Congrats to the mom and daughter power-team of Barbara and Elizabeth Pagano. They’ve launched yourSABBATICAL to help employers treat their workers to time off—and help those staffers create a valuable experience. The site offers great references, inspiration, and advice. (Send a link to YOUR HR supervisor!) And they’re already generating some momentum and press.
The Paganos practice what they preach. In fact, their Big Idea came sailing along when they took a 6-month voyage together—a life-changing BreakAway; they never looked back and, in fact, recently won a “Moving into the Future Award.”
They point out several signs of hope for those of us preaching the Gospel of Sabbatical:
- Fast-food giant McDonald’s has had a sabbatical program since the 60s.
- Last year, 15 of the companies on Fortune’s Best 100 Companies to Work For offered sponsored sabbaticals; this year it’s up to 19.
- And finally, this happy stat: “The Families and Work Institute’s 2008 National Study of Employers found that 24% of small businesses and 14% of large companies allow employees to take sabbaticals (paid or unpaid of six months or more).”
I tip my hat to these two savvy women, and hope they can bring life-changing work-life balance improvements to countless companies and their employees.
