SABBATICAL POLICIES AND TURNOVER INTENTIONS: A FIVE-YEAR COHORT STUDY OF SENIOR KNOWLEDGE WORKERS

Abstract

This paper analyses the effects that sabbatical leave policy has on senior leave intentions of knowledge workers on high skilled sectors, IT, healthcare, and academia. The most important goal is to understand whether these policies have the potential to decrease the turnover intentions through the alleviation of burnout and work-life balance enhancement. A cohort study was done which was spread out over five years and 500 senior knowledge workers were surveyed. SEM was employed to evaluate the nature of the correlation between sabbatical and turnover intentions, and especially what factors mediated them. Findings showed the number of expected turnover intentions to be reduced by 15 percent in case of implementing the sabbatical policies. The two major mediators of this effect were improvement of work-life balance (beta = -0.45, p < 0.05) and reduction of burnout (beta = -0.32, p < 0.05). This result indicates that sabbatical leave can be of great value in retaining the employees especially in the high-stress situations. The paper notes the significance of the sabbatical leave policies as a retention mechanism in industries where the concept staff burnout and work-life imbalance are the norm. Contributing to the increased knowledge of the potential of sabbatical to enhance working conditions and decrease the turnover rate, the research is relevant to the overall knowledge regarding the impact of sabbatical.