Unpaid leave of a few months?

[Tintarella]

Has anyone taken an extended period of unpaid leave from work for unspecified generalised knackered-ness?

I don't want to leave my place of work in the long-term- it's a great place, good pay, nice colleagues, interesting work- but having been at the grindstone for 20 plus years and having recently suffered a close bereavement (for which I got two weeks compassionate leave) and generally feeling exhausted and burned-out post 10 years of juggling full-on job with two young kids (but probably not burned out enough to get a medical note) I am just feeling so depleted and am not functioning above about 30% on the job (not that I would tell my boss that).

Financially we would be ok if I took a few months off. But is it mad? Do people ever do this? Or do I just have to suck it up?

Call it a sabbatical to refocus. I think it should be a much more common practise.

I agree @DraftLovely - from the company's pov, if they knew how unfocused and unmotivated I was, and how different I would (I think) be if I had the chance to recharge my batteries a bit, it would be a no brainer!

I'm sorry for your loss

Sounds like a reasonable company for give 2 weeks off. Most I've worked at only give 5 days for a bereavement. Do you have a union to ask for advice? What if your are granted a break and then you don't feel refreshed and want longer off? Unless you are off for a medical need, the company would need to balance the cost of recruitment, training etc for your 'sabbatical'. How long were thinking of being off for?

Look at it from their perspective. They've got to employ someone temporarily to do your job.

Great for you. Nightmare for them.

If your DCs are under 18, then why not ask for parental leave? You can request up to 4 weeks unpaid for each child. They may refuse but likely if they refuse that, they’d refuse a general request for unpaid leave anyway. Hope you’re ok & look after yourself.

thanks all. @Eightdayz fair point for some places, but this is a massive company and I know for a fact they wouldn't bother hiring anyone else. It's not that sort of job

My company don't offer sabbaticals, its more complex than employees realise as we don't want extended periods of leave and having to put cover in place plus the risk people don't come back and don't tell us or being challenged on stopping holiday accrual and other benefits during the extended leave. Some companies do offer them so you have nothing to lose by asking. As others have said, maybe use parental leave as an option if you have children as those are harder to decline.

Thank you for this. Do you not need to have a concrete reason for this though ie child is sick, or not in school or something? My kids are fine- it's me that's on my last legs ;-) I think I might feel a bit of a fraud asking for it.

No, parental leave is granted to cover school holidays. I never had it as I was self employed but my colleagues husband used to take it to help out with school holiday cover. Certainly worth looking into.

No, no reason required & no need to coincide with school holidays either. The only rules are that you have to take it in complete weeks, not days, but the weeks don’t need to be consecutive either (or they can be - that’s up to you).

If you work for a large organisation then I doubt they’d reject it (unless it’s over a particularly critical business period or something like that) as it’s as per legislation.

Check out your HR policies re family friendly (or whatever you guys call it) as it should be written into policy how to request it etc.

Otherwise from re-reading your Op, I think your GP would sign you off, at least for a couple of weeks - I’ve certainly seen fit notes sign off members of my team for less!

Following a bereavement, members of staff often took sick leave, which is considered perfectly reasonable. The few days you get as compassionate leave is only really meant to enable you to deal with immediate practicalities.

@Tintarella This clarifies the rules: Unpaid parental leave: Entitlement - GOV.UK

Does your company offer career breaks? I took 6 months off last year which was fab but hard to go back afterwards.

The other thing is sick leave. If you're genuinely only operating at 30% you do sound burnt out and could take time off sick.

See if your employer has a career break policy. A few of my colleagues have done this, but generally to go travelling, or to accompany a spouse working overseas.