After every 5 years of working at Popular Pays, employees are encouraged to take two months (8 contiguous weeks) paid sabbatical.
During this sabbatical, they should work on passion projects -- something outside the scope of their normal work that is interesting and exciting to them.
The sabbatical should be a time of self-improvement and exploration with a central activity or theme. At the end of the sabbatical, we'd like the employee to show the team about what they did on their sabbatical and present it once their back in the office.
The sabbatical is meant to recognize that we all need a break and some space to keep growing, and that we rarely truly catch time for deep thought even during the 1-2 weeks we normally take off during the year. It may also help some employees avoid burnout from working on one thing for too long.
To make sure that sabbatical is not overly disruptive to their team, employees should have taken fewer than twelve weeks of paid time off in the year before a sabbatical. They should also notify the team that they will be taking the sabbatical at least 8 weeks in advance.
There is an expectation that employees return to work at Popular Pays after their sabbatical, and not use it as a soft exit from the company. We may set something up enforce this later.
Paid time off of any kind, including Sabbatical, does not accrue additional paid time off in the form of vacation days, sick days, or time towards sabbatical.