Witness the evolution of the workforce as the 'Great Resignation' transforms into the 'Great Sabbatical'. Explore the reasons behind this shift, its implications, and how it's reshaping the professional landscape. A deep dive into the changing dynamics of employment awaits.
A growing number of American workers are choosing to take time off to do nothing at all-at least for a little while.
According to DJ DiDonna, a co-founder of The Sabbatical Project, data from the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) shows that sabbaticals have tripled in the past four years in large part due to COVID-19
- The pandemic is forcing people to make a change and to think about life and about themselves in a way they probably wouldn’t have ever done normally
Sabbaticals are not a cure-all
DiDonna and his research team noted that many of the interview subjects described their mid-career sabbaticals as “one of the best things they have ever done”
- However, he warned that even extended breaks from office life may not fundamentally alter behavioral approaches to work.
- “You can change yourself a little bit, but it’s really about understanding better who you are”
Take a Sabbatical
Many times over the course of our lives when sabbaticals can be especially beneficial
- Before college or grad school, while building families in our 30s and 40s, after moments of great loss, in pre- or early-retirement, and, more generally
- Kristi Andrus quit her high-profile job as a director of network distribution at HBO, where she had spent 13 years and led a billion-dollar account
- For two years, Andrus and her family hit the road and lived off their savings while she began charting a course for the future
This uptick in mid-career breaks over the last few years has inspired hospitality industry veteran Chip Conley, founder of Joie de Vivre hotels and former global head of hospitality and strategy at Airbnb, to create long-stay “sabbatical sessions” at his Modern Elder Academy in Baja California.
There’s a real need for us, as a society, to ask the question: If we’re living longer and people are working for longer, how do we still have relevance in an increasingly digital society?
- Why is it that we don’t have midlife wisdom schools? Why don’t we have a place where people can go and reimagine and repurpose themselves?”
