Why We Created a Sabbatical Program

In 2017, I was driving home from work across Lake Washington when I had a realization that completely changed how I think about time away from work.

At the time, I was the COO of PayNW.

I had been with the company for seven years. We had grown from roughly $500,000 in revenue to around $7 million. It was an exciting season, but it was also exhausting.

Like many leaders in growing organizations, I had spent years saying yes.

Yes to the early mornings.

Yes to the late nights.

Yes to taking on just one more thing.

I was tired.

As I sat in traffic that afternoon, I found myself thinking about what would happen if I got into a serious car accident on the way home.

My team would rally around me. People would donate PTO. Coworkers would cover my responsibilities.

Friends would organize meals for my family.

No one would question whether I deserved the time away.

Then I had a second thought.

What if I got pregnant and had a baby?

The reaction would be similar. People would be excited for me. They would celebrate. They would happily step in and help while I was away.

And then I had a third thought.

What if nothing was wrong? 

What if I was simply tired?

Why was it acceptable to step away because of a major life event? But if someone was burned out, exhausted, or simply needed time to recharge, the expectation was often that they should keep pushing through.

That realization stuck with me.

So I started researching sabbatical programs. Eventually, I took the idea to our founder and CEO at the time, Mike Anderson. His response was immediate.

“Sounds like what you’re really saying is that you need a break.”

He was right. I absolutely needed a break. Then he said something else.

“If you need a sabbatical, just take one. We don’t need to create a company-wide program.”

But that did not feel right to me. Because if I needed a break after seven years, I could not possibly be the only one. So instead of asking for a sabbatical for myself, I asked if we could create a sabbatical program for everyone.

To his credit, he agreed.

The following year, I became the first employee at PayNW to take a sabbatical.

I stepped away for nearly two months. The time away was incredible. But the biggest surprise was what happened when I came back.

Like many people who grow alongside a company, I had accumulated responsibilities over the years that no longer belonged on my plate. As I prepared for sabbatical, I trained others to take over many of the tasks I handled every day. When I returned, my team and I used a simple test. If I had not come back, and we hired a new COO from outside the company, would that person be doing this task? If the answer was no, I did not take it back.

That one exercise permanently changed my role.

The sabbatical did not just give me a break. It helped me become a better leader.

Over the years, we discovered other benefits as well.

It became a powerful retention tool. Employees had something meaningful to look forward to after years of service.

It created development opportunities. Team members stepped into new responsibilities and learned skills they otherwise might never have had the chance to learn.

It improved cross-training. More people understood critical functions across the organization, making us stronger and more resilient.

And sometimes, fresh eyes improved processes that had gone unquestioned for years.

What started as a way to help employees recharge turned out to make the entire company better.

Today, I still believe the original question is the most important one.

Why do we so readily support people when life forces them to step away, but struggle to give them permission to step away before they reach that point?

Sometimes people do not need a crisis.

Sometimes they just need a break.

And sometimes giving people that opportunity is one of the best investments an organization can make.

Gratefully,