Tired of Tech? Hit Reset with a Sabbatical or LOA

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Tech is tiring. Whether you’re trying to stay upskilled on the latest JavaScript framework or wading through toxic work swamps, it feels like burnout is constantly looming on the horizon. Sabbaticals and leaves of absence (LOAs) are two benefits you could take advantage of to catch a much-needed (and overdue) extended break. I’ve taken both, one time to live abroad in France for 6 months and the other time to take the summer off for 10 weeks, both at different Fortune 500 companies and each time they moved my career forward, not backward. I’ll walk through step-by-step how to figure out if you’re eligible for these benefits, break down the implications to insurance and job security in plain language, and illustrate some strategies on bridging the income gap so you can sleep at night. By the end you’ll walk away with the confidence to finally give yourself permission to reset and get excited about tech again.

This talk has been presented at React Summit 2023, check out the latest edition of this React Conference.

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FAQ

A mini-retirement is an extended time off from work, either through a sabbatical or an unpaid personal leave of absence. Sabbaticals often come with job security upon return, while personal leaves may not. To plan a mini-retirement, check your company's leave policies, calculate your expenses, and determine your savings needs.

Taking a mini-retirement does not necessarily harm your career. Many find that after a break, they return to work recharged and ready for new challenges, often leading to promotions and increased productivity.

Prepare financially for a mini-retirement by conducting a cash flow analysis to understand your income and expenses. Determine how much money you need to save and for how long, considering your monthly expenses and desired time off. It's also advisable to have a financial buffer in case you need to search for a job afterwards.

To calculate the funds required for a mini-retirement, first determine your monthly expenses. Decide on the duration of your leave and multiply your monthly expenses by the number of months you plan to take off. Include a financial buffer to cover unexpected costs or job search expenses if needed.

A sabbatical can provide significant personal and professional benefits, including time for personal development, stress reduction, and enhanced creativity. It can also offer opportunities for travel, study, or pursuing personal projects without the pressure of work commitments.

If your employer does not offer a sabbatical program, you can explore the possibility of an unpaid personal leave of absence. While this type of leave does not guarantee job security upon return, it allows for extended time off for personal reasons.

Ensure financial stability during a mini-retirement by saving enough to cover your period of absence. Calculate your essential expenses and save an adequate buffer. Consider additional income sources like freelance work or passive income. Also, plan for health insurance and other benefits that might be affected during your time off.

Kamran Ayub
Kamran Ayub
8 min
06 Jun, 2023

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Video Summary and Transcription

Between burnout, toxic workplaces, the pandemic, the economic downturn, hustle culture, and constant upskilling, let's enjoy the journey instead of slogging through it. Introducing the idea of taking a mini-retirement while working, starting with a sabbatical. Companies offer sabbaticals as a perk, allowing personal development and a chance to return to work. Many companies have publicly stated sabbatical programs, like Adobe. Requirements are guidelines, not set in stone. And they offered it to me anyway by way of apology. Everything worked out, our mini-retirement lasted six months. In fact, the benefits of extended time off are something the rest of the world seems to understand, but the US hasn't gotten the memo. What about those of you who don't have access to a sabbatical? Is there another kind of mini-retirement you could pull off? Absolutely. You can check if you have the ability to request an unpaid personal leave of absence. Unlike a sabbatical, there's no guarantee you'll have a job waiting for you when you get back, but you can request it for any reason at any time. Great, but how can you do this? So let's talk logistics. A mini retirement is within reach for a lot of people. Here's a worksheet to help you plan your mini retirement. Determine your cash in and cash out to calculate your savings rate. You can choose how many months you want to take off and calculate the amount of money you need to save. Your savings rate reveals important information about your finances. Saving 10% to 20% can cut the time needed in half, and saving 30% per month allows you to work from September to May and save for your summer off. There are some considerations, such as paying for benefits out-of-pocket and pausing contributions to retirement accounts. Now, go take a mini retirement and explore more resources on personal finance and lifestyle design.

1. Introduction to Mini-Retirement and Sabbaticals

Short description:

Between burnout, toxic workplaces, the pandemic, the economic downturn, hustle culture, and constant upskilling, let's enjoy the journey instead of slogging through it. Introducing the idea of taking a mini-retirement while working, starting with a sabbatical. Companies offer sabbaticals as a perk, allowing personal development and a chance to return to work. Many companies have publicly stated sabbatical programs, like Adobe. Requirements are guidelines, not set in stone.

♪♪ Listen, I know you're tired. Who can blame you? Between the massive rate of burnout, toxic workplaces, the pandemic, the economic downturn, hustle culture, and the constant upskilling and reskilling that tech demands, you're not alone.

I mean, wouldn't it just be great to quit and go live in the woods, maybe play board games all day? Well that would be nice, but who can really do that in practice. You need to be financially independent to pull it off. Most people aren't. I have three kids. They need to go to school. I have to pay down my mortgage. Even though I'm working towards financial independence, that's still many years away. What do we do in the meantime? Just suck it up with a shrug? That's life. No. I say, let's enjoy the journey instead of slogging through it.

Let me introduce you to the idea of taking a mini-retirement. There are two ways to take a mini-retirement while working that I'm going to cover. Then we'll talk through how to plan your own. First, you have a sabbatical. A sabbatical is an unpaid leave of absence that companies normally offer as a perk to allow you to get a degree, do some personal development, or really do whatever you want. It's called protected because there are legal protections in place to make sure that you can still return to work. The caveat is that it may not be at the same salary or role, but in practice, it's almost always the same job. You might be surprised to learn there are many companies who have publicly stated that they have a sabbatical program and others who have it but don't make it public. For example, here's a list on Build Remote. The one I want to call attention to is Adobe because it's open, you can browse it and see exactly how it works and what the eligibility requirements are. The secret is that these requirements are really guidelines. They're not set in stone. I learned about this firsthand when I worked at General Mills. It was an accident, actually. In 2015, my wife said she wanted to live in France, and I said, yeah, well, let's do it. And I asked my boss if I could work remotely for a year. They said, sure, sounds great. Then HR got involved in something, something taxes.

2. Mini-Retirement and Sabbatical Options

Short description:

And they offered it to me anyway by way of apology. Everything worked out, our mini-retirement lasted six months. In fact, the benefits of extended time off are something the rest of the world seems to understand, but the US hasn't gotten the memo. What about those of you who don't have access to a sabbatical? Is there another kind of mini-retirement you could pull off? Absolutely. You can check if you have the ability to request an unpaid personal leave of absence. Unlike a sabbatical, there's no guarantee you'll have a job waiting for you when you get back, but you can request it for any reason at any time. Great, but how can you do this? So let's talk logistics. A mini retirement is within reach for a lot of people.

And they were like, sorry, you can't work in France. Yeah, big surprise. But they did ask if I wanted to roll a saving throw. I had been working there for five years, and technically, I wasn't eligible for a sabbatical until I was at seven years of service. But they offered it to me anyway by way of apology.

Well, we said, yes, we were young, we didn't have any kids, we knew we couldn't do this again. Everything worked out, our mini-retirement lasted six months. We lived in France, we traveled around. I mean, I even had a monkey on my back in Morocco. It was amazing. In fact, the benefits of extended time off are something the rest of the world seems to understand, but the US hasn't gotten the memo. I mean, if you don't live in the US and you're watching this, why? Because most of you already have really great vacation policies. Super jealous.

What about those of you who don't have access to a sabbatical? Is there another kind of mini-retirement you could pull off? Absolutely. You can check if you have the ability to request an unpaid personal leave of absence. Unlike a sabbatical, there's no guarantee you'll have a job waiting for you when you get back, but you can request it for any reason at any time. I also have direct experience with this. My wife is a school social worker and has summers off, which of course means I wanted summers off. I was able to request a personal leave for 10 weeks during the summer. You might be thinking, great, but taking a mini retirement is going to hurt my career. I've done it twice and can say it probably won't. Both times I came back, I got promoted, and I felt recharged and ready for new challenges.

Great, but how can you do this? So let's talk logistics. A mini retirement is within reach for a lot of people. So what you need to do after this talk is go to your dreaded benefits portal and search for your leave of absence policy. In the best case, you'll learn that not only do you have access to a sabbatical, but if you've been there for four to seven years, you might already be eligible for one. You're going to also need a runway. This will let you float for the duration of your absence without worrying about money. This consists of calculating your monthly expenses, deciding how many months you want to take off. And in my case, I also included a buffer in case I needed to look for a job.

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3 authors
Renaud Bressant (Head of Product), Nathanael Lamellière (Head of Customer Success and Solution Engineer), Nouha Chhih (Developer Experience Manager) will be looking at the different developer jobs that you can accounter when looking for your next developer role. We'll be explaining the specifics of each role, to help you identify which one could be your next move. We'll also be sharing tips to help you navigate the recruitment process, based on the different roles we interviewed for as recruiters, but also as candidates. This will be more of an Ask Us Anything session, so don't hesitate to share your thoughts and questions during the session.
Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire: A Manager's Guide to Helping New Developers Thrive
TechLead Conference 2024TechLead Conference 2024
35 min
Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire: A Manager's Guide to Helping New Developers Thrive
Workshop
Andrew Coleburn
Andrew Coleburn
Onboarding to a new project can be difficult, no matter your background and experience. But it can be especially challenging for new developers straight out of school or a coding bootcamp. Drawing on personal experience as a bootcamp grad and JavaScript consultant, this talk will discuss tips and strategies for managers to help the new developers on their teams get their bearings in an unfamiliar codebase, so they can make more of an impact, faster!