Sabbaticals and Fractional Experts Can Offer a Solution

The Problem

Businesses are losing key senior staff due to the unprecedented challenges from the impacts of the pandemic, combined with challenging economic pressures and geopolitical instability.  Executive’s mental health and work-life balance are at risk as they plough on with trying to do more with less, resulting in burnout . Studies from AXA UK and Centre of Economic and Business Research estimated that 23.3 million working days have been lost which is costing the UK economy an estimated  £28bn as a result of these added pressures. 

Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, stated recently that Labour markets are tight across advanced economies, not only due to strong labour demand after the pandemic, but also due to those who have “changing preferences”. Those preferences are likely to be less about remuneration and more about a culture which supports work-life balance. According to a Deloitte survey of 2,100 employees and C-level executives across four countries (USA, UK, Canada, and Australia) nearly 70% of the C-suite were seriously considering moving to organisations that better supported their well-being. The 2023 KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit Report found 70% of female executives attribute higher stress in the workplace due to increased workloads and expectations.

Unless boards knuckle down and address underpinning policies of culture, organisation capacity and the blend of senior staff contracts on offer, these aforementioned issues will continue to grow. Often vicious cycles of reduction in skills retention combined with a weaker proposition to attract new talent can result. There are however two simple and effective actions to get ahead of this curve –  sabbaticals and fractional roles. 

Sabbaticals

A recent Harvard Business Review on sabbaticals reported that businesses offering staff the security of taking time out from their role for a capped period of time to decompress from burnout, rekindle important relationships, pursue a lifelong dream or achieve a specific personal goal can be a very attractive part of an employment package. There are risks that employees will not return to the business, nor wish to return to the role they left, but this can be mitigated by ensuring that sabbaticals are not the last resort for staff at the point of burnout. Sabbatical policies can be an attractive solution, and easy to implement, when the costs of losing key strategic skills, recruitment and temporary role cover are taken into consideration. Often they can catalyse succession planning and allow those who step in temporarily to the role to learn new skills and gain confidence.  

However, many organisations have a long way to go according to a survey from the Society for Human Resource Management which showed that only 11% of employers have a policy for unpaid sabbaticals and 5% for paid sabbaticals. This appears to still be a privileged opportunity which could therefore lead to further inequality in the business culture if not balanced and offered more widely across the business and integrated into its culture.

Fractional Experts

Contracting with experienced senior professionals who can operate in strategic roles on a part-time, or project basis, can be a proactive solution to burnout. They can bring a good practical balance between an advisor, interim and consultant. The benefits are affordable, flexible support for peaks and troughs in the annual calendar or simply taking the pressure off an exhausted leader for a set time or specific objective.

However fractional contracts are typically based on 1-2 days per week, per client, and therefore a disciplined approach to gaining access to their availability, setting deliverables and communicating their role in the business is a must.

Conclusion

New ways of approaching staff retention and wellbeing are now vital to forge ahead and sustain competitive edge. Sabbaticals and fractional staff policies can offer a combination of prevention and cure and create differentiation for employee packages.

Boards will benefit by encouraging a culture of funding extra resources during heavy workload phases and sabbaticals. Training executive teams on the benefits of sabbaticals to maintain creativity, confidence, motivation and leadership may be what the “differentiation” doctor ordered.