What is Sabbatical Leave and How to Implement It?

Sabbatical leave can help broaden employee horizons, give them some much-needed perspective and time away from work. But, is it something you should consider offering?

This guide helps you understand the benefits of sabbatical leave for both employees and employers and how to create a sabbatical leave policy.

Definition of sabbatical leave

Sabbatical leave is time taken away from the workplace to pursue travel, other personal interests, or just take a break and enjoy some time off. There is no statutory entitlement to sabbatical leave; it is purely at the discretion of the employer.

How long is a sabbatical?

A sabbatical can be anything from one month to a year or more. How much time off you offer employees will depend on your sabbatical leave policy. Or, if you're just creating your sabbatical leave program, you can decide to give employees as much time off as you want. 

Do you get paid on sabbatical leave UK?

Whether you get paid or not on sabbatical leave entirely depends on the employer. Some companies offer paid or unpaid sabbaticals. 

You might offer paid sabbatical leave if the employee intends to continue working remotely as they travel, for example. Or you might decide to offer a longer, unpaid sabbatical, allowing employees the opportunity to travel with confidence, knowing their job is available when they return. 

Sabbatical leave benefits for employees and employers 

Is sabbatical leave there just to benefit employees? We don't think so. There are plenty of reasons for employers to get behind implementing a policy like this — namely, pleasing their employees!  

Employees

Well-being 

Time away from work can help reduce stress and improve employee mental health. Taking time off like this can help employees avoid burnout, which can be detrimental, not just to your staff but the company as well.

66% of the workforce state their work environment does not allow them to look after their wellbeing or prioritise self-care. But introducing sabbatical leave can help them take that much-needed time away from the business.

Better focus and motivation

Time away from work can help put things into perspective. That can mean employees return to work feeling fresh and focused, benefiting the company. 

Personal and professional growth

When taking a sabbatical, employees can spend time chasing their interests and learning new skills. All these new experiences can help them grow both personally and professionally.

Employers 

Retention 

Offering great benefits like these helps you retain the top talent you already have working for you. By showing you value them as team members, they're more likely to stay with the company longer-term.

Organisational culture

Building and maintaining a positive and supportive working environment goes a long way in creating an enviable culture. A culture everyone wants to be a part of and contribute to. Positive working environments breed productivity and efficiency, which can positively impact your bottom line. 

Attract top candidates

More and more, employees are prioritising flexibility when looking for their next role. And offering generous sabbatical leave gives employees that level of flexibility. By taking advantage of the new flexible working law, employers can support employees who want to take their work on the road. 

What should I include in my sabbatical leave policy?

Here, we include some elements you should consider including in your sabbatical leave policy, but to ensure you cover all the important bits for your employees, you could create an anonymous survey to help you understand what's important to staff.

Define who's eligible

Eligibility might only stretch to employees who have worked for your company for two years, or perhaps you want to offer it to anyone who has passed their probationary period.

Include length of sabbatical leave 

Whether you're allowing one month or six, define exactly how long employees can take. And include the frequency; can they only take one sabbatical every five years, for example?

Leave pay (unless unpaid)

If you're paying your staff on sabbatical, mention it in your policy. Share the options if you're allowing them to work remotely as they travel, and detail this and more. 

Allowed reasons for sabbatical leave

What can staff take a sabbatical for? The most common reasons include travelling, volunteering, personal development and mental health. 

How to apply

Define the application process. Maybe you have a digital portal where employees can request time off, and you want to build it into that. 

Process of returning to work 

After a long absence from work, you'll need to implement a comprehensive return to work plan. This is to ensure reinsertion into the workplace is as effective and seamless as possible. 

Best practices when implementing your sabbatical leave program

Create clear policies

You don't want to leave room for misinterpretation, so make sure you write your policies clearly using jargon-free language.

Explain what sabbatical leave is, how long you're willing to give employees off, their flexible working options, i.e. remotely working from another country, and whether the leave is paid or unpaid.

Make it easy to apply for sabbatical leave

Consider using HR software that supports digital absence management from requests to automatic pay adjustments. Making the application process as smooth as possible for managers and employees. 

Plan ahead to cover those taking a sabbatical 

There's nothing worse than leaving other team members in the lurch. As soon as a request comes in, it's your job to ensure the workload is managed appropriately, which means planning every detail. Will you hire temporary staff? What does their onboarding process look like? Iron out all the little details before publishing your sabbatical leave program.

Make communication a priority 

Communication needs to be consistent from when the leave sabbatical request is submitted, throughout the duration of the sabbatical and after they return to work. Touching base frequently helps make the transition from leaving work and collecting handovers to returning to work as seamless as possible for everyone involved.

Managing sabbatical leave with PayFit

Manually managing leave requests can be time-consuming and riddled with clumsy errors. However, with PayFit, admins can implement an ironclad process for requesting and managing time off efficiently.

In PayFit, employees can request unpaid leave easily. After creating your sabbatical leave policy, they can select it as an option when requesting unpaid leave. 

After requesting the leave, automated approval workflows ensure the right approver signs off the request, e.g. a line manager, department head or c suite - whatever you decide your process will be.

After sign-off, PayFit automatically calculates pay deductions from the date the leave starts, updating their digital payslips in real time. This process ensures your company remains compliant with employment laws and pay stays accurate for the employee.

Interested to see our platform in action? Book a personalised demo.