Ask the expert: How to gain time for sabbatical

Q: What's your view on the value of sabbaticals? I know they are common in the academic world, but seem rather rare in the commercial one.

I work in a successful company which is in the business of intellectual capital, but it has no policy or precedent on sabbaticals. I think I have a long-term future here but I will need a break and some other perspectives from time to time if I'm going to stay in top form, and four weeks' annual leave a year just won't do that.

I would like to think that if I were to suggest six months of unpaid leave to study or whatever, that I wouldn't be greeted with horror. I could just leave when I wanted to do other things, but given that I am happy here, that doesn't look to me like a win-win situation.

A: Sabbaticals are part of some personnel policies internationally - and were mandatory in some IT companies in the 80s and 90s - but are much rarer than they are in universities (although sabbaticals are losing ground there as well).

The benefits of sabbaticals resides in the opportunity to gain expertise that isn't available locally and establish a wide network of knowledge and resources, as well as gaining fresh insights that you can bring back to your present position.

The costs to the organisation are the loss of your time and effort during the period you are away.

Your interest seems to stem from a need for a longer break than four weeks' annual leave, and fresh perspectives to enliven your work situation. These are two distinct issues. Increasingly, employers are negotiating the purchase of additional holiday time by employees.

If you are prepared to forgo some earnings in exchange for additional holiday time, it may be in your employer's interest as well. For the majority of knowledge workers and professionals, productivity and time are not directly linked, so both employers and employees can benefit from a reduced number of work weeks.

In view of growing concerns about stress in the workplace, additional leave provisions may make sense in terms of employee wellness.

Fresh perspectives and additional stimulus is closer to what sabbaticals have been traditionally structured to provide.

But they don't have to be six months long to be effective, and they don't have to be seen purely as personal development.

Secondment to customers or suppliers provides a very different perspective, and benefits you and both organisations.

Short-term intensive courses that increase your skills and connect you with colleagues from other industries may have the same impact.

Large organisations may also provide the option of projects or transfers in other divisions, or in other locations. Look for an experience that is a reasonable length of time, and provides benefit to both you and your organisation, and you may get a warmer reception for your proposal.

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Q: I know some staff are more high-maintenance than others, but I've got one who is so seeking of my time - and so oblivious to conversational cues that mean "now isn't the right time" - that I am finding myself getting increasingly irritable with her, to the point that when I see her approaching I have to suppress the urge to run!

A: To the extent that you are always available, you may be reinforcing this behaviour. The next time she comes to see you, you can comment that she seems to need to see you quite a bit, and that you both obviously have a lot of work to do.

Have your diary at the ready, and set up an agreed meeting time - when it is not detracting from your best work time - several times a week.

Then tell her you will see her then, not now. Stand up, and if she doesn't leave your area, you should.

If she approaches you at other times than those scheduled, look at your watch and tell her to write it down for your next meeting, and - once again - leave if she doesn't take the non-verbal hint.

You can begin your meeting at the designated time by asking her to review the questions that she has had in between the meetings, many of which should have resolved themselves.

After a week or two, suggest that you decrease the number of meetings, and keep working at it until she is able to manage her job without constant reference to you, and you are able to see her in your vicinity without a feeling of dread.

If she resolves an issue, but does it in a way that is not the way you would have, make sure that you do not criticise her choices (or you are only reinforcing that she should check with you on everything).

If you want her to be independent of you, you have to reinforce that she can solve her own problems.

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