I have read several articles in biz magazines over the past year or so talking about sabbaticals. Other than MM, I have not heard of any well-known companies who do this regularly.I know of several other companies that do this - but unless you scour their HR web pages or they have high-profile bloggers, you just don't hear of it. For example, check out sabbatical details with Adobe, Electronic Arts, LSI Logic, SeaChange International...
[snip]Well, I've already blogged roughly what I'll be doing. A week's complete wind-down, two weeks doing stuff around the house that's been piling up while I've been too busy working and three weeks on and off in the company of my mother and her fiancé when they come over to visit.Another suggestion. It would be very interesting to hear how Ben and Sean approach the day-to-day and week-to-week balancing of their time during the sabbatical. My wife is an academic, so I know lots of folks who take sabbaticals. Having a fulfilling time off that balances personally-enriching, non-regular-job-related work with relaxation seems to be the trickiest part. I'd love to hear Ben and Sean's take on it.
In between times, I'll probably do a little work on CFEclipse and maybe a little work on Fusebox and a few other technical side projects that normally don't get high enough up my priority list.
Enjoy!
I want my own! ;)
Laterz!
PS - Yeah, I really DO want to hear about yours.
Do you have to justify your sabbatical or is eligibility solely based on how long you have been with Macromedia? I know academic sabbaticals are supposed to be for the purpose of conducting research or to work on a book.
I hope you have a great time!
Ray
Is the Fusebox work on a need to know basis, or can you share?
At the time I took my sabbatical, we were allowed to save up vacation time. I had 6 weeks of vacation saved up, so I tacked on 4 weeks of vacation onto the 6 week sabbatical and cashed in the other two weeks of vacation to pay for the trip. I ended up backpacking around London and Scotland for 6 weeks and spending another 4 at home.
About 4 years after taking the sabbatical, Apple canceled the benefit. I know of several individuals who actually quit the company because they had put a significant amount of time in, only to be denied what they had been promissed when they joined.
Roger, re: Fusebox. I don't know whether the topic has been discussed outside a small group so I don't know how much I can say about it.
