Archives for Workplaces for Sabbaticals
18 Reasons Why Companies Want a Sabbatical Program for Their Employees
While organizations disappear, wait out or struggle in this economy, you can guess a number of senior executives wouldn’t even venture a conversation about establishing a sabbatical program for their employees. Apt responses in this group are: “Are you out of your mind?” “No way. We want them here and working, working working.” “Who’s doing that?” So […]
Workplace Changes Will Bomb if New Life Stage Has No Name
By this time tomorrow, 11,000 more people will turn 60 and this blog has touted best-selling author, Daniel Pink’s declaration that a revolution is on the way - a demographic revolution changing the future of the workplace. Realizing at sixty that they have another twenty-five years to do the things that matter most, this best-educated, […]
Becoming an Employer of Choice: Five Steps for Talent Branding
Becoming competitive in the next economy means employers must execute talent branding and become known as a talent magnet. According to an article in this month’s Talent Management magazine, here are five steps for talent branding that companies should employ: Use talent mapping. Segment the workforce into separate roles based on their business value and […]
Wanted: Your “Service” Sabbatical Story
Individuals planning sabbaticals often ponder the “giving back” opportunity. Some sabbatical-goers spend their entire sabbatical as a volunteer in their community or in a far-flung country; others carve out a portion of their time away to help others. If either of these experiences describe what you did or are planning on your sabbatical, we invite […]
Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For: 21 Offer Fully-Paid Sabbaticals
The number of companies on Fortune’s coveted “Best Companies to Work For” list that offer fully-paid sabbaticals keeps inching up. This year, 21 companies on the list offer sabbaticals, up from 19 in 2010 and 15 in 2009. Are you seeing a trend? In less than two weeks, the yourSABBATICAL team will be in Denver […]
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The Question at Meetup’s Sabbatical Send-Off Party: “What Would Brendan Do?”
Meetup’s first sabbatical-goer, Brendan McGovern, the company’s CFO, departed last month for his three month, fully paid sabbatical - an opportunity offered to all Meetup employees after every seven years of employment (who wouldn’t want to work at that company, huh?). Brendan didn’t leave without a proper send-off from his team members, who gave him […]
Companies That Pair Time Out and Innovation Run to the Bank
Is the idea of a sabbatical program at your company a “squishy” one? Is there no perception that time out from a career boosts performance, career longevity and innovation? Time to express your impatience with stodgy thinking and tell stories of how time off CAN result in extraordinary bottom line results. From squishy idea to […]
The Coolest Email Signature Line Ever
I received an email from Brendan McGovern, CFO of Meetup, and here’s what was below his name: **SABBATICAL NOTICE** — From Feb 4 - May 16, I will be out of the office enjoying Meetup’s sabbatical program. I will be traveling around the world, and per Meetup sabbatical policy, will not be checking email & not […]
Meetup’s Sabbatical Offer is Hard to Beat
In our small world of work with companies that offer sabbaticals to their employees, Meetup reins as one of the most generous and forward-thinking. The “world’s largest network of local groups” has just rolled out a program - yes, even in “this” economy - offering its employees a paid, three-month, unrestricted sabbatical after every seven […]
Cultivating Loyalty at Capterra
We love hearing about small companies that offer sabbaticals to their employees. Each one serves as an example to hold up to the naysayers who claim that “sabbaticals are for big companies.” Today’s example: Capterra. Founded in 1999, the Arlington, VA-based online marketplace for software solutions offers all of its employees (currently number 20) a […]
Multitudes Sing “Take This Job and Shove It.” Then What?
Johnny Paycheck’s 1977 hit went platinum. Don’t know what tune you’re humming, but the research tells us that Paycheck’s song is on the lips of many: Better not try to stand in my way, As I’m walking out the door. Take this job and shove it. I ain’t working here no more. In February, the number of […]
Help for Companies Implementing Sabbatical for Employees
If you’re a small- or medium-sized company that wants to roll out a sabbatical program for your employees and be on our “Workplaces for Sabbaticals” list, we finally have the perfect solution for you. We get a lot of inquiries from companies that are passionate about joining the ranks of innovative, “best” employers and are […]
Boomer Executives Dealing With Elderly Parents Need Sabbaticals
This past weekend, my mother moved her 95-year-old father from Ohio to Pensacola, Florida, and into an assisted living facility a couple of miles up the road from her house. She had two siblings helping her, but this was still a time-consuming, logistical ordeal. Have you ever prepared an almost-centurion to get through TSA? Have […]
Mr. Turtle Gets a Career Break
On my early morning walk yesterday, I watched a jogger stop mid-gait to stare at a turtle crossing the two lane road in our neighborhood. This is the turtle’s job – to crawl slowly from place to place. But Mr. Turtle hadn’t picked a great time of day to start this challenge. With a good […]
If I Grant Thee Time Away (8-12 weeks) and $15K, Who Shall Reap the Benefit?
Time. Many things necessary for the faithful practice of ministry are in short supply. Nothing, however, is in shorter supply than time. Time for prayer, time for family, time for study, time for self. These opening lines taken from the Sabbatical Grant application for Pastoral Leaders aren’t sentiments of “time shortage” felt only by the ministry. “Finding more balance […]
Transformations: What Gen Y Wants and How Businesses Can Offer Them
Last Friday, I attended a compelling business presentation on “Turning Potential into Performance in Generation Y” by Dr. Tim Elmore of Growing Leaders, an Atlanta- based non-profit organization created to develop emerging leaders. Tim talked about the different markets that have been established by the last five generations: The market for the “Greatest Generation” (1900-1928) […]
Crack the Code: Three “Trends to Watch” Identified by Working Mother’s Best Company Selection Panel
Want on Working Mother’s 100 Best Companies List next year? Or perhaps, your company achieved the honor but now wants to stay on the list. Move up? You say you’d sell your grandmother to make that happen? Whoa now. Let’s consider keeping Granny. Rather, design a career sabbatical program to align with “trends” they’ll be […]
Sabbaticals Decoded: Defining What We All Want
Working Mother Magazine honored this year’s 100 Best Companies at the 2009 WorkLife Congress in NYC last week. Elizabeth, co-founder of yourSABBATICAL, and I were invited to present and facilitate a session, Career Sabbatical Programs that Retain, Recruit and Develop Talent. Along with participants wildly interested in having a sabbatical program at their companies, some attended […]