Sabbaticals as a Startup Benefit

Recently we rolled out a new program for team members to take a two month paid sabbatical for every four years of employment. Four years of employment seems like a long time, especially in the startup world, but we already have team members that have passed that and our goal is to be the best place to work and the best place to be a customer, so amazing benefits for our team members fit in nicely.

Here are some thoughts around sabbaticals:

• Even though we have no vacation tracking with a policy of “be reasonable”, that means that people are free to do what they want, when they want, as long as their responsibilities are still being met — a sabbatical means that the responsibilities don’t have to be met for that period of time, thereby creating a different dynamic
• Sabbaticals are meant for our people to pursue projects or trips that really clear their mind of responsibilities at the startup and enable them to fulfill dreams or check off items on their bucket list
• Making sabbaticals fully paid is key so that team members actual use and take advantage of them

Much like college professors have had sabbaticals for years, startups should consider have them as well so that team members have an opportunity to step away for an extended period of time.

What else? What are some other thoughts or anecdotes around sabbaticals for startups?