We were fascinated by a detail in this article in Yahoo! Finance Canada about the benefits of sabbaticals.  Following the story of an employee of Canadian electric utility B.C. Hydro who offers its employees “self-funded leave lasting from six months to one year,” author Gail Johnson describes how numbers of employers offering unpaid sabbaticals are higher in Canada than in the United States. 

According to a 2006 study by Hewitt Associates’ HR Consulting Services, 44 per cent of Canadian companies surveyed offer an unpaid sabbatical, and an additional 12 per cent offer paid sabbaticals.

This is compared to 16 per cent of employers in the United States offering unpaid sabbaticals, and 4 per cent offering paid sabbaticals.  But we believe the numbers of American companies offering sabbaticals is on the rise.  Check out our List of Organizations Who Get It to check out all the companies who already do!