Typically sabbaticals are the domain of academic institutions and are a time for professional development and research. Yet why should they be confined to academia? Truth is many managers and business owners across every sector could benefit from a decent time away from their role and workplaces to refresh and regenerate; to upskill; to do research; to reflect on the workplace and things within it. Some large organisations have schemes that enable staff to take a reduced salary over a set number of years to have a chunk of paid future leave as a sabbatical. It is dependent upon a number of factors such as cover for someone when they're away etc but it can be worked out with advanced planning. However, it's not very common. It's unfortunate; it truly is, as people are living longer today than at any other time in the past and many people intend working well beyond traditional retirement or next life stage years, so the number of years people will be working for a living will increase also. The challenge for employers is to consider employee refreshment and rejuvenation opportunities as they may be needed throughout an employee’s working life.