No sooner had Citigroup announced its new sabbatical policy — 12 weeks at 25% pay for employees who’d been at the bank at least five years — than the debate erupted: In the highly competitive world of finance, would it be a career-killer to take advantage of that kind of deal?
I’m not surprised some people asked. In 2018, the average American full-time employee earned 23 paid days off a year, but only
That’s six days of PTO left on the table — the equivalent of handing a week’s salary back to your employer. When you consider that the U.S. has the rich world’s
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Other forms of paid leave — like family leave — also see a significant number of people leaving time on the table.
But in many years of looking, I’ve seen no data to suggest that such fears are justified. Some research on Americans who take their vacation time, for example, shows that they are
Nor will logging longer hours help you. In fact, another study — this one an academic, peer-reviewed one — found that managers
Rest really does improve performance, mainly by nipping burnout in the bud. It’s been well documented that overwork has
Cynics tend to think that paid time off is something companies offer to attract talent, and then punish employees for actually using. But in the case of Citi’s offer, I think it pays to take the company at its word: “People just sometimes need a break.”
Taking a break might even remind your colleagues how much value you contribute. I know that’s my reaction to any coworker returning from a break, whether a short or long one:Thank goodness you’re back! This place has been a mess without you!
OK, I may have persuaded you to take your vacation time before it evaporates. But what about a longer break, like a 12-week sabbatical?
We can extrapolate a bit here from data on parental leaves.
Parenthood does often hurt women’s careers, but that’s not because of maternity leave, which in the U.S. tends to be unpaid and short. It’s because employers
Men’s careers can be hurt by taking
This is not to say there are never tradeoffs between time and money. But at least one study, by Ashley Whillans, Elizabeth Dunn and their collaborators, finds that people who
So why not buy yourself 12 weeks?
Suppose some amazing opportunity comes up at work and you’re not there to seize it. All I can say is that no one can be everywhere all the time, and many work opportunities come around more than once. But the chance to take a sabbatical, even one that’s only partly paid? That could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And there are lots of reasons to take a break in the middle of your career, rather than grinding it out until retirement.
Think about it this way: Money is the ultimate renewable resource. You can always earn more of it. But time is fleeting and finite. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.