General Mills’ Two-Pronged Approach to Sabbaticals

Instead of only one sabbatical program, why not two? General Mills offers its employees:

A personal sabbatical. After seven years of service, employees who have at least a “satisfactory” performance rating can apply to take an unpaid leave of 4-12 weeks to go and do whatever they need or desire to do. Individuals must apply at least three months in advance so that proper work coverage can be planned.

An “Innovation Sabbatical”. After seven years of service, high potentials and/or high performing employees may apply to take a paid leave of up to six months to go and do something (i.e. research) that allows them to bring new ideas and new innovation back to the organization.

I spoke with General Mills’ VP of HR, Sandy Ohlsson, who designed the two programs for the company. After several months of research and gathering benchmarking data, the company decided on their two-pronged approach. The personal sabbatical rolled out last year, and the innovation one is being piloted this year in the organization’s technology group and will be rolled out organization-wide in 2009.

The personal sabbatical is intentionally “reason-blind,” Sandy says. “We want people to feel totally okay requesting the time off, without feeling like they have to justify it. Our overall objective with that sabbatical program was retention, so we felt that it was very important for us to give people a chance to do whatever it is they want to do – recharge their batteries, spend a summer with their children, or hike the Himalayas – without having to leave the company altogether.”

The Innovation Sabbatical, on the other hand, was designed to reinforce a cultural message within General Mills. “Innovation is a very critical strategic thrust within our organization,” Sandy says. Upon return from an Innovation Sabbatical, employees are expected impart to their colleagues the knowledge they’ve gained.

With both sabbatical programs, the break from day-to-day work is key. “We perceive taking a break as a contribution to this organization, because we believe that people who are energized, recharged and feeling great about the company will be better performers.”

Hats off to General Mills. No wonder the company is on the 2007 “100 Best Companies to Work For” list. Does anyone know of other companies that offer more than one kind of sabbatical?