Sabbatical leaves of absence

The only place that I know of the Sabbatical being practiced is in Academia. University professors at research institutions are permitted to take a sabbatical once every seven years. During this time, they are paid a partial salary at some nominal level, but they are freed of their teaching and administrative responsibilities. Typically, during the year hiatus, the professor will engage in some kind of scholarly activity - writing a textbook, working at a government research lab, collaborating with other researchers in the field, etc. My Ph.D. adivsor spent part of his sabatical year doing research at a university in England, and the other part working at GM helping them with some of their drive-by-wire control algorithms. You can also get a visiting faculty appointment at NASA for a summer or for a year. Of course, some of these are paid positions, so between that and your university sabbitcal salary , you're hopefully making enough to cover your normal salary plus the additional expenses.

Of course, the purpose of this whole process is to broaden the experience of the professor, hopefully germinating some new ideas as well as creating opportunities for new sources of grant money in the future. You only get 4 (or 5 if you got your first faculty position early), so make the most of them.

Outside of academia, and a few other specialties, you just don't see sabbaticals.

Jam it back in, in the dark.