Thoughts About Sabbaticals

July 18, 2005 · 8 Comments

Michael Conger posted a nice long comment on Ben's blog post about sabbaticals. I'm going to reproduce it here and add my own commentary:

I have read several articles in biz magazines over the past year or so talking about sabbaticals. Other than MM, I have not heard of any well-known companies who do this regularly.

I know of several other companies that do this - but unless you scour their HR web pages or they have high-profile bloggers, you just don't hear of it. For example, check out sabbatical details with Adobe, Electronic Arts, LSI Logic, SeaChange International...

[snip] Another suggestion. It would be very interesting to hear how Ben and Sean approach the day-to-day and week-to-week balancing of their time during the sabbatical. My wife is an academic, so I know lots of folks who take sabbaticals. Having a fulfilling time off that balances personally-enriching, non-regular-job-related work with relaxation seems to be the trickiest part. I'd love to hear Ben and Sean's take on it.

Well, I've already blogged roughly what I'll be doing. A week's complete wind-down, two weeks doing stuff around the house that's been piling up while I've been too busy working and three weeks on and off in the company of my mother and her fiancé when they come over to visit. In between times, I'll probably do a little work on CFEclipse and maybe a little work on Fusebox and a few other technical side projects that normally don't get high enough up my priority list.

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8 responses so far ↓

1 Rob Brooks-Bilson // Jul 18, 2005 at 2:51 PM

Intel (a huge employer) offers sabbatical as well. As far as I can tell, though, Adobe does not. You Macromedians better take them while you still can ;-)
2 Rob Brooks-Bilson // Jul 18, 2005 at 2:52 PM

Ooops - I should have read that a little better. Looks like Adobe does offer Sabbatical ;-)
3 Michael Conger // Jul 18, 2005 at 3:09 PM

Thanks for the post Sean. I'm officially jealous. If you feel the urge upon your return, it would be cool to hear how things went and how things differed from what you expected (if at all).

Enjoy!
4 Jared Rypka-Hauer // Jul 18, 2005 at 6:29 PM

I don't want to hear about yours, dude...

I want my own! ;)

Laterz!

PS - Yeah, I really DO want to hear about yours.
5 Ray Buechler // Jul 19, 2005 at 6:33 AM

Sean,

Do you have to justify your sabbatical or is eligibility solely based on how long you have been with Macromedia? I know academic sabbaticals are supposed to be for the purpose of conducting research or to work on a book.

I hope you have a great time!

Ray
6 Roger Lancefield // Jul 19, 2005 at 8:52 AM

Wotcher,

Is the Fusebox work on a need to know basis, or can you share?
7 Christopher Wigginton // Jul 19, 2005 at 9:21 AM

Apple Computer used to offer sabbaticals. You were eligible after every 5 years. I was one of the fortunate ones who made it to that milestone. For Apple, the sabbatical was all about "refresh". Many never came back after their leave, choosing different directions for their life.

At the time I took my sabbatical, we were allowed to save up vacation time. I had 6 weeks of vacation saved up, so I tacked on 4 weeks of vacation onto the 6 week sabbatical and cashed in the other two weeks of vacation to pay for the trip. I ended up backpacking around London and Scotland for 6 weeks and spending another 4 at home.

About 4 years after taking the sabbatical, Apple canceled the benefit. I know of several individuals who actually quit the company because they had put a significant amount of time in, only to be denied what they had been promissed when they joined.
8 Sean Corfield // Jul 19, 2005 at 12:27 PM

Ray, the sabbaticals of all the companies listed (and Macromedia) are based solely on time with the company - after a number of years service, you get extra time off.

Roger, re: Fusebox. I don't know whether the topic has been discussed outside a small group so I don't know how much I can say about it.

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