Love your career but feeling worn out and in need of a reset? Or perhaps you couldn’t afford a gap year in your early 20s, and now you want the chance to go swimming with manta rays, attend a silent retreat or try interrailing, while still having the security of a job to come back to? You might want to consider a sabbatical.

An extended pause from work, 71% of people in the UK said they would consider taking one if it was an option. And some of us are in desperate need of a break from constant Slack alerts and Team calls. A recent survey of over 1,000 UK employees and HR managers found that four in five workers say workplace burnout has had an impact on their health and wellbeing.

There are benefits of sabbaticals for employers too. Poor employee mental health costs UK employers around £56 billion per year. As Amber O’Brien, founder and lead training consultant at Headworks, a workplace mental health training and consulting company puts it: “Giving employees the chance for a break can greatly reduce the risk of things like high turnover and sickness absences, so employers are more likely to keep hold of their people.”

Those who do get the opportunity to take some time away, see the benefits. “Travelling to places like Costa Rica, Panama and India on sabbatical taught me so much about my life, why I’d made certain decisions and how they no longer served me,” recalls Lucy. “I realised I’d always been pushing myself into a workaholic state, trying to prove my worth by overachieving.” The experience led to her making a complete U-turn in her career path, leaving her job as a management consultant to retrain as a hypnotherapist.

For others, some respite helped them return with renewed enthusiasm for their existing career. After several years of working non-stop at her not-for-profit role, Neena was desperate for some time out. “When I came back from three months off, I felt excited about going into the office again for the first time in years,” she says.

But what’s the best way to go about approaching your work for a sabbatical without losing ground in your career? Stylist spoke to the experts to get their take.

If you’re lucky, your place of work may already have a scheme in place for sabbaticals. Organisations such as Deloitte, the NHS and Tesco publish details of their programmes, so it’s easy to check your eligibility and what the requirements for putting in a request are. 

However, it’s worth scrutinising the small print. Although returning to the same job and salary level may be guaranteed, some companies will reserve the right to switch the team you work in or the specifics of your job role on your return. “Open discussions with your boss before you go will mean you have no nasty surprises to come back to,” advises Mhairi Todd, founder of Revolve Coaching.

For smaller organisations, there may be no policies to check. Every employee in the UK has the right to request flexible working arrangements, but that doesn’t mean your workplace has to say yes. If your contract or employee handbook doesn’t mention anything specific, career coach Florence Weber-Zuanigh of Diversity In The Boardroom suggests having a quiet word with a colleague who has managed to get one in the past to quiz them on how they approached it. “There are often unwritten rules around when and how companies would accept such a request, so you might as well get it right from the get-go,” she explains.

Once you’ve done due diligence on your company’s history and policies, it’s time to prepare for the meeting with your boss. According to Ben Reeve, travel blogger and founder of The Sabbatical Guide, it can help your argument to demonstrate the benefits to the company. That could be as simple as you returning fully refreshed and ready to be more productive in your career. Or it could be the chance to give a more junior colleague the opportunity to take on more responsibility and step up in their role.

Emphasising your commitment is important too, advises Ben: “I’ve been clear this isn’t about me running away or escaping; it’s about wanting to build a broader set of experiences into my life. My last sabbatical came about six months after my dad had a nasty bike injury, and I realised some of the experiences I wanted might not be available to me forever, so I made this point to my boss – that it was about me fulfilling life goals, not because I was unhappy at work”.

Getting the timing right is also crucial. You can make it easier for your manager to say yes by showing them you’ve thought carefully about when would best suit them for you to go. “Don’t try to take the end of the financial year off if you’re an accountant,” he says. “And offer to help them find the solution to covering you, such as training up one of your team”. 

Before you know it, the time will come to say goodbye to the full-moon parties and volcano hikes, and you’ll be back at your desk. But don’t be surprised if this results in an adjustment period. It’s extremely common for people to have a confidence knock, or even feel a level of imposter syndrome when they return from time off, says Ed Johnson, CEO of PushFar, a mentoring and career progression platform. In his experience, finding a mentor to help you through the transition can be a great way to increase your self-assurance, as this will provide you with a champion who can offer expert guidance to help you navigate the adjustment.

You might also want to avoid regaling colleagues with too many tales from your travels. “When I return, I try not to talk about the sabbatical too much and distract other people. Just get straight on with the job,” suggests Ben.

Daydreaming about enjoying an Aperol spritz on a balcony in Florence or lying on a beach in Bali is one thing, but going for it is another entirely. If you’re feeling guilty about asking for time away, Amber has some words of encouragement

“I’d always say, treat yourself with the same compassion you would a friend in the same position,” she tells us. “Would you tell them they don’t deserve a break? Probably not! You have a body and mind to take care of – if you feel like you need to get away, then you probably do. There’s absolutely no shame in that. Identifying your needs and making them clear is a real strength.”

Images: Getty; Unsplash