I think everyone should have the right to a sabbatical

[Poppadumpony]

Just thinking sadly about how I want to go travelling for 3 months but will never be able to do it while employed. My employer can’t give me a sabbatical because my work is essential and they wouldn’t get anybody to cover me while I’m away. It’s a niche role and I can’t imagine anyone would accept a contact to do it full time for just 3 months or even just a year (It’s in quite a remote place, nobody would want to relocate for a temporary post).

I was thinking about maternity leave and that if I had a baby, I’d have the right to 9 months off and my employer would just have to suck it up and muddle through.

I am single, however, and probably unable to have children. People have children to fulfill a yearning and lead a more fulfilling life. I would love to travel for an extended time and it would certainly give me a more fulfilling life, yet I know it would not be allowed. It seems unfair.

I think everyone should have the right to a sabbatical, which employers can’t refuse. Maybe once every 10 years or similar.

It’s not unreasonable is it?

Apologies, SerenDippity.

But were you not aware that men can have parental leave too? It is, as others have pointed out, not about the personal satisfaction of the parent: it's time to do a very real job of raising new contributors to society.

Also, that the first few weeks of maternity leave which are exclusive to women are recovery time- just like you would get recovery time after an operation?

@tearinyourhand. absolutely not! Why would I do that? Feel free to advance search me if you want.

Many companies do offer sabbaticals because they recognise that giving time off to employees to pursue other interests allows them to attract and retain the best candidates and that most sabbaticals allow the individual to obtain skills that are ultimately useful to the business when they return.

OP talk to your company and see if they’d consider it - you might find they would. Especially if your role is niche and difficult to recruit for.

I do temp work in a field that is always understaffed so I have taken a few sabbaticals, by handing my notice in and just getting another role when I return. I didn’t choose this career with this in mind but I have been very lucky with how it’s all worked out. I wouldn’t work directly for an employer again. I would feel very trapped so I can totally see your point. I agree that life is about more than working till you’re nearly 70 with just a couple of weeks off here and there. Unfortunately our society is set up with it being the case for most people.

[quote SerenDippitty]@tearinyourhand. absolutely not! Why would I do that? Feel free to advance search me if you want.[/quote]
Sorry, I didn't mean that as an attack. It was a genuine question because you said you didn't mean to offend anyone by talking about maternity leave and the opening post had referred to maternity leave and I had thought by the wording that you were the poster who had started the thread, then I went back to the first post and saw a different user name and was confused so was trying to clarify. It wasn't intended as an accusation. Sorry, I can see that it looked like I was attacking you, and that wasn't my intention.

Your every 10 years idea works fine if people stay at the same employer their whole life OP. And maybe you have, and will.

But mostly people don’t. So what happens if someone moves jobs 9 years after working? Does the new employer have to give them a sabbatical, straight after they start? Or what if someone does the 10 years, takes their sabbatical, then leaves straight away?

@SerenDippitty

I didn’t mean to offend by talking about maternity leave. But it is an opportunity for some time out of the workplace with no questions asked. I knew plenty of women at my workplace who welcomed that opportunity.

The thing is, yes, that is something that quite a lot of people see as a bonus of maternity leave - it's silly to pretend it isn't - but it isn't its purpose. I know people who have enjoyed it when they've had extended periods off work to recover from medical operations etc - I know someone who joked about breaking his left leg just before he was due to go back because he'd loved being off work so much after he broke his right one - but that doesn't mean that people who don't break their legs are losing out!

I do think that a wider entitlement to unpaid sabbaticals would be a good thing, and so would a general societal shift to recognising and valuing that work isn't everyone's sole priority. I did feel like having children gave me 'permission' to step back in my career and I do think it's a shame that it isn't more socially acceptable to take a break or a step back just because it's the right choice for you. I'd fully support both, I just don't think it's helpful to compare to mat leave.

That said, I'd like to point out again that OP (apparently, according to the other, very goady, thread she started) only left teaching a year ago so I can't imagine she'd be entitled to a sabbatical at the moment in her new job under almost any imaginable scheme - and, tbh, wanting an extended break after a year in post does look a bit work-shy!

I agree about sabbatical but not about comparing to maternity leave. The male poster who said they were jealous of not being able to have maternity leave.. ffs it’s not a year off. I have three kids and my dh definitely feels he has the easier job. Not only that but you do know we have to prepare for birth, give birth and then recover from birth? Oh and most of us will never fully heal from birth unless we can afford physio for the damage that is done. Then there is breast feeding and hormones. So piss off with your jealousy that we get a year off. A lot of us go back to work way before that anyway. Glad my dh isn’t jealous or resentful of the sacrifices I have made to my career and my body so we can have children.

I quit my job and went traveling for a year. Best thing I ever did. Yes it is scary leaving secure employment but it was the best year of my life.

Welcome to real life.

Do you mean travel right now ? Or in the future ? In the middle of a global pandemic ?

Take all your annual leave, plus some unpaid. Your employer may refuse your request

Leave your job & get a new one on your return

I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, why shoulder the employer, especially of we're talking leave on full pay! On the other hand, if it helps retain talent then it would be in the employer's best interests, particularly in a niche role that would be difficult to fill.

Men get a really unfair deal on paternity leave, although shared parental leave is an option. I've found it's actually women who are reluctant to share their maternity leave, not so much employers!

It’s not common in the Uk because we don’t have a great work life balance, in Australia they seem to offer it far more you can bank a week a year and get x amount after y number of years.

Anyone can take a sabbatical at my form for up to a year.you can only do it once.

@Cam2020

I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, why shoulder the employer, especially of we're talking leave on full pay! On the other hand, if it helps retain talent then it would be in the employer's best interests, particularly in a niche role that would be difficult to fill.

Men get a really unfair deal on paternity leave, although shared parental leave is an option. I've found it's actually women who are reluctant to share their maternity leave, not so much employers!

A sabbatical is unpaid.

Of course, you should have a sabbatical if you want one. But you shouldn't expect anyone else to pay for it. Maternity leave is not the same at all!

It's really not unreasonable OP. In Australia 'long service leave' is a statutory leave entitlement, where if you work for the same employer for a decade, then you get 3 months paid leave.
Fine for large companies and for employees fortunate enough to work for one employer for that long. But most of us don't.

My friend wanted time off to look after an elderly relative. Their employer refused. They had to leave their job

Just take a sabbatical OP.
You have few resonsibilities, nothing to stop you engineering a year off to travel.
Nothing unfair about it.
I took a year out when I was 33 years old- no kids either.
I saved up, resigned from my job, rented out my house and went backpacking around Asia for a year.
Quite simple to arrange.
I looked for and started a new job within weeks of my return and picked up my life again.

Nothing to stop you- just don't expect anyone else to fund your jolly.

Men get a really unfair deal on paternity leave, although shared parental leave is an option. I've found it's actually women who are reluctant to share their maternity leave, not so much employers!

I would have had absolutely no problem in sharing: in fact, dh took unpaid leave to do his bit as parental leave had not been extended to fathers when mine were little. But that was because he had already demonstrated that he was an equal parent and pulled his weight in the household: I could go to work and trust that I would not then have to come home and do his SAHP work too.

MN is full of women making excuses for men because they can't be expected to find a baby entertaining, or they won't know what to do with it (like new mothers do?) or they just need to be told how to do things. If I had a man like that, I bloody wouldn't feel confident leaving him in charge of a small baby all day.

No I don't agree that everyone should have the 'right'. I think if you're a grafter and good at your job that your workplace will realise that it is worthwhile finding a way of drawing you back. Sometimes its just not practical for a company to offer extended leave. But everyone can choose to leave and find a new job when they return, if travelling is important to them.
I've worked for a company that allowed sabbaticals; I only know of one person that ever took them up on the offer.

I believe more flexibility should be looked into.
The PP that wasn't allowed leave to look after an elderly relative says it all.
Why? Their need was as great as a woman on maternity leave. It was still looking after a vulnerable family member.
We need some more things to be enshrined in law seeing as people are increasingly expected to pick up the slack for social care.

Anecdotally, I had three months off work with a serious leg injury.
I was wheelchair bound for most of it and it was bloody brilliant. I had low days, but any time off from the daily grind is great.

The PP that wasn't allowed leave to look after an elderly relative says it all.
Why? Their need was as great as a woman on maternity leave. It was still looking after a vulnerable family member.

But the appropriate comparison point for that isn't maternity leave, it's requesting flexible working or unpaid leave for childcare reasons - which employers can and do refuse. Employers can't refuse mat leave because how could they - 'no, you have to give birth at your desk'? It seems to be a common misconception that parents have a right to flexible working that people who aren't parents don't have - they don't, they just have the same right as everyone else to request it.

It seems to be a common misconception that parents have a right to flexible working that people who aren't parents don't have - they don't, they just have the same right as everyone else to request it.

But in practice their request is far more likely to be granted if they have children.

I'm sure that's the case at many workplaces and that's wrong but that's about the culture of that employer not about legal rights. For what it's worth I recently had my request to reduce my hours by 10% for childcare reasons accepted - but on the second time of asking (it was turned down the first time) and at the same time one of my other team members also got a request for part-time working approved; he has no children and wants to spend a day a week working on his art. So it's not universally true that all parents get their requests approved and that requests aren't allowed for reasons other than childcare.

Surely the reason why maternity leave etc is “acceptable” and protected in law is that society/economy would collapse if we didn’t have younger generations coming through

This.

And also, do you realize that the maternity leave is used to recover from the pregnancy/birth? Are you also saying you should be allowed a sabbatical because some people have time off when sick?
So to PP saying It seems people without children should be able to take period of time off at least once for a sabbatical I imagine you also exclude people suffering from illnesses from this, as they had their 'time off' already?