Career Breaks
What are they
• Career breaks is when an employee
takes a period of time off of there
work to do something new and exciting.
Examples include travelling around the
world and raising children from a young
age.
Sabbatical
• The word “sabbatical” is often used when
your employer is keeping your job open.
• This type of career break is usually unpaid
leave and there is no legal entitlement to it
- you have to agree it with your employer
• Is usually between 1 month and 2 years
long but 6 months to 2 years is the most
common period of time.
• You can also take many career breaks that
are less than 1 month
Advantages for staff
• The ability to take a break from work with
confidence of returning at an agreed
future date
• Continued contact with work and colleagues
during the break
• Extending the standard maternity leave
period until children have grown older
• The chance to step outside the world of
work to refresh attitudes and skills
• Taking time out when younger with the
intention of extending a career later
Advantages for employer
• When they return, they have new skills they can
bring to the work place, such as communication,
practical skills, or leadership
• They may also learn different ways of working,
bringing greater efficiency to your company
• They develop confidence (this is a cliché but its
something almost all career breakers mention)
• They don’t have to pay for the employee that is on
the career break so they save money as it is unpaid
leave
• The company is perceived as investing in their
staff, meaning greater loyalty from employees
• (ultimately, offering career breaks can result in
financial benefits for the company in the long term)
Disadvantages
• For staff:
– A career break involves a break in service,
which means that the service cannot count
towards length-of-service pension
calculations
– They would not get money as they are not
working
Disadvantages
• For employer:
– They will have to keep the post open until
that employee comes back from their
career break
– Will have to employ other staff to cover
the job
– Quite a lot of paperwork to be filled in by
the employer (and employee)
Bibliography
http://www.westessexpct.nhs.uk/pubs/pdfs/poli
cycareerbreak.pdf
http://www.thecareerbreaksite.com/employerinformation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Career_break