Sunday, September 20, 1998

What to do on a weeks-long sabbatical? Most veg out

By The Associated Press

Beazley Morris isn't planning any exotic travel or study during his sabbatical from work. He's hanging out with his 4-year-old twins.

"I'm sure that will be quite an education," the director of human resources at software maker Autodesk chuckles on the first day of his six-weeks paid time off. "I don't get to spend as much time with my children as I like."

Sabbaticals usually conjure up images of months spent burrowing in musty libraries or trudging through distant lands.

But with corporate sabbaticals often lasting little longer than a big vacation and workers exhausted from brutal hours, leave-takers have little time or inclination for adventure.

"People just want time to recenter themselves and think about something other than work," Morris says. "Putting a trip together oftentimes is stressful in and of itself."

The New York law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft just started giving associate lawyers a month off after five years with the firm. Any more time off, says Chairman Robert Link, and "they're going to get out of the flow."

A month, anyhow, is "substantial to get reacquainted with friends and family," he said.

Yet a short leave isn't much more than a vacation, argues David Sharp, co-author of "Six Months Off," a primer on taking sabbaticals.

"If companies want to give a perk, that will do it," says Sharp, who advises taking at least three months off. "But if you want to create a true sabbatical experience, where they come back with a completely new perspective on their jobs and lives, four to six weeks absolutely won't do it."

The first challenge for some workaholic souls, however, is actually taking the time off.

Kurt Bleicken, president of GreenPages in Kittery, Maine, recently began allowing employees at his 6-year-old software company to take six weeks after five years service. But he hasn't found the time to take his break.

"Things are so jumping right now," he laments. "I haven't had time to plan it out."