While it’s pretty hard to pin down exact acceptance numbers of the sabbatical movement in the United States, one thing is clear, a growing number of people prefer to have a sabbatical in their careers. The actual term sabbatical has it’s biblical roots from the Old Testament Hebrew word Sabbath. The word Sabbath simply means rest. In the book of Exodus the Sabbath was first mentioned in the statement, “This is what the Lord commanded: Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.”

A long time went by before the modern-day workforce got a taste of a career sabbatical, often defined as an extended leave or personal retreat. The first well documented use of sabbaticals was at Harvard University around 1880. While trying to compete with the private sector’s more appealing pay, Harvard University crafted the sabbatical program to allow faculty members who had been on staff for 7 years a full academic year of leave with half pay or a semester of leave with full pay. It didn’t take long before other prestigious institutions in academia were offering similar packages to lure in quality faculty.

The sabbatical introduction into the Fortune 500 and corporate world came from the McDonald’s Corporation in the 1960’s. After working full-time for 10 years most employees are offered eight weeks of paid time off. The paid time off includes benefits and can be extended with extra vacation time. With McDonald’s paving the road to sabbatical freedom, other major corporations followed like Nike, Intel, American Express, IBM, AT&T and more. It became a trend in Silicon Valley in the 1970’s to offer high tech workers sabbatical as part of their benefits package.

During the dot-com boom and bust, Internet and technology focused companies found themselves offering sabbaticals not only for employee morale and revitalization but an easier solution to layoffs. In 2001, Cisco Systems started a sabbatical pilot program to try and help stave off extensive layoffs. Cisco’s offer was for two-thirds pay cut with full benefits and stock options. The only other catch was that employees were to volunteer at a not-for-profit chosen by Cisco. Surprisingly, the response overwhelmed Cisco Systems and they have since made plans to make the sabbatical program part of their employee benefit program.

With tough economic times approaching the U.S. in the definition of a recession or a modest down-turn, it remains to be seen if a reviving of sabbaticals could become a solution to permanent layoffs. A benefits consulting firm, Wyatt Worldwide reveals that adoption rates of sabbaticals in the U.S. still run low at 20 percent of only the largest companies. When taking into account much smaller companies the acceptance rate is much lower sometimes under 10 percent. The trend is moving forward when looking at past data obtained from Mercer Human Resource Consulting’s 2000 Survey of Work/Life Initiatives, 15 percent of the 450 large employers surveyed offered paid sabbaticals last year, up from 11 percent in 1998.

While the U.S. is slowly accepting sabbaticals as a permanent benefits package, other countries are more open to this old but innovative way to reinvigorate employees. A UK based organization named Norwich Union has claimed that in the UK at least one in four workers are taking extended breaks from work to find an escape and fulfilment in their lives. Unfortunately, one negative result of sabbaticals was identified with one in five workers not returning to work after their foray back into the free world. The impacted cost is put at an estimated 7.9 billion pounds or $16 billion dollars. It wasn’t clear what all impacted costs were besides additional recruiting costs.

The UK is not alone in high adoption rates of sabbaticals in their workforce. Canada doesn’t show breathtaking acceptance rates when looking at paid sabbaticals with only 12 percent but they do have a stunning acceptance rate for unpaid sabbaticals at 44 percent according to a survey done by Hewitt in May of 2006. Further growth in the trend in Canada can be seen with the plans of future offerings at 20 percent for paid and 58 percent for unpaid.

No matter what country a sabbatical is taken in, they all seem to try and obtain the same goal. Revive that inner spirit in the hard worked employee so that they may return more educated, motivated or inspired. Typically sabbaticals have some type of purpose such as continued education, research or general skill learning to help the employee become more well-rounded. While some find themselves in non-profits or the Peace Corps, a lot of employees are just looking to recharge.

Everyone sees recharging as a different set of adventures that may start with sleeping in for weeks, world traveling or adventure expeditions to open their mind and become healthier. Regardless of what the sabbatical is taken for, it’s obvious that America’s long hours and late nights at the office will increasingly demand sabbaticals to help them grow in their personal and professional lives. The catch is, not all employees will return to their jobs once they’ve had that taste of freedom and escape. As is said in love, “If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they’re yours; if they don’t they never were.”