Leading Employers Implement Sabbatical Programs

Some organizations - particularly large employers - are instituting sabbaticals or other paid leave programs as a part of their strategies to compete for top talent, according to a July 2006 article in Wall Street Journal. Accenture, Cisco Systems, Pfizer and other leading employers have programs that offer their top performers opportunities to take timeouts to work for nonprofit organizations. The companies pay their employees to contribute their expertise, viewing the programs as both leadership development options and rewards for high performance. On Cisco's program that pays managers to work in southern schools that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the company's vice president of corporate affairs, Tae Yoo, says the effort aims "to get employees re-energized and re-engaged, give them a broader sense of themselves, the company and the community." Accenture employee Nicola Locke calls her employer's leave program that pairs top performers with nonprofits worldwide "one of the reasons I joined Accenture in the first place." (Wall Street Journal [Chao], July 17, 2006, p. B5)