What Should I Expect (or Reasonably Negotiate) for a Sabbatical w/ my Company

[WhitePuma]

I’m exhausted and deflated with my current job and “the grind” in general. I’d like to take a 6-month sabbatical to decompress and re-assess.

W-2 employee for a small 12-person consulting engineering company. Been here for 15 years, if that matters.

For a 6-month sabbatical, and given the particulars of my situation per above, what should I expect to receive as a standard vs. what’s in the negotiable “gray area” vs. what’s considered off-limits or taboo to ask for?

Things like paid sabbatical, keep health care, keep employer HSA contributions, etc.

[tonyclifton]

In your time at the company, has anyone else taken a sabbatical? If so, what did they get? We do not have such a thing and “personal leave” is usually for medical/family reasons after FMLA runs out.

[8foot7]

A small company will typically not have the depth of employee bench necessary to grant a six month leave. If it were my business, I’d try to work with you, but disappearing for six months — well, I need the work done…

I assume you are referring to an opportunity for unpaid leave. If you want a six month paid vacation at a 12 person firm, I think you need to keep your hopes minimal.

Health care coverage seems reasonable but the rest would be off the table for me as a business owner in this scenario. (If you were in a horrible accident or had a child perish or something terrible like that, I’d do everything I possibly could for you [and when I had employees in my own business, I indeed did] but half a year off puts me in a real tough spot…)

[Rex66]

Why do you think your request is reasonable?
At most small companies it round not be.
For anything other than unpaid leave would need to be an amazing employee for this to be worth it

[sailaway]

Things like paid sabbatical, keep health care, keep employer HSA contributions, etc.

I would expect that all of those need to be standard procedure, rather than negotiated at the personal level. Now, some companies will absolutely rewrite policy for a stand out employee or when multiple employees make a similar request. So there may be a first person to negotiate these things, but you need to understand that your employer needs to be in a position to offer similar to all employees. One way sabbaticals keep this under control is by offering a sabbatical every X number of years. Or by applying for sabbatical (this usually means saying what you will use the time for that is productive or enriching, rather than a mental health break).

That being said, the best I have seen for an engineer is one month fully paid, full benefits, every five years. In the US, and this was posted specifically in US investors forum, six months is more than one gets to push out a baby and adjust to raising it.

[Calsaver]

I am more optimistic than the other posters. A negative is that a small company like yours losing one of it's workforce will have a big impact on them. On the other hand, a small company is more likely to weigh your value holistically compared to a big corp. You must suspect that it might be okay or you presumably wouldn't be asking.

For what it's worth I work at at ~200 person company and was granted a one year sabatical (for lack of a better term). No one else at the company has the certification required to do my work, so the company had to bring in a contractor to fill my position until I returned. I had a stack of leave built up and managed to stay at 75% pay for 6 months or so, which meant the company continued paying for healthcare/HSA contributions. After that I was on leave without pay. Technically they did not have to take me back, it was a handshake sort of deal.

On our year off (my spouse also finagled a year off) most people we met were astounded that we managed this. I think it would be more common if more peopled asked, working in good faith with their employers.

[adamthesmythe]

1. Are you a partner?

2. Has anyone else done this?

[chassis]

I’m exhausted and deflated with my current job and “the grind” in general. I’d like to take a 6-month sabbatical to decompress and re-assess.

W-2 employee for a small 12-person consulting engineering company. Been here for 15 years, if that matters.

For a 6-month sabbatical, and given the particulars of my situation per above, what should I expect to receive as a standard vs. what’s in the negotiable “gray area” vs. what’s considered off-limits or taboo to ask for?

Things like paid sabbatical, keep health care, keep employer HSA contributions, etc.

If 1/12ths of the company is not there, will revenue and profits fall by 1/12? You are seeking a megacorp benefit from a nanocorp.

[windaar]

I think it's time to downshift to a less-stressful, more fulfilling job. I know a career engineer who was burned out decided to teach AP Physics at a private high school and loves it. Less $$ but not everything can be measured in $$. Unless your company has a culture of such sabbaticals, I can't see this working or helping with your reputation either. Lots of people hiring out there.

[carolinaman]

I was director of a IT consulting business for 5 years. I had as many as 150 staff during that time with management and business consultants, developers and technical staff. I would be lukewarm receiving this request. Depending upon your value to our company, I might allow a 2 or 3 month sabbatical, but no way pay benefits during this time. However, a request like this would cause me to question your long term commitment to our company.