The Great Reset: Sabbaticals, extended vacations seek to increase workforce well-being

David Peebles was just the second person hired at Digital Monitoring Products Inc. He’s given 47 years to the company and, to commemorate that time, it gave him three paid sabbaticals built into his benefits. At year 30: An all-expense paid trip to Hawaii. Year 40: The two-week vacation of his dreams to Scotland. Year 45: A month-long, 100% unplugged sabbatical.

“I think it’s done nothing but further the loyalty factor for employers,” said Peebles, who is now vice president of training and development for the security products company. “I recommend it. I can’t imagine that there is any downside for it.”

Sabbaticals are standard for DMP employees who reach such monumental milestones – and the company is not alone in providing this benefit. CoxHealth recently rolled out a sabbatical program, though human resources representatives declined to comment, saying the program is still in early stages of implementation.

There are numerous reasons why a company might build sabbaticals into its benefits package. DMP’s Director of Human Resources Jessieca Hollister-Graham said the intention is often two-fold: Gratitude for long-term employees and making plans for succession.

“You’re giving something that is a great gift to an employee,” she said, “but then also taking the opportunity to say, ‘Do I have the proper plans and protocol in place to survive without them here?’”

The concept of sabbaticals has been around for a long time, and not just in academia, said Lynette Weatherford, president and owner of HR Advantage. It gained traction in the United States pre-COVID, however, has stalled since then with employers more focused on attracting and retaining talent. The thing is, benefits packages that emphasize time off can help with that, Weatherford said, noting compressed work weeks and extended vacations are attractive to the modern worker.

But it’s not just people at the end of their careers who want more time off. American workers look at laws such as the European Union Working Time Directive which ensures at least 20 days of PTO annually and ask, “Why not us?”

Why, according to the Center for Economic Policy and Research, is the U.S. the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee paid vacation time? Why do one in four private-sector workers not receive PTO or paid holidays?

The modern employee wants time off and more of it, said Weatherford.

“They find more of a benefit of time off than health insurance, dental insurance or a retirement plan,” she said. “They’ve got other resources to gaining those benefits. There is more value in time off and flexibility and remote work.”

Time for time
Gabriel Cline is a Springfield-based psychologist with expertise in stress management for high-performance individuals and work-related counseling. He is chair for the state’s Committee of Psychologists and CEO of Psych Associates, which implements a flexible, four-day work week. Work and personal life inevitably blend, Cline said, creating overlaps that can disconnect people from what’s most important to them. Sabbaticals and extended vacations can prevent resentment, toxic stress and burnout.

“It’s giving them time away to focus on what they think is important and to do what they feel is important,” said Cline. “A sabbatical is that hard reset of, ‘you’ve done a lot. You’ve been in the grind. We need you to focus on who you are and we are going to invest in you as a person.’”

A 2023 Harvard Business Review study suggests significant positive changes when employees take sabbaticals, including greater self-clarity and management confidence. It also suggests not waiting too long for an employee to get that extended time off, the reset being most successful as when it’s preventative rather than mitigating.

Andy Whaley is chief growth officer at JMark, where he said it’s not uncommon for employees to take two or more weeks off at a time. Vacation time contributes to whole-person well-being, he said, and encouraging time off is an imperative for companies that want to call themselves person-centered. Whaley encourages meeting with employees who are not using their full PTO, taking the issue seriously because of the way it can impact their health.

“They are actually helping everybody in the long-term by taking PTO,” said Whaley. “Allow it to be serious. You’re not investing in yourself. You’re not prioritizing your balance and we can tell you down the line what’s down the road if you do not change. We want a healthy you.”

He’s passionate about the issue because he knows the adverse side effects of burnout from time spent in a previous workplace. The experience prompted him to explore how to create healthier workplaces through robust vacation packages and he has created sabbatical programs for church organizations through his role as a trustee at Hope Church.

One organization required pastors to take a four-week sabbatical every five years – regardless of how long they’ve been on the job.

“They come back from it 100% recharged with new ideas and a fresh gusto for life,” Whaley said of the pastoral sabbaticals. “They were the ones that were making good decisions when it comes to family, they had stronger relationships, they were incredibly well-balanced leaders. … The ones that I saw make significant life mistakes were ones that did not have checks and balances in life and did not create healthy cadences of taking a break.”

Similarly, digital marketing agency Mostly Serious LLC doesn’t wait decades for a sabbatical either, providing a two-week, all-expenses-paid vacation for employees at their 10-year anniversary with a value of $5,000.

“As much as I would love to offer a 30-year-anniversary sabbatical, it’s very rare in our industry and society, I’m sure, for an employee to remain at a single company that long,” said CEO Jarad Johnson. “We feel very fortunate to have people be here 10-plus years.”

Mostly Serious also annually provides 20 to 30 days of PTO depending on the employee’s tenure, 11 days of holiday time and six to nine days off during the winter holidays, Johnson said, totaling 37 to 50 days off annually not including special circumstances such as medical leave.

The American Psychological Association’s 2024 Work in America Survey identified that 67% of Americans are experiencing burnout from work-related stress — an increase from 57% in 2023 — resulting in low energy, feelings of loneliness or isolation and a lack of motivation, effort and interest and work. The Society for Human Resource Management’s 2024 State of Employee Mental Health research found that employees experiencing burnout are three times more likely to search for another job while those who report a sense of belonging at work are 2.5 times less likely to feel burnout.

Investing in employee wellness is not a nice to-do, Cline said. According to the Ozarks Health Commission, the rates of suicide in southwest Missouri are approximately 60% higher than the national average. In Greene County, men die by suicide at rates more than 200% higher than women.

People need quality time off. An imbalanced life devoid of holistic well-being can contribute to a sense of despair, Cline said, leading to the “idea that I don’t know who I am or what I care about and so I’ll just go to work.” This ties one’s value to production and can add to hopelessness and suicidal ideation.

“I think it boils down to people not feeling understood or cared for,” said Cline. “Give them a sense of hope that it doesn’t have to be like that. We can find a way. We can find what really matters to them and help them understand it.”

Implementation strategies
When considering offering extended time-off or sabbatical, first ask what you can accommodate and afford, said Hollister-Graham. DMP employees sometimes take two to four weeks of vacation time and there’s logistical planning involved including those employees being asked to do period check-ins.

“It just comes down to making sure that you’re setting yourself up for success,” she said.

There should also be exit and entry conversations, Weatherford and Whaley agree. When leaving for extended vacation, ask what they hope to achieve and what their expectations are, said Weatherford. Whaley advises a small buffer on either side of the extended time away so employees can prepare to leave and then reorient on return.

This change also starts from the top, Whaley said. He’s not seen a company successfully implement an extended vacation of sabbatical program without leadership also making intentional use of their PTO under a company-wide policy.

Ultimately, said Cline, vacation packages which allow employees to invest in their well-being, experience a reset and create a well-rounded life, is a profound way companies can give back.

“They are investing in their employees in a real and meaningful way because it’s not just their employees,” Cline said. “It’s their employee’s families in their community.”