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The benefits of professional sabbaticals

Shannon Johnstone
In this photo taken Dec. 4, 2013, Shannon Johnstone photographs a dog at the Wake County Animal Center in Raleigh, N.C. The North Carolina photographer on sabbatical from her job as an associate professor of art at Meredith College, received a grant for her "Landfill Dogs" project where she takes pictures of shelter dogs at a former landfill to help find homes for them.
Gerry Broome/AP

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Macalester College President Brian Rosenberg spent the fall semester on sabbatical in New York, Italy, and Sonoma, Calif. While sabbaticals are traditionally thought of as a traveling privilege for college professors, Rosenberg argued stepping away from your current work could be beneficial for others too.

He wrote a reflection on his experience for the Mac Weekly:

I am of course keenly aware that most people in most professions work their entire lives without having a sabbatical (helpfully reminded, from time to time, by my spouse). I feel most fortunate to have had this gift of freedom. I wish our society embraced the understanding that we would collectively be healthier and more productive if more people were granted a similar gift. Many Europeans, for instance, seem to regularly incorporate a sabbatical into their working lives. They call it "August." And yes, they do seem to undermine the notion that sabbaticals and productivity are directly correlated, but I am convinced nonetheless that there can be a happy middle ground between the American--particularly the male American-- pride in working to exhaustion and the Italian custom of the three-hour lunch.

Major corporations like Intel, American Express, and General Mills routinely allow partially paid sabbaticals. Even Gawker Media - formerly known for their "permalancer" practices- has a sabbatical policy.

Vipin Goyal, who founded his business SideTour after taking a six-month sabbatical, and yourSABBATICAL.com Co-Founder Elizabeth Pagano join The Daily Circuit to explore the validity of professional sabbaticals.