In 2019, we launched sabbaticals at Buffer. The idea is to reward long-tenured teammates and invite them to take a well-earned break from work. Most professionals have to depart their jobs to take a break longer than a typical one- or two-week trip. Sabbaticals enable teammates to take that break and return to Buffer, refreshed and recharged. That is one in all our most cherished advantages because of this.

When a teammate reaches 5 years with us, they’re eligible to take this fully-paid six-week sabbatical from their work, which they’ll use for journey, a facet undertaking, or just for relaxation and household time. It begins as a six-week break, but when teammates delay their sabbatical by a yr or two, then they’ll add one other week to the break per yr delayed, with the sabbatical capped at eight weeks complete.

However what occurs when somebody on the staff is eligible for a sabbatical however they don’t get to make use of it earlier than their chapter at Buffer involves an finish? Possibly they discover a new function that’s a greater match, or perhaps it wasn’t understanding at Buffer and they’re let go. What occurs to their sabbatical time?

We’ve determined to pay out earned sabbatical time to any teammate who has an unused sabbatical.

This initially began in 2021, after we began paying out earned sabbatical time on prime of severance pay if a teammate was let go. We lately launched a brand new component to this — now we pay out earned sabbatical time even when a teammate leaves voluntarily.

Right here’s extra about why we’re paying out sabbaticals, what it seems to be like, and even what it prices.  

Why we’re paying out sabbaticals

The brief reply is that it seems like the proper factor to do.

Sabbaticals are earned by teammates who’ve been on the staff for 5 years — an extended tenure within the tech world! And it represents an enormous chunk of a profession. The sabbatical is a particular profit for that motive; it’s at present the one “perk” that applies solely to our long-tenured teammates. (Each different profit we provide kicks in inside the first month of a brand new teammate becoming a member of.)

It didn’t really feel proper to have somebody transfer on from Buffer having earned that profit with out with the ability to get pleasure from it.

Um, sabbaticals sound rad! Why would somebody delay it?

You could be questioning why we would want to pay out a sabbatical. Why wouldn’t teammates take their sabbaticals proper on the five-year mark? There are two causes:

1. A teammate would possibly delay their sabbatical previous the five-year mark due to private alternative. It might fall over a winter they usually’d fairly take the break day in the summertime, for instance. Or it might not be a handy time for a teammate for different private causes. Some people attempt to align their sabbaticals with their accomplice’s work schedules, or their youngsters’ faculty schedules.
2. Alternatively, a teammate might have delayed their sabbatical as a result of the five-year mark was not handy for Buffer. We’re nonetheless a small staff, so we ask space groups to rearrange their schedules such that just one teammate is out on sabbatical at a time. We additionally ask those that are planning sabbaticals to prepare round any household leaves that could be arising inside the area-level staff as properly. In spite of everything, household leaves can’t be delayed!

All that to say, there are numerous the explanation why somebody who’s at six- or seven-years tenured might not have taken a sabbatical. We don’t need teammates who select to depart to lose this well-earned thank-you from Buffer.

The advantages of paying out sabbaticals

There are two advantages we’ve seen with this new strategy.

First, it rewards and honors long-tenured teammates who select to depart with out taking their sabbatical. Typically teammates depart the workforce for private causes, or maybe they get an expert alternative that they’ll’t flip down. In any case, we are actually blissful to present this as a remaining thank-you for all the onerous work and years spent constructing Buffer.

Secondly, this additionally permits teammates to resign and transfer on as a substitute of taking their sabbatical on their manner out. Sabbaticals are supposed to be a season of relaxation for a teammate who plans to return to their function refreshed. We imagine on this deeply, nevertheless it does require some sacrifices from their teammates who tackle the additional work. If a teammate resigns shortly after sabbatical, the staff is compelled to start the method to rent their alternative or reorganize work many weeks later than they may have begun that course of, if that they had recognized it was not short-term. It’s a kindness for a teammate to easily resign as a substitute of delaying that work. This coverage permits teammates to do exactly that with out shedding this profit.

How sabbatical pay works in follow

“Sabbatical pay” is the complete quantity of what a teammate would have earned throughout their six to eight week sabbatical. This contains the teammate’s base wage, their dependent grant, and for a few of our longest tenured teammates, an additional wage increase that some selected in lieu of extra inventory choices. (You possibly can see our full wage method on our salaries page.)

When teammates depart Buffer for any motive with out utilizing their earned sabbatical, we embody this full sabbatical pay as a part of their remaining paycheck.

What does it value to pay out sabbaticals?

This can be a monetary enterprise, after all. Over the previous couple of years we’ve paid out 4 sabbaticals, and the typical sabbatical payout is $32,000. However we imagine it’s the perfect factor we are able to do to generously honor our tenured teammates who select to maneuver on from Buffer, in addition to to help the remainder of the staff who plan to remain.

Nonetheless, we’ve discovered that we don’t must explicitly funds for paying out sabbaticals. As our head of Finance defined it to me, the continuing value of that wage falls away on their final day, so we’re fronting their pay for just a few months. Even when we backfill the function in just a few months, it finally ends up being a web zero funds impression.

All in all, this permits us to remain true to our values and reward individuals who have invested a good portion of their careers into Buffer.