How to Take a Sabbatical from Work (& Not Piss off the Boss)

I remember exactly how it felt planning that first sabbatical. Digging through the company intranet page to figure out the policies, trying to plan where to go and the best time to do it and then the fear of what my boss would say about it.

I did it though…

…and I’ve now taken three sabbaticals in the last five years and use this blog to help other people do exactly the same, so if you’re wondering how to take a sabbatical from work, I think I can help.

Firstly you’ll need to research your company policies, then make a plan of what you want to do and where to go (and cost it all up). Then you’ll need to have the dreaded conversation with your boss before doing all the last minute prep work to leave. I cover all of that in this post.

This post is packed full of detailed information so you can turn your sabbatical day-dreams into reality in the next year.

So without further ado – let’s get going…

Researching How To Take a Sabbatical

Ben Reeve - Travel Writing — Me planning our first sabbatical whilst on holiday in Seychelles

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, it’s important to understand if you are actually able to take a sabbatical.

This step isn’t about actually requesting a sabbatical, or even letting too many people know you’re thinking about one – there are a lot of other decisions to make before that point.

What we’re looking to do is just establish the facts about any policies that are available in your company.

You see the reality is, there are no laws around sabbaticals. Unlike maternity leave, sick leave or annual leave sabbaticals or career breaks are a benefit that some employers offer, not a guarantee.

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: What Is A Sabbatical (and Why Take One)?

Can You Take a Sabbatical?

The first thing is to read up on your company policies.

If you work for a large organisation this should be fairly easy. Most have employee benefits websites or intranet pages that spell out exactly what you are and aren’t entitled to. Some still provide a physical ‘employee handbook’, but these tend to be electronic now.

If that isn’t available then your next option is to speak to someone within your HR team. Bigger companies do this via a call centre (which is perfect if you’re trying to keep it a secret still), or there might be someone within your workplace to chat or drop an email to.

Remember as you’re having these conversations, that there is no RIGHT to be given a sabbatical. It is generally a benefits policy and can be refused. This may change the way you have the conversation or try to get access to the information.

Sabbatical Policies

What are you likely to find when you look up the sabbatical policies of your employer?

This is a difficult question to answer as it varies from business to business.

I’ve worked for employers who will let you have anything up to a year off and return to the same job.

In others, up to three months was acceptable, anything over that could still be authorised, but was seen as a break in service and meant losing any length-of-service benefits such as additional accrued leave or sick pay.

What If There Is No Sabbatical Policy?

This is where things start to get a bit tricky, and you might have to make some big calls.

The way I see it you have three options.

You could consider quitting your job, which is a risk only you can weigh up.
If you work for a smaller organisation, you could see if you are able to negotiate a sabbatical anyway, but without clear policy backing you up, be sure to get everything in writing.
Give up on your dream of long-term travel and resign yourself to life in a box.

I’m not a fan of number 3, not sure about you…

…but equally, number 1 seems pretty gutsy.

In fact, this whole taking time off of work, breaking cultural norms, and leaving the career ladder behind for a while is pretty intimidating.

But as with everything in life, it comes down to your priorities and your willingness to balance risk and reward.

If you remember one thing as you read this post, remember this:

If you’re an average person in the UK you’ve got around 80 years on this planet. We really are tiny, insignificant specks of atoms, in a huge universe that has been here millions of years before us, and will be here millions of years after we go.

Nothing in life that’s worth having ever comes easy. If you have an urge to do something different – to get out and see the world – you’re going to have to be brave. What seems like a big decision now, will be magnified 100 fold in fifty years time when you look back on what you wish you’d done.

I’m not going to push you to do anything, only you can decide where the risk/reward balance is for you, but just by clicking on this post, you’re starting to lean in a certain direction.

My perspective is this….

“I’d rather regret something I’ve tried, than regret something I haven’t”

I find this framework helpful:

In my opinion, it’s better to try and learn, than not try at all.

But only you can make the bigs calls in your life.

FURTHER INSPIRATION: 8 Examples of People Who Took a Sabbatical & Returned To Their Job

How To Plan a Sabbatical

There are four elements to planning a sabbatical.

Working out if you can afford it
Deciding how long to take
Deciding what to do with your sabbatical
Deciding when you should take your sabbatical

In this section, we’ll cover those all off.

Can You Afford to Take a Sabbatical From Work?

Before we get too far ahead, let us sort out the real basics.

You don’t want to go rushing into your boss’s office, get a sabbatical signed off, only to discover a few weeks later that you can’t afford it! This is not going to do you any favours at all!

If you want a comprehensive guide to sabbatical finances then head to Financing a Sabbatical: Everything You Need to Know.

I also have a detailed post called ‘Can you Afford to Take a Sabbatical?‘, including a downloadable spreadsheet which makes it really easy to run the numbers.

As a simple summary though, you need to look at three things:

Monthly bills that will continue whilst you are away
One-off costs associated with the sabbatical
The daily cost of living whilst you are on sabbatical

This will then give you a total estimated cost for your sabbatical and will let you know how much money you need in savings before you go (unless you planning on working whilst travelling).

Eventually, you will end up with something that looks like the below, that set out in black and white the figures you are working towards (this is a screenshot from my sabbatical budgeting spreadsheet).

How Long Should You Take?

Using a calendar to plan out a sabbatical

It’s that time in your sabbatical planning to work out how long to go for.

You may have done this already, or you may still be weighing up your options.

It will essentially come down to two things:

How long does your company allow?
How much can you afford?

Allowance

When you were looking at your company policies, you will have hopefully found out exactly what is and isn’t acceptable.

There are such big variations in policy out there, it’s hard to know what you uncovered but generally, you are looking at somewhere between one and twelve months.

If you’re still with me, I will assume you found some good news, or you’ve taken an even braver decision to quit and move on.

Either way, you’ll have an amount of time you would like to be away in your mind.

Cost

After the big dose of reality in the last step, you will hopefully be really clear on exactly what you can afford.

Whilst this might be less than you’d ideally wanted, it will at least be the right amount to not put you in any financial danger.

FURTHER READING: How Long is a Sabbatical? (My Research)

What Do You Want to Do With Your Sabbatical?

camera — Us learning to dive in Vietnam on our first sabbatical

For some of you, this stage of the process might feel a little pointless. If you’ve had your heart set on that north to south adventure in Australia, learning to dive in Vietnam or a road trip through Croatia for years, then you’ll already know exactly what you want to do with your time

For others though, there will still be a lot of decisions to make.

And this is a vital step, as it will govern a lot of the stages ahead.

Without having a clear idea of WHAT you want to do, it’s hard to work out exactly how much money you need, how much time off to request, when the best time to go is and a multitude of other things.

We knew we wanted to travel for three months, but when we started we looked at travelling the west coast of America, then moved onto a European Road-Trip, before settling on three months in Southeast Asia. Everything from cost, distance from home and weather fed into our decision making.

So let’s go back to a few of the most popular reasons people take a sabbatical and look at some options.

Here are the three most popular reasons that people take sabbaticals:

To travel
To make a difference
To learn a new skill

Let’s pick those off one by one, and link to some useful resources to help you make some decisions.

There are so many options here, that I can’t cover every base, but hopefully there’s enough below to get your thinking.

GENERIC ADVICE:

TO TRAVEL:

TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE:

TO LEARN A NEW SKILL:

I hope you’ve found this list useful, and you’re now starting to narrow your options down.

FURTHER READING: Which Personal Sabbatical Suits You Most?

When Should You Take the Sabbatical?

Now it’s time to think about what the best time of year to take a sabbatical from work would be.

For longer sabbaticals, this may not matter too much but, if you’re only planning a few months, you’ll want to make sure you target the best months.

But what does best mean?

Here are a few things to consider:

When is right for your business?
When is right for you?
When is the right time to travel?

When Is It Right For Your Business?

I have intentionally put this first.

Remember, there is no law that guarantees you a sabbatical. To get one signed off, it will go in your favour if you’ve thought about the needs of your employer as well as your own…

…because they’re well within their rights to just say no.

Here are the considerations I would be making:

Are there particular times of the year you need to avoid? For example, a retailer taking time off at Christmas, or an accountant just before the financial year is done would not be looked upon favourably and would put additional pressure on the business.
How long would it take for them to find someone to replace you? If they can bring in a temp, they might need time to recruit. If you can train someone to step up and do your job, how long would this take?
Given the above, what would be a reasonable notice period to give? The policies might only state a month, but if you can give your employer longer to help prepare them to fill the void when you are gone, this might go some way to helping you get the time signed off.

When Is Right for You?

There are a few factors here to consider:

How much do you need to save? Taking another six months to save prior to leaving, maybe just what you need.
Are there any major events coming up that you need to be home for? Big family birthdays, anniversaries etc. You may need to work your sabbatical around these (or get them to join you – my Dad going us at the Temples of Angkor for his 60th).
How long is it going to take to get everything in order at home? If you need time to find someone to rent your house out to, take your pets etc then might be best to build in some contingency time.

When Is the Right Time to Travel?

Where you want to go, and what you want to do, will also partly govern when you go.

A few things to consider, but this a non-exhaustive list:

When is the course/project/program you want to attend running?
When is peak tourist season for the area you’re going? Costs will rocket at this time.
What is the weather like? Monsoon season could ruin your trip in Asia, or winter in Europe. Have you planned to go at a time that makes sense for the season?
Are there any particular events you want to see that only happen at certain times of the year?

So now we have a plan, our budget, the length of time and even a vague date sorted.

This is starting to get pretty real!

Time to start talking.

Feeling those butterflies yet!?

Requesting a Sabbtical

In this section we’re going to cover requesting a sabbatical. This is everything you need to finalise your plans and how to approach them with your boss.

It is split into three sections:

Finalising Your Plan
Approaching Your Employer
Following up in Writing

FURTHER READING: How To Ask for a Sabbatical (& Get One)

Finalising Your Plan

This is the final section before sitting down with your boss to talk about your plans. Whilst you might have everything clear in your head, it’s time to get that mission statement down on paper so you are 100% clear.

In our business, we call them ‘elevator speeches’. If you were to get into an elevator with someone, and they said ‘I hear you want to take a sabbatical, what made you decide to do that?’ this would be your 30-second pitch.

Getting this pitch ready will not only help you when it comes to chatting it through with your boss, but also with the hundreds of questions you’ll get afterwards.

It’s time to get everything 100% clear in your head.

Let’s think of it in these terms:

What
Why
When
How

It’s a really simple formula, but this should allow you to bring clarity to your vision so it’s easy to get across.

Grab a blank sheet of paper or a note-taking app of choice, and start to work through these headings.

how to take a sabbatical from work with a good plan — *It’s amazing the difference it makes when you write something down. Suddenly it becomes real, and lodges in the subconscious*

What?

What is it that you want to do?

This just needs to be a really quick and clear statement, your opening to the meeting you plan with your employer.

Think of it as your opening statement.

Why?

This step is really important and draws together a lot of what we’ve been discussing in this post.

With a clear ‘why’, everything falls into place and makes your argument more persuasive.

This bit needs to be compelling, as it will be the human story that gets them to understand why you’re wanting to take the action you are.

You may want to travel and spend more time with a loved one, but the question I want you to answer is ‘why now?’.

For me there were a couple of things that had got me to this place:

My dad had been in a serious accident the previous year, and whilst he has recovered well, it made me realise how fragile life can be.
My wife and I have not had children yet, but as we creep into our thirties this is something we want to do soon. Taking time to travel will be far more difficult when we have a family, so we now felt like the right time for us.

When & How?

I’ve grouped these sections together – as both give you a chance to show the company you’ve thought about their needs as well as your own.

Through the ‘when’ (if you’ve taken my advice in the section above) you should be able to talk about how you’ve thought about the timing to build in the needs of the business as well as yours. You may even have some flexibility with your dates that you can use to negotiate

You could also use ‘how’ if you are in a senior enough position, to show how you can support the company to help make it easier.

For example, on one of my sabbaticals, I spoke about how I had two of my team keen to step up and that I would give each of them half of my role in my absence – meaning the work was covered and the business would have two leaders with experience for the future when I returned. I think this was. big part in my getting the time away signed off – I showed them an easy way to say yes as they didn’t have to sort out the plans.

I go into this process in more detail in my post ‘How To Ask For a Sabbatical (& Get One)‘.

The Reality

The meeting with your employer may not go smoothly, and it may be a shock to them. If you’ve done your prep work though it should help you to be assertive and answer and questions they have.

With the ‘what’ you bring clarity to your plans, and make it simple for them to understand what it is you’re proposing.

With the ‘why’ you bring the human and emotional element, to help them understand your motivations.

Through the ‘when/how’ you show exactly how much thought you’ve put into this process, and start to show them this is a collaborative approach, not just you sticking up two fingers and running away (though if that style works for you, feel free to use it!).

Plan for Questions

Before we leave this final bit of planning, I want you to put together a list of questions that you may get asked by your employer.

This will help you better prepare for the unknown and mean you’re on the front foot.

Here are some examples, but you know your business and your boss much better than I do, so take the time to tailor it to your individual circumstance.

Some of these questions are tough to handle, so make sure you’ve got a concise response:

Have you spoken to anyone else about this?
You’ll be setting a precedent, we’ve never allowed something like this before. Are you going to upset everyone on the run-up to leaving?
Are you actually coming back?
Are you planning to work for someone else whilst you’re away?
Have you thought about the impact this will have on your team?
Who’s going to pick up your workload?
Are you just running away because you’re unhappy?
What will you do if I say no?

So there we have it, the plan in front of you in black and white.

You may need a few days to ensure you’ve got every base covered, but now it’s time to take the biggest step so far.

Approaching Your Boss

Welcome to a big step in your sabbatical journey, most of what we’ve discussed in this post has been building up to this point.

It’s time to go public!

Through your research from earlier, you should be really clear on where you stand in terms of policy, but remember, there are no laws surrounding a sabbatical in the UK. The odds are largely stacked in the favour of your employer here, so it is your job to convince them.

Action Point 1: Book a Meeting

The first stage here is to book a meeting with your boss, HR representative or whoever is likely to make this kind of decision.

It’s important you get this right. If the meeting is in the wrong place or at the wrong time you might not get the attention or reaction you need.

Make sure you set the tone right from the first contact. You need them to understand this meeting is really important to you, but without giving them too much information. You want them to clear that this isn’t a chat that can take place in a corridor or canteen and get them thinking ‘what’s going on here?’ so they are fully prepared to engage in a meaningful conversation.

I would suggest sending an email that reads something like this:

Hi ‘x’,

Have you got time to slot me in for an hour or so over the next week? I want to have a chat about something important and ideally would like to do it in person, not over the phone.

I’ve got a couple of commitments on ‘x’ day, but other than that I am free to work around you.

Thanks,
‘x’

This gives them enough to know it’s important, and also enough flexibility to ensure you get the time booked quickly. Once you’ve made the decision to go for it, it will play on your mind until its done, so the sooner the better.

Action Point 2: Preparing For the Meeting

Once you’ve got the meeting in the calendar, it gives you something to work to.

Just like a job interview, it’s hard to over-prepare, but if you’ve been taking notes through this article, you should be ready to go.

Keep running through your what/when/why/how and make sure you can describe those points clearly in an ‘elevator pitch’ of around 30 seconds to a minute.

Regularly run through your Q&A, making sure you’ve got good answers prepared. You could also run some of these questions past a trusted person, to see if can think of any more questions that might get asked. Anything you can do to be on the front foot will be really worthwhile.

Action Point 3: The Meeting

This is the big moment.

You’ll no doubt be nervous, which is completely normal for such a potentially life-changing event, but given how well prepared you are, don’t let the nerves defeat you.

Have your notes with you to refer to in case you get flustered, and take a bottle of water in case your mouth dries out, or you need to buy yourself some time.

In the meeting, it’s a simple case of working through your points, and being clear you understand you’re not entitled to anything, but how much it would mean to you if you could have the time agreed.

Don’t expect an answer there and then.

Unless there have been obvious signs, this will probably be a shock to your boss, so it would be unusual for them to make an instant decision. If you have given them a good amount of notice, then waiting another week or so shouldn’t really matter.

Following Up in Writing

It is helpful to follow up a meeting of this importance with a letter or email attachment. This document reiterates the discussion points to ensure everything is clear

Dependent on the outcome of the meeting, you may not feel this is necessary however, I always think it is useful to have some form of a paper trail.

Here is a simple outline for you to use if needed:

Dear ‘x’,

Thanks for agreeing to meet me on INSERT DATE.

I just wanted to follow up our conversation in writing so you had everything you need to make your decision. I would like to take an unpaid sabbatical from work, commencing on and lasting for a period of ‘X’ MONTHS/DAYS

As discussed, I would like to return to my job role at the end of the sabbatical period.

I also want to re-affirm my commitment to the business in the long-term, and that I will do everything I can to ensure handover my responsibilities in a way which leads to the smooth running of the role in my absence.

I hope you understood my rationale for making this choice, and that I feel it will have a benefit to both me and the business in the long-run.

If you need any more information to help you make your decision then do not hesitate to contact me on the number above.

Yours sincerely

‘x’

Hopefully you will receive notification of the decision within a week or so, and you will then know if you can proceed or not with your sabbatical.

If It’s a Yes

If your request to take a sabbatical from work is confirmed, I would ask for this in writing, making sure that it states you can return to your previous role. This puts you in a much stronger position if circumstances or people change within the business whilst you are away.

A good way to do this might be to draw up the letter yourself and then ask the relevant person to forward you a copy with their signature if they are happy with it.

If It’s a No

If the sabbatical is not confirmed, then you could try to re-negotiate, changing some of the variables.

You could move the date, shorten the length or offer to try and find a different way of covering your role.

Chances are though, that this would have been discussed with you during the meeting and, if their answer is a no, you may well have to respect that decision and move on.

If there is no chance for negotiation, you are left with two options – either give up on your sabbatical or resign.

Only you can make the decisions on the risk/reward here. Giving up on the dream of a lifetime is a massive blow, but leaving yourself financially vulnerable could be equally problematic.

There is a chance that resigning may make your employer realise how serious you were, and they sign off on your sabbatical in order to retain you, but it’s a gutsy move that is likely to lead to a lot of ill-feeling in the workplace.

Countdown and Preparation: Getting Ready To Take Your Sabbatical

Once you get your sabbatical signed off you will find there is still a lot to do!

From booking flights to finding a home for your beloved pets sabbatical planning can quickly become a full blow project of its own.

The most important thing to do is get yourself organised so that every time you think of something that needs doing then right it down.

Use a notebook or to-do-list app and write down all the little (and big) jobs that need completing in one place. Once a week review the list in full and plan in the date to get it done.

35 Things To Do Before Taking a Sabbatical

Whilst this can all feel a bit overwhelming – I do have a hack to help you.

Read my full list of 35 Things To Do Before Travelling Long-Term.

This should get 90% of the way there.

Here are a few things from that list to give you an idea of what is covered.

Book flights (both destination and ‘throwaway’)
Check your passport is in date
Decide what to do with your house (house-sitting, neighbour to look after it etc)
Get someone to look after pets or book them into a kennel
List out any kit you need to buy
Buy travel insurance
Check credit/debit cards will stay in date
Apply for a low-interest foreign exchange card
Check if you need vaccinations for the countries you’re visiting and book in
Check visa requirements for your route
Register for proxy voting if you’re going to miss a key election
Get your phone unlocked so you can use foreign SIM cards
Set up mail forwarding
Order additional medical prescriptions
Apply for an International Driver’s Permit
Photocopy key documents (passport, travel insurance, driving license etc) and upload a copy to a Dropbox file
Put your email on out-of-office and set up a voicemail on your phone

MORE USEFUL RESOURCES:

What To Do With Pets When You Travel Long-Term
How To Check the Visa Requirements For Your Route
Great List of Must-Have Travel Gear (38 Pieces of Kit)
My Best Travel Tips
Best Sabbatic

Finishing Up

I really hope you’ve found this guide useful.

If you have any questions, feel free to add them in the comments.

I’d also love to hear any success stories. Stories from others really help to inspire people when they have tough decisions to make, so drop any you have in the comments below or head to the sabbatical stories section of the site to find more.

I’ve not got anything more to say other than good luck, and I have my fingers crossed for you!

Happy travels,

Ben