Judith Harkham Semas
Freelance Writer...Editor...Author

(Published in HR magazine.)

A look at sabbatical practices of high-tech companies.

By Judith Harkham Semas

Mack Medeiros headed Down Under for a leisurely month of scuba diving on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef—-something he’d always wanted to do. Sue Priore bundled her teenage son into the car and took off to tour the California coast. No plan, no agenda—-just freedom, relaxed exploration, and uninterrupted days of mother-son togetherness for the first time in years. Patrick Trujillo revisited the province where he soldiered during the Viet Nam war—-a dream he’d nurtured for three decades.

No, Medeiros, Priore and Trujillo didn’t win the lottery or inherit a bundle from the death of a rich relative. These three Silicon Valley employees are among the thousands who work for companies—-notably technology firms—-that offer their workers extended periods of fully paid time off from work, commonly known as “sabbaticals.”

Sabbaticals are a long-established perk in the world of research facilities and higher education. “In the traditional sense, sabbaticals had a mission,” says ArLyne Diamond, Ph.D., business consultant and co-founder of the Institute for Chiology and Innovation in Palo Alto, Calif. “They were intended to further one’s professional development, thus benefiting both the individual employee and the employing organization.” In that traditional world, sabbaticals were available only to executive and professional staff.

Intel Led the Way

Intel, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based, global high-tech behemoth, was the first company in Silicon Valley to offer sabbaticals to workers at all levels. Today, every full-time, regular, domestic Intel employee qualifies for eight weeks of leave with full pay and benefits every seven years. And that’s in addition to regular vacations. (Overseas employees aren’t eligible for Intel’s sabbaticals because their vacation allotment is more generous.)

The policy began with Intel’s founding in 1979, and continues essentially unchanged today.

“We see sabbaticals as accomplishing two things,” says corporate affairs manager Tracy Koon. “Allowing people time for revitalization, and giving the employees who remain an opportunity for new challenges and growth.”

The idea has caught on. Over the past 28 years, sabbaticals have become an accepted part of life all over Silicon Valley. (See box.)

Even non-technology firms are getting into the act. A growing number of law firms offer sabbaticals, and American Express Financial Advisors is considering implementing a policy for its workers.

According to the national Work and Family Survey recently conducted by Buck Consultants of New York, 22 percent of the 313 responding companies offer their employees paid general leaves of absence--in addition to vacation, sick leave and other types of paid time off.

Some people predicted the demise of sabbaticals when employers downsized dramatically in the early ‘90s, according to consultant Diana Reach of Hewitt Associates in San Francisco. “But companies are relying on their employees even more now than before.” she said. “They want to show they care about employee needs, and sabbaticals are one way to do that.”

At private-sector firms, employees can usually use their sabbaticals for any purpose, so long as it doesn’t conflict with the interests of their employer. And workers can extend their sabbaticals by adding tacking on vacation or other paid personal time off.


A "golden handcuff"

Like most companies that offer sabbaticals, Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Wa. sees its one-year-old policy as a key retention tool. However, where most employers offer the perk with virtually no restrictions, Microsoft has imposed some limits.

"Our program is considered an award, not an entitlement," says Cecily Hall, Microsoft's senior employee benefits manager. "It is structured for key upper-level employees, includes some job/career performance standards, and requires final approval of the employee's vice president."

After seven years of service at Microsoft, qualifying employees are eligible for an award of eight weeks, offered in "three different flavors," from which employees can choose: They can simply take the time off with pay. They can continue to work at their jobs and take the cash equivalent of their time off in addition to their regular pay. ("If they want to donate the cash to a charitable organization, we can help facilitate," Hall says.) Or they can request an assignment in another part of the corporation, and Microsoft will provide coordinating support.

Microsoft's sabbatical program has been well received, according to Hall. "Overall, feedback has been very good, with no complaints from managers or peers," she said. "We're about to start formal polling to secure more direct feedback from the recipients about the short-term impact of the award on their careers, and how they feel it will affect them long-term. In that way, we can understand and better gauge the effectiveness of our program."

Adobe Systems, Inc. of San Jose, Ca. began its program in 1995. "We wanted to remain competitive, and learned that more companies were offering sabbaticals," says Susan Hall, Adobe's benefits administrator. "We see it as an employee destressor and a tool for avoiding burnout, as well as a means of retaining employees. Everyone here at every level loves our sabbatical policy; we haven't seen any downside at all."

"Indentured servitude is long gone," Koon comments. "Still, I've had Intel employees tell me, 'I received a good offer from another company, but I like my job here and I'm almost eligible for sabbatical, so I turned it down.' "


Companies benefit

Sabbatical advocates insist that even a few uninterrupted weeks away from the press of work boost productivity by giving stressed workers the opportunity to recharge their batteries. Employees return to their jobs, they say, with renewed enthusiasm and heightened creativity.

"We find that not only are employees more relaxed and better able to handle work stresses when they return, they also come back with new ideas and fresh winds blowing between their ears," Koon said. "Sabbaticals really do give you a new lease on life, both psychologically and intellectually. Because returning employees haven't been immersed in their day-to-day tasks while they've been gone, they tell us their sabbaticals have helped them see work issues and problems in a different-often more effective-way."

Koon also touts sabbaticals as an effective tool for broadening the perspective of the employees who remain at work, picking up the slack for the worker on leave. "It helps them better understand what we do here, and gives some employees management experiences they might not otherwise have had."

At Apple Computer, team bonding is another of the company benefits wrought by sabbaticals, according to benefits manager Sue Cunningham. "We had that experience in this department," she said. "We all stretch to help each other. Knowing that our teammates will come through for us when it's our turn to take sabbatical has made our whole team stronger and more cohesive."

American Express Financial Advisors (AEFA) is considering adopting the sabbatical policy of its parent corporation (American Express, New York), which kicks in after 10 years of service. Why? Not just for consistency in the corporate family, but also as a way of addressing the company's commitment to give back to the community.

"Part of the sabbatical program at American Express is to provide long-term enhancements and learning opportunities for employees," said Bonnie Anderson, AEFA's director of field employee relations, "but we have established criteria for participation in the sabbatical program, and we recognize that it is also one way we can help foster support for community service."

Employees benefit

Employees on sabbatical choose to spend their time in a variety of ways. Some, like Carl Berney, a vice president of engineering at Centigram Computer, decide to follow their personal interests. Berney, who'd sculpted for 30 years in his spare time, used his four-week sabbatical to participate in a marble workshop in Pietrasanta, a small town in Italy founded by Michaelangelo.

Patrick Trujillo, an Intel project manager, returned to the town he'd been stationed in during the Vietnam War, meeting local residents and reconnecting with a community service group that ran an orphanage.

Some use the time to get a head start on a new degree or take special coursework or training to improve their career opportunities. Some, like Maria Dugan, a former administrative manager at Tandem Computer in Cupertino, Ca., choose to intensify their home remodeling program or catch up on domestic chores. Others opt to spend quality time with their families. And others still, simply kick back and enjoy-at the nearest expanse of sand, surf and sun or in exotic locales like Australia's famed Great Barrier Reef.

Part of the company culture

Some companies have developed sabbatical-related rituals and vocabulary over the years. According to one engineering manager, workers at 3Com use the word "sabattitude" to describe the near beatific serenity of people who have just returned from leave.

Intel has a tradition of lighthearted teasing that often bookends workers' sabbaticals. According to Koon, one manager who'd spent his sabbatical in the tropics returned to discover his office cubicle filled with sand and a beach umbrella. Another couldn't find his cubicle at all-until he checked the parking lot, where company pranksters had transported it.

"One person in our unit planned to spend part of her sabbatical in Europe and the remainder at the beach. So at her going-away party, we gave her a flimsy bathing suit and garish, hot pink-and-rhinestone, oversized sunglasses, plus books of slang expressions in French and Italian," Koon said. "And we really faked out my boss on his return from a nine-week leave. We had him thinking the whole organization chart had changed in his absence because we'd installed new people and nameplates in every cubicle."

Sabbatical fun is the norm at other firms, too. "The day before one of our employees left to spend his sabbatical time in the tropics, we set up a whole beach scene in his cubicle-sand, wading pool, palm tree, the works," noted Larry Hicks, director of compensation and benefits at Silicon Graphics, Inc.

What's the downside?

Although confirmed sabbatical supporters frequently maintain that with good planning and communication, there is no downside, not everyone is an unqualified fan.

Bob Smith, former executive vice president of development and chief technical officer of Belfort Memory International of Los Gatos, Ca., has spent 30 years working for Silicon Valley technology companies, including Seagate Technology, Inc. of Scotts Valley, Ca.; and Magnetic Peripherals, Inc. (formerly Sperry-Univac, and Information Storage Systems) in Cupertino, Ca.

"A standard comment I heard from some fairly high-level people at Seagate is, 'If I can let somebody go on sabbatical for four or five weeks, I don't need them at all,' " Smith said. "I've heard such comments repeatedly from many, many people throughout the industry."

It's no wonder, he notes, that lots of employees worry over being replaced or having their jobs downgraded while they are out on sabbatical. "Give someone five weeks to do your job-probably at a lower salary-while you're gone," he says, "And guess what: You've got an unpleasant surprise awaiting your return."

For companies that swear by sabbaticals, cost is not a concern; most look to the employees' teammates to cover work during sabbatical absences. But for firms without sabbatical policies, cost and fear of reduced productivity can be a big issue.

"When you hire a person and pay him or her to produce for you for five years, you've invested a considerable sum in that employee's training and production capability," Smith observed. "Can you really afford to let the person go for five or six weeks?"

In smaller firms particularly, business can suffer when key employees are out. Few small outfits have the staff to adequately cover for extended absences, or the budget to hire temporary replacements.

Some employees have been heard to complain that the trouble they must take to prepare for their sabbaticals-and the pile-up of work they face on their return-is so stressful, it's almost not worth it to take the time off.

Almost,, however, is the definitive word. A few may grumble, but employees who pass up the opportunity to take their sabbaticals are harder to find in Silicon Valley than a stretch of ungridlocked freeway during commute hours.

One 3Com engineer tells of returning from his sabbatical to find more than 1,100 e-mail messages queued up on his computer. But according to Hicks and others at pro-sabbatical companies, that kind of problem can be easily eliminated.

"Most people put in an e-mail stop on their computers, with instructions to refer their e-mails to someone else," he said. "We think that kind of thing is important because we don't value people being islands. The environment at Silicon Graphics is team oriented and, although some people are missed more than others, no one is indispensable. We think that's as it should be."


Sabbatical policies aren't for everyone

Hewlett-Packard, the large, Palo Alto, Ca.-based international employer that consistently makes everyone's list of best American companies to work for, has no formal sabbatical policy.

"We've re-examined the idea from time to time, and concluded that our overall benefits package is already what we want it to be-a good fit for our company philosophy," said Nancy LaMarca, HP's manager of benefits design and delivery. "Our diverse array of work-life/balance programs includes a host of flextime and flexible time off opportunities that, in essence, allow employees to create their own sabbaticals using other types of paid time off."

Cost is one of the important considerations in HP's decision not to offer sabbaticals, per se, according to LaMarca. "Paid time off is part of the financial package we offer as a benefit to our employees. And it's a valuable and costly benefit to our 65,000-person workforce," she said. "A day off with pay is perhaps one of the most expensive benefits a company can offer, which is why we give it a lot of consideration as we assess our total compensation package."

LaMarca sees sabbaticals as a "trendy thing," but not a problem for HP's benefits competitiveness or recruiting ability. "We've been able to attract people away from companies that have sabbatical policies," she said. "So, it's not a real issue in recruitment for us."

Long-term ability to maintain a specific benefit is another important factor in HP's non-cash compensation decisions. "When we provide a benefit, we make sure we can offer it for the long term," she said. "You want to be among the leaders, but you can't afford to pay significantly above everyone else."

Judith Harkham Semas is a freelance business writer and editorial consultant. Her book SAN JOSE AND SILICON VALLEY: Primed for the 21st Century (co-author: Chris DiSalvo; publisher:Community Communications, Montgomery, Ala.) will be available in November. Based in San Jose, California, she is a former personnel director with nearly 20 years experience in HR. You can e-mail her at: j9202635@covad.net.