mean long vacation. I worked in a place where you were given one after 6 years of service..later on i chanced upon an email conversation in which i was accidentally copied...the hr person was prompting the manager to use that as an opportunity to figure out how much that person was missed. After that i didnt' think of that as a 'benefit' any more.
July 1, 2011 at 10:18 am
dma-669038 (7/1/2011)
...the hr person was prompting the manager to use that as an opportunity to figure out how much that person was missed. After that i didnt' think of that as a 'benefit' any more.
As so often in this business, "That Depends"!
When you return and hear the words "oh thank God, you're back!", it becomes a benefit again. Well, at least until you get hit with the work no one else could do...:-D
Steph Brown
July 1, 2011 at 1:50 pm
The place where I am working now offers sabbaticals after you have been with the company for 5 years. My team has 32 people, and already 3 people have taken one in the last 6 months. They are 4 weeks. This is the first time I have seen them...perhaps I'll stay if they'll have me for that long 🙂
There are no special teachers of virtue, because virtue is taught by the whole community.
--Plato
July 1, 2011 at 1:50 pm
I know about the Xerox program for volunteering. It was a great program when I worked there I know people actually did use it to concentrate on a volunteer activity. I know back in the day Kodak also had something for an educational sabbatical I know someone that worked on his doctoral thesis that way. I don’t know about any programs that are just an extended vacation, sounds like some kind of dream world. Where I work now, it is two weeks’ vacation until you have five years in so I don’t see any kind of extra leave coming around any time soon. Maybe these are things of the past or for only the very large companies, which Xerox and Kodak used to be.
July 5, 2011 at 3:21 pm
My company, Red Gate, does offer them. I have had a few friends get them at different companies, though they sometimes are referred to as a leave of absence, unpaid, and no guarantees that your job will be there. To date, I've had 3 people I know take them and come back to work with no issues. It was actually a similar situation to maternity leave, though one was 6 months long.
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