Plexus Consulting Group    Articles by Plexus Authors

Sabbaticals: A Rejuvenating Experience
 Copyright Greater Washington Society of Association Executives Reprinted by Permission

Author
Steven M. Worth

Publication
Executive Update

Publication Date
February 1999




Plexus Consulting Group, LLC
1620 Eye Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
Phone:  202-785-8940
Fax:      202-785-8949
Email:   info@plexusconsulting.com


Across the board, human resource managers are painfully aware that fundamental changes have taken place in the workforce. Good people are harder to find and keep than ever before. And paying more is not usually an option—due not only to cost consciousness and the reality of limited budgets but also to the growing evidence that as a tactic to keep employees satisfied, giving raises simply does not work. Employee turnover at associations is at record levels and growing. Increasingly, boards, executive managers, and employees alike are seeking other solutions.

One of the answers might be the development of policies on sabbaticals. Sabbaticals are not yet common in the association world and the examples below may not be for everyone--but there is no denying their appeal! Could these association executives be the forerunners of a trend?

Larry LeClair is director of legislative affairs at the American Tort Reform Association in Washington, D.C. The association, founded in 1986, has a small staff of eight that LeClair characterizes as a "close knit family." The association has a very low rate of staff turnover. Most of the people on staff have at least five years of seniority.

With the help of his association in offsetting some of his tuition costs, LeClair was working toward a Masters degree at Georgetown University. His final degree requirement was that he write an extensive thesis, a project he had been working on for some time. But after taking a week off to finish his thesis, he found himself only two thirds finished. Without more time off to dedicate to completing this project, LeClair could not see when he would ever have his degree!

The American Tort Reform Association did not and does not have a sabbatical policy, but the president maintained an open and flexible attitude on all staff issues. This case was no exception. "I explained the situation to him," LeClair said "and he was very understanding. Even though we had no extended leave policy as such the president readily agreed to allow me to take the extended leave I needed to finish the thesis. The biggest issue that I needed to resolve was how my work was going to be covered while I was gone.

"The rest of the staff was equally understanding" he said. "Everyone was willing to pitch in to help."

After he had worked out these arrangements to everyone’s satisfaction, LeClair was free to concentrate on completing his thesis. Four weeks later, thesis and Masters degree requirements completed, LeClair was back on the job.

Since LeClair took his leave other of the association’s staff have taken extended leave as well. The reasons have varied. Like LeClair, some have taken extended leave because of their desire to pursue school courses or professional training opportunities while others have needed time off for reasons of health or family.

Is the low staff turnover rate at the American Tort Reform Association the result of such flexible leave possibilities or, as LeClair noted, the result of a "close-knit family" culture? Whichever may be the case, the association has seen no need at this point to develop any formal extended leave or sabbatical policy. Their informal approach seems to be working just fine!

From LeClair’s point of view, he would not have been able to obtain his degree without his employer having shown such flexibility. And he feels the association has also benefited. "Georgetown is considered a good school" he said, "allowing me the opportunity to earn a Masters degree from there could only help the association."

Twelve years ago Jeffrey Zonis, Executive Director of the Family Health Council of Central Pennsylvania, would probably not have objected if someone had described him as a hard-driving workaholic. "I had never taken more than a week’s vacation from work," he admitted.

But all this began to change with a visit he made to his brother in California that year. He remembered that they were "discussing the Silicon Valley company (his brother) works for and a unique policy they have—a six-week ‘sabbatical’ after four years on the job. I asked my brother how he could afford to take six weeks off. His response was: how could I afford not to? I thought about that question all the way home."

In fact, on his way home, Zonis made up his mind to present the case of offering long term employees sabbaticals to his board of directors. His proposal was to offer a four week sabbatical to any employee upon reaching ten years seniority and another four weeks every five years thereafter. "I was thrilled to see the board’s immediate strong support for the idea," he said. The policy as it was approved and as it still exists now, is as follows:

Any full-time regular employee who has been employed continuously by the FHCCP for ten years shall be eligible for a maximum of four (4) calendar weeks sabbatical leave, with full pay. The employee shall be eligible for an additional four (4) calendar weeks sabbatical leave, with full pay, after each additional period of five years continuous employment with FHCCP. Such leave must be used by the employee within two years of the date he/she becomes eligible for sabbatical. If not used by that date, this privilege will be lost unless an exception is granted by the President and CEO. If for any reason an employee terminates his/her employment, or is terminated, all rights to sabbatical leave are terminated as well. Requests for sabbatical leave must be made at least four months in advance of the leave and must be approved by the employee’s immediate supervisor and the President and CEO. In case of the President and CEO, approval must be obtained from the Executive Committee. Annual leave, sick leave, and holiday benefits, will continue to accrue during the approved sabbatical leave period.

"This policy has worked very well here" Zonis said. "It has helped retention of key staff. For example, virtually all of the management of our staff of 60 has reached their ten year seniority mark. Ten or 12 people have qualified for a sabbatical in all.

"The biggest single issue for a staff member taking their sabbatical" he said "is in determining what will happen to their work while they are gone…. Since one of the only requirements for taking sabbaticals is to have no contact with the office at all, this is clearly an important consideration.

"I took my first sabbatical ten years ago and it was a mind boggling experience—first because I had never before taken off more than a week at a time, and here I was to be gone for four weeks; and second because I was going to realize a lifelong dream of visiting New Zealand."

Zonis recommends staff plan for their sabbatical a year in advance as he did. He feels this much time is needed in order to derive the most benefit from the experience as well to minimize work disruption within the office. His lasting observations of his own first sabbatical experience:

  1. "Preparation for sabbatical leave is best begun a year in advance.
  2. After 10 years on the job, it is extremely rewarding and renewing for an individual to get away from it all. What a way to avoid burn-out!
  3. Those who work for me were more than up to the task. They did a super job and made the experience so much more rewarding. I won’t forget that when they take their sabbaticals, and at other times when they need assistance.
  4. It was great to see what the sabbatical did for those who filled my shoes. It gave them a better appreciation of my job and raised their confidence levels in their own abilities.
  5. The sabbatical allowed me precious time to think and reflect on life, career, and my friendships. It also gave me the opportunity to fulfill that special dream of the South Pacific."

Overall he feels the association is also a beneficiary of such a policy. In addition to enhancing staff retention, he noted, "It allows for a renewal of that person, for them to come back refreshed and with a good attitude to their job."

Edward Able, the President and CEO of the American Association of Museums, has similar feelings. Although his association has no sabbatical policy he determined that he would include this request as part of his routine contract negotiations with his board. "After ten years on the job," he said "I felt I needed a sabbatical as much as a compensation increase."

While he knew that some professions offer sabbaticals of six months to a year in length he also knew that his responsibilities as a CEO would rule out taking off that much time. "I thought three months might be a reasonable time. The organization I felt was strong enough to do without me for three months. It was a matter of workload--not that I am indispensable! I am backed by two fully capable vice presidents who would have to take on the additional workload of doing things I normally do. Because of this consideration I proposed to take the sabbatical during the summer, which is normally the quiet time of year."

The board readily agreed to his proposal.

Able noted that he first proposed the idea "as a one-time event—not as a ‘sabbatical’ as such. I wish we (as an association) could give sabbaticals, because the intensity of the work rarely allows the time to keep your knowledge base contemporary by keeping up with the literature in the field and looking at what other associations are doing. Association executives especially are too inundated with responsibilities, they just do not have time…to step back and look at the bigger picture—they cannot get out of their day-to-day straight jacket."

In fact, he said "associations need people who are able to bring a fresh perspective and stimulating ideas, in order to maintain the ‘creativity quotient.’ It is easier for an organization to change people than to change (replace) people! And sabbaticals can do a lot to change people."

He noted that associations and for-profit corporations alike need for their senior executives to maintain their skills and knowledge base at the levels of the best and brightest. For-profit corporations he thought were generally better at providing this opportunity than associations; and sabbaticals are a means to this end.

Able planned his sabbatical as a "three part rejuvenation" in which he would focus on a plan of activities that would provide intellectual, physical, and spiritual development.

For the first, the three months he took off provided him the time to catch up in his reading on management issues, and what was happening in other associations and within the museum world. "And" he said " I had the time to have discussions with my peers about what works and what doesn’t and why."

Second, although Able is conscientious in following a regular exercise regimen, he recognizes that "association managers usually do not take good care of ourselves physically. We spend a large amount of time at work and travelling, and for those who have families, family obligations consume what time may be left to take care of yourself the way you should. So I took advantage of this sabbatical to spend more time than I usually do to advance my physical state."

And finally, Able noted that executives needed to "stop and smell the roses—to do the things that nourish you spiritually, that you never have the time to do normally, such as: working on building relationships; giving friends the attention they need; and volunteering for work in church and charitable organizations." These things, he said, "feed the soul."

For the sabbatical to be effective, Able agreed that there needs to be total isolation from the office. But he also recognized that to do this an executive needs to feel secure in his position--to have confidence in himself and in his staff, who need to be supportive if this is going to work. He noted that "a lot of executives feel they need to be critical to their organization…they are control freaks." Whereas Able believes executives should see their responsibility instead to "create an organization that is not totally dependent on the CEO."

After 30 years on the job John Tydings, President of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, felt the time was ripe to take a step back from his daily duties and responsibilities. "Our organization does not have a sabbatical policy and in fact we never used the word, but talked of taking ‘extended time away,’" he said. He proposed a plan to his board where he would take three months off. The leadership thought his proposal "creative and of interest and a ‘good investment’. " In fact, he said he thought they would have agreed to him taking even more time off had he proposed it.

Tydings was meticulous in his planning. The three months was to be divided into three blocks:

  1. time to reflect and assess my approach to management and to life—"I hired an executive coach to talk through how I would structure this and how I could benchmark my progress;"
  2. community service; and
  3. a physical challenge, "which consisted of mountain climbing in Switzerland and Colorado."

In order to have the full benefit of this exercise, Tydings recognized he needed to be totally isolated from the day-to-day operations of his office. To allow him to do this he "put a two person team in charge of (his) responsibilities"—dividing them between what was external and what was internal to the organization.

"For me this was a totally wonderful experience. It allowed me to develop a fresh approach to my job," he said.

As for benefits to the organization itself, Tydings points out three: it gave the professional staff an opportunity to be empowered; it helped create more fluid cross-discussions between colleagues; and it allowed people the opportunity to ‘find themselves’ in identifying what they liked to do and how they want to do it. Tydings believes "organizations are not and should not be one person shows."

Since coming back from his sabbatical, Tydings says he has had over 300 inquiries and comments from people—"over half from people I never even met." In this he believes his example has triggered an unmet need in the marketplace. "Too much importance often is placed on the number of hours a person puts in at the office—this should not be what determines one’s value and importance."

Finding and keeping good people is a problem--as is witnessed in the record-breaking earnings of executive recruitment or search firms in this country and around the world. Most managers remember the time when the hardest part of finding talent was in determining which candidate to select out of all those resumes that were laying in their in-boxes. Now corporations and associations alike have to seek out those candidates.

Furthermore, voluntary resignations within association staffs are on the increase. A recent survey conducted by the Society of Human Resource Management shows that 35 percent of all associations have experienced an increase in staff resignations over the past five years. Another survey conducted by the Association Consultancy of Alexandria, Virginia shows that the problem of increasing staff turnover is widespread and increasing in the association world regardless of size, location and industry or professional sector.

In light of such alarming trends sabbatical policies like those described above might well become the norm rather than the exception.