Quit, or take a career-change sabbatical?
May 27, 2018 12:59 AM   Subscribe

42 year old career burn-out would like to take some extended time out from my career. I have the option to take a work-sanctioned sabbatical (up to six months). Is this the best option for getting from A-B or should I just quit outright?

I am a tech professional with 15 years experience. My current job is the result of several reorgs at the company I've been at for around 5 years now. The last change brought in a whole new senior exec team and although I was able to stay, I was matched to a role that is not what I would have chosen, and considerably less scope than previous jobs.

I've always been pretty adaptable and I love my workplace's mission so really tried to embrace the situation (New skills! Fancy title with currency in the job market!) and am now a year in but the mis-match between the demands of the jobs and my actual interest in doing it got stressful pretty fast.

In the past I've just looked for another job if things were tanking so I polished up my CV, put it out and got a lot of bites. The issue is that I can't seem to get excited enough about them to follow up. Roles have gotten narrower and narrower in the last couple of years with an increasing demand for specialism - and I have no inclination or interest in the specialisms available. I'm also aware that renting in the high-cost city in which I currently live is not sustainable in the long-term, and tying myself into servicing a sky-high mortgage here is even less appealing.

So hopping to another job that I don't want in a city that I don't necessarily want to stay feels like too much like treading water at this point in my life. I really want to explore a bigger change. I would therefore like to invest some effort into hustling up a couple of new directions , but without tanking my future prospects. My husband is totally on board - I supported him during a career shift some years ago and he's happy to do the same whatever I choose now. We've no kids and decent short and long-term savings. I could live off my own savings for up to a year if need be.

I just don't know the best way to go about it.

Things I want to explore:

- Moving elsewhere in the next year. Hard to assess the genuine potential without being on the ground in a couple of potential locations for at least a couple of weeks, preferably a month. (Hub is also keen to leave current city).
- Taking classes through an accredited programme to help pivot my career to a different ( adjacent) field
- Resuming a creative practice I've neglected for the last ten years and want to get back into
- Having a breather from the 9-5

It seems like a sabbatical would allow me to do all of the above without officially being 'unemployed', which would take a lot of pressure off and prevent rushing into the next thing. However, the sabbatical is specifically a tool for retaining staff - and if any of the above came to anything at all I would be quitting sharpish anyway. I'm also worried that knowing I'll just be going back to the same job would hang so heavy over the whole plan that I'd have little incentive to see it through.

However quitting might make things precarious if anything else hit during this time, eg husband losing his job (extremely unlikely - he's public sector) or losing our current rental. I also don't know whether I'd deal well with being unemployed by design. I'm a worker/saver by nature.

Can anyone lend perspective? Is there another option I'm not seeing here? Thank you!
posted by anonymous to Work & Money (9 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'd takethe sabbatical, if for no other reason than you'll probably never have another chance for a break like that again.
posted by Violet Hour at 1:12 AM on May 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


I can't speak for other companies, but where I most recently worked 90% of the staff who too a sabbatical wound up quitting within 6 months of their return. It's an employee benefit; take it.
posted by rednikki at 4:14 AM on May 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Quit outright gets my vote. Your situation is about as good as it gets for making a sea change. Make a plan (with deadlines of course), and get to work on it. Reframe "I'm unemployed" as "This transition is my full time job." I'm betting you won't need the sabbatical safety net, and it will only tether you to your current situation. If disaster strikes, you can always skip to Plan Z - take one of those unexciting jobs that pays the bills. Good luck, go make your life fulfilling and rewarding.
posted by mama penguin at 4:48 AM on May 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Take the sabbatical. I also work for an organisation that offers sabbaticals and it's not uncommon for people to leave within a few months of coming back from one - it's seen as annoying, but it's understood as a cost of doing business rather than a major betrayal. It's met with roughly the same level of annoyance as people who resign the month after annual bonuses are paid out - not great, but not a permanent mark against the person's character or something that makes them automatically ineligible for rehire.
posted by terretu at 6:19 AM on May 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Take the sabbatical. I took a three month sabbatical recently and it was amazing. I was excited about my job again by the end of it.

I would take at least theee months, and probably all six. Don’t overschedule yourself for the first couple months. And make sure you actually disconnect completely. Don’t make any major decisions until you’ve had a couple months off.
posted by unix at 6:57 AM on May 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


I think it's perfectly ethical to use the sabbatical to figure out how to quit your job successfully.
posted by lazuli at 7:40 AM on May 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


Wow, am I you? Did i write this in my sleep? I logged in with my sockpuppet just to reply, and although i have no real advice, please know you are not alone in feeling all these things... except for the husband part, I literally could have written this myself. I'm leaning towards sabbatical myself, but that's mainly because i'm pretty risk-adverse in general and is in no way should that be considered a suggestion in either direction. Best of luck in figuring this out, i'm am so rooting for you!
posted by geek_with_socks at 7:42 AM on May 27, 2018


Take the sabbatical. Use the time to explore your options, especially the career-change one. Take a course, build your network, rest and recharge, and research. It's a great benefit and one people are intended to use. Look at what the structures and expectations are upon the end of the time period - do you have to make a contractual commitment to return afterward? Is there some kind of penalty if you don't? Do you have to agree to work a certain minimum amount of time after returning? Just find out what the specific structures are and how much freedom you might have to just not return, or how soon you can transition out according to policy.

And look at it this way. Sure, the company offers this with the idea that it will help engage employees and keep them excited about their work and help them retain good people. But on the other hand, if you are not going to be able to be enthusiastic and re-engaged about this narrower work, then it's possible your decision to depart as a result of your sabbatical activities will open up a space for someone who really does want to do your job - which is a win for the company in the end. So your sabbatical and eventual departure is an opportunity for the company and for the person who wants this role, as you move on to an advanced one that's more right for you. In the big picture, this is what professional development structures are supposed to accomplish. So don't even feel like it's the wrong thing to do. Just know what you have to agree to and be sure it's ok with you before committing.

IT's a pretty precious opportunity. If you quit, you will have no unemployment benefits and you'll immediately have to set up a budget for living between now and whenever you get a new job, and you don't know when that will be. It's a fairly anxious way to live. With a sabbatical, you have months of support where earning does not have to be on your mind, and you can focus on your personal and professional growth and your career goals. That's what it's for and you've earned it. Take it.
posted by Miko at 8:16 AM on May 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Definitely take the sabbatical. As others have said, it's a known thing that people often leave after their sabbatical. At my last job, which had a three-month sabbatical, people either came back ready to leave, or came back reinvigorated to stay. And for the people who leave - that's not necessarily a bad thing - I think employers look at it, yes, as a way to keep committed people loyal, but also as a way to move people along who are no longer a good fit.

An HR professional once told me that 10-12% annual turnover is optimal - not as a ceiling, but as a happy medium. Healthy workplaces understand that some level of turnover is going to happen.

And as for your worry that you won't work as hard on alternative plans if you know you have a job to go back to, you might be surprised. Six months is a long time. You'd be surprised at how quickly your current job stops taking up so much space in your brain after you've been gone a month or so. I would definitely suggest eschewing contact with work friends, etc. during this time though. And make sure you have some solid goals and plans in place.
posted by lunasol at 10:59 AM on May 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


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