Sabbaticals for Nonprofits Are a Must

For hardworking nonprofit leaders and staff, the chance to take a sabbatical can be life-changing. Adopting a sabbatical policy also benefits organizations – offering a boost to recruitment and retention – which means it’s a win-win.

Yet, too few nonprofits are talking about or implementing sabbatical policies. It’s time for that to change. 

What Is a Nonprofit Sabbatical?

A sabbatical is a planned and mutually agreed upon break from work (from 30 days up to a year) provided by employers and is in addition to normal leave for illness, vacation, bereavement, or parental leave. Sabbaticals are normally granted after working at an employer for a set number of years (usually 7) as spelled out in a sabbatical policy. The term sabbatical is ancient and is linked with the word “sabbath” which is “a day of rest.”

Nonprofit sabbaticals give employees an opportunity to step away from the emotionally and sometimes physically taxing work of shepherding change so they can rest, recharge, get clarity, heal, and possibly even decide to move on - without apology.

Why Offer a Sabbatical?

Employees at nonprofit organizations may work there for a number of reasons. They may really enjoy their colleagues, and they may get tremendous personal fulfillment from the work. Many people working in nonprofits (and founders) are personally connected to their issue area, which may make the work more intense, more emotional, and more connected with someone’s identity. 

There are more than 1.4 million nonprofits in the US and the majority do not have a large enough budget to have salaried staff. For those organizations with staff, pay tends to be lower than in the private sector, though not always. Many people are drawn to nonprofit work because they get to make a difference and can focus on impact instead of profit. Nonprofits are less likely to offer bonuses and certainly don’t have stock or bonds that can be awarded to staff. 

The financial incentives in the nonprofit sector are less robust, so leaders sometimes turn to other tools to demonstrate appreciation to current staff and recruit top candidates. These include better benefits like health care, life insurance, flexible schedules, work-from-home (WFH) arrangements, a four-day workweek, and sabbaticals, to name a few. 

Since sabbaticals reward long-time service to the organization, a sabbatical policy is more than just a recruitment tool. It can also benefit retention and reduce the cost of staff turnover. Plus, research shows that rest is essential to productivity and can boost problem-solving and creativity. 

Who Qualifies for a Sabbatical?

Nonprofit organizations, like any employer, can decide for themselves who gets a sabbatical. (*I am not an attorney, and you should check your own state law to determine what kinds of paid time off are required.)  

The key to any kind of perk or benefit is to treat everyone the same. You don’t want anyone, especially employees, to think that benefits are unevenly distributed. In this way, the offer of a benefit can backfire. That is why many employers will create a sabbatical policy that clearly spells out who qualifies for a sabbatical and under what conditions the benefit is accepted or rejected. It is not as simple as just giving an employee six months off after working for seven years. There is more nuance and complexity to it, as you’ll see in the sample policy used by the Equality Federation.

In general, your organization should create a policy that is bias-free and rewards people for a certain level of service. Typically, the requirement to earn a sabbatical relates to the number of years of service. This can be for an unpaid founder or a paid staff person. Sabbaticals are typically not offered for temporary staff, part-time staff, or contractors. Sabbaticals are also not generally offered to low-performing employees on a performance improvement plan. 

You must decide if only executives earn this benefit, if all employees are eligible, or some variation. In the spirit of equity and fairness, you should closely examine if the policy you are creating benefits, even indirectly or unintentionally, a certain kind of employee like those with a degree, those with children, or those who are white or affluent. Policies may help with consistency, but they don’t always eliminate structural biases. 

Are Sabbaticals Paid or Unpaid - or Both?

Every employer can choose this for themselves. Organizations with small budgets may not be able to offer full pay to the employee on leave during their sabbatical. Larger organizations may be able to offer a paid sabbatical. Many organizations will do a hybrid by offering an employee to combine their earned and paid vacation time (2 weeks, for example) with a few weeks of unpaid time off (2 weeks, for example) and 1 week of additional “bonus” time off for a grand total of 5 weeks of leave.

An employer can do any configuration of these, but they should be aware of the consequences of not paying for all the time off. If an employer finds that no one is taking the sabbatical because they cannot afford unpaid time off, then the benefit should be restructured.

Structuring a Sabbatical Policy

Every employer will get to decide their own sabbatical terms and conditions. Some employers don’t put a lot of requirements into sabbaticals. They really do see it as an unqualified reward with few strings attached. Other employers will add more requirements as the benefit gets more generous. 

For example, if Organization Y allows all employees who have served seven years of full-time employment to request a sabbatical, the employer may require that the employee provide six months advance notice and ensure “coverage” to make sure their workload is handled in their absence.

If the employer is paying for the entire sabbatical by allowing the employee to continue drawing a salary during the sabbatical (in addition to vacation and sick time), then the employer may also require that the employee not resign for at least six months after the sabbatical ends.

This helps the employer have confidence that the employee will not just leave after “cashing in” the benefit. If the employee does leave, they simply have to pay back the salary they received during their sabbatical. 

Of course, employers who allow an employee to take a sabbatical may decide that it is an unpaid leave. This may be attractive to some employees and not attractive to others. In these cases, the employer has less say in whether the employee must come back to work. 

Another thing to consider are terms of redemption. If the employee decides to use this sabbatical benefit (and not all will), the employer can suggest or even require that the employee not use the sabbatical to engage in paid work or finish their thesis in grad school.

If the employer is providing this benefit they may want you resting and traveling and not working. They want you to come back refreshed, not exhausted. Other employers will not put stipulations on what employees do during their sabbaticals.

Finally, it may be useful to include non-discrimination and non-retaliation language in your sabbatical policy. Workers in the US are notorious for not using all their earned vacation time.

If an employee actually uses this sabbatical benefit, the organization should promise not to retaliate or treat them poorly.

It seems counter-intuitive that an organization would punish someone for doing something it claims it supports, but in reality, many employees don’t utilize vacation time, sick time, or other earned benefits because of employer pressure and first-hand experience with retaliation (subtle or overt).

Conclusion: Sabbaticals may be more complicated than you think, but are a powerful tool for nonprofit leaders

Nonprofit founders and employees give a lot of themselves to their organizations, usually at lower compensation levels. A key way to retain valuable employees and express appreciation for years of service is to offer benefits like a sabbatical, four-day workweek, or other flexible work arrangements.

In order to not have this generous benefit backfire, employers should be thoughtful and structure a policy that is followed, fair, equitable, and flexible. Every employer can structure their sabbatical how they like but should be aware of how the benefit will actually be redeemed and used so they can truly demonstrate the original intent of the policy. 

Check out this sample sabbatical policy from the Equality Federation to inspire you.