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Voluntary leave / Sabbatical

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  • 29-04-2009 10:49am
    #1
    jells bells
    Closed Accounts Posts: 49 ✭


    I work for a small company (five professional level staff; two part-time in admin) and we’ve been hit hard the past six months. We all took 20% pay cuts back in November; one colleague has been made redundant and then hired back as a part-time consultant two days a week. Two other colleagues were officially given notice but are still working months on…I’m not sure what arrangement was struck with them/the boss or why they are still around (communication is very poor in our office despite our small size!).

    I found out last week that my project has been shelved until September. For months it was the only income generating project in the office, so I had felt a degree of security relatively speaking. Chances are good that the project will resume as intended in September. It is also expected that at least one new project will materialise around that time.

    So I am considering offering to my boss that I take voluntary leave for the summer. Financially I could handle it as I’m single with no dependents or debts and I’ve always been a good saver. I already have three weeks booked off in June for a family holiday, so intend to offer to take off July and August with no pay. Here’s my rationale for the idea:
    • Take some pressure off of the company payroll while waiting for my project to resume/new work to come in
    • Wouldn’t put my boss into a position he doesn’t want to be in…I know that he doesn’t want to fire me…have been a valuable and well-liked employee for five years and we work together better than anyone else in the office
    • Perhaps give another day or two to my colleague made part-time (he’s got a wife and two kids to support)

    From a personal perspective I could travel (I never took extended time to travel while in my late teens/early 20s…I’m now 32). I also have a stress-related illness that was under control until the past few months when the indecision on work security aggravated it again.

    I suppose I’m just looking for advice on whether this seems to be a good idea or not. Are there obvious pitfalls that I’m not seeing? I appreciate that I may come back in September and there indeed isn’t work for me so I would likely face redundancy, though that would be the case whether I take voluntary leave or not. I also know that if work comes in during the summer it may go to my colleague, thereby bumping me out of line for the work (it would surely go to me if we were both available) and perhaps reducing the need for me come September.

    Thoughts?? Any insight or personal experiences would be much appreciated. Many thanks for reading and sorry for the length!


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