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Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

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Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#91

Post by desdiv »

What do you guys think of the idea of companies giving their employees the option of taking (up to) one year long unpaid sabbaticals?

It would cost the company next to nothing, and it would be a preferable alternative to the employee quitting due to stress or burnout.

For the employee it significantly lowers their risk of unemployment. They can either 1. go to a better company, or 2. return to their old company.

In the case of US companies, there's also the added benefit of the possibility of the employee and employer coming to a mutually beneficial arrangement on maintaining the employee's healthcare plan during the sabbatical.

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#92

Post by txcwpalpha »

09bjb wrote: post #81
txcwpalpha wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this, and unfortunately your fears became reality for me. Like you said, I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to do (including traveling, starting my own company, continuing education, side projects, etc). Almost 2 years into it I ended up just barely dabbling in each. I traveled for a few months, worked on some side projects, and learned some new things, but didn't really do anything "big" or traditionally…

As someone who has "taken a lot of time off" to spend time _on_ the things I think are important, may I suggest answering the work question with "I'm currently working on _____" or "Right now I'm spending a lot of time on _____". There are a hundred ways to direct the conversation somewhere productive and fun, but "I don't currently work anywhere and am taking some time off" does sound like an embarrassed euphemism f…

I appreciate that advise, it's something I've been trying to do more recently, and I've noticed it does help in conversation.

The funny thing is that, even though my original comment hints at how regretful I am now of being unemployed, it didn't use to be that way. I used to be very proud of having left my job and being unemployed! I thought I had made a great decision and it didn't even occur to me until months later that people would see "taking time off" as an "embarrassed euphemism" rather than something good.

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#94

Post by Puer »

desdiv wrote: post #91

What do you guys think of the idea of companies giving their employees the option of taking (up to) one year long unpaid sabbaticals? It would cost the company next to nothing, and it would be a preferable alternative to the employee quitting due to stress or burnout. For the employee it significantly lowers their risk of unemployment. They can either 1. go to a better company, or 2. return to their old company. In t…

In what world would that cost the company "next to nothing"??? That person isn't going to be working for a year. The company either needs to hire someone else to replace them, which is an expensive process, or lose the productivity for that position for a year.

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#95

Post by bitexploder »

sizzle wrote: post #88
Cursuviam wrote: post #46

I've been treating my sabbatical time post graduation as basically summer vacation and honestly, it's been pretty nice. For the past 4 years, I've been researching, in school, or working an internship, so I haven't had a period of time to just be carefree for quite sometime. I'm very happy right now, but mostly that's because I have a roommate who's unemployed right now, so most of the time I'm not alone in the house…

1%'er you say? You've piqued my interest, mind sharing what your family did to get there? Can anyone guess how many 1%'ers are on HN?

By household income any couple with google type jobs should be 1%. It is obviously going to be high. What is the interest for there?

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#96

Post by bitexploder »

lovelearning wrote: post #72

A "gap" seems to be almost like a crime no tech worker should dare do. I have seen otherwise rational coworkers reject resumes only for having a "gap". Most want to relax, but the same people also punish those who do just that. I thought it was a quirk of the society I live in, but from comments here, it looks like it's the norm in all countries.

We give our employees time to take sabbaticals. One person took 6 weeks and hiked the El Camino trail in Spain. We actually have to encourage people to take time off :)

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#97

Post by CydeWeys »

09bjb wrote: post #79
lovelearning wrote: post #72

A "gap" seems to be almost like a crime no tech worker should dare do. I have seen otherwise rational coworkers reject resumes only for having a "gap". Most want to relax, but the same people also punish those who do just that. I thought it was a quirk of the society I live in, but from comments here, it looks like it's the norm in all countries.

This is the kind of mindset that discourages people from taking healthy risks. There are any number of legitimate ways to explain a gap, such as, "No, I was not actually playing video games and surfing reddit the entire time! I actually wanted to invest more time in ____. Can I share with you what I learned?" Disclaimer: my CV has often been a horrendous mess of 3-6 month "gaps" (during which time I learned many of m…

You can easily eliminate every gap up to 12 months and some gaps up to 23 months simply by omitting months on your resume. Quit job A in January and joined job B in December of the next year? 2011-2013 at Job A, 2014-Present at Job B! Solved!

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#99

Post by humbleMouse »

bitexploder wrote: post #96
lovelearning wrote: post #72

A "gap" seems to be almost like a crime no tech worker should dare do. I have seen otherwise rational coworkers reject resumes only for having a "gap". Most want to relax, but the same people also punish those who do just that. I thought it was a quirk of the society I live in, but from comments here, it looks like it's the norm in all countries.

We give our employees time to take sabbaticals. One person took 6 weeks and hiked the El Camino trail in Spain. We actually have to encourage people to take time off :)

6 weeks isnt a sabbatical. Thats a normal vacation in europe.

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#100

Post by desdiv »

Puer wrote: post #94
desdiv wrote: post #91

What do you guys think of the idea of companies giving their employees the option of taking (up to) one year long unpaid sabbaticals? It would cost the company next to nothing, and it would be a preferable alternative to the employee quitting due to stress or burnout. For the employee it significantly lowers their risk of unemployment. They can either 1. go to a better company, or 2. return to their old company. In t…

In what world would that cost the company "next to nothing"??? That person isn't going to be working for a year. The company either needs to hire someone else to replace them, which is an expensive process, or lose the productivity for that position for a year.

I apologize if my suggestion was stupid. I'm just trying to get a discussion started here, that's all.

It would cost the company next to nothing, in my view, because the steps the company has to take is almost exactly the same:

1. Employee quits. Company immediately looks for a replacement. One year down the road, when the company is expanding, they have to look for another worker.

2. Employee goes on sabbatical. Company immediately looks for a replacement. One year down the road, when the company is expanding, they first contact the sabbatical guy if they want to come back, and if not they have to look for another worker.

In scenario 1, the company pays for the cost of two hirings with 100% certainty. In scenario 2, worst case the company pays for the cost of two hirings; best case the company only pays for one.

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