Considering Retiring? Try a Sabbatical Instead

When Amanda Schmutzler was director of patient services at Genentech, she went on a six-week, fully paid sabbatical that all full-time employees can take after six years of service. She and her husband, also a Genentech employee, moved from their San Francisco home to Martha's Vineyard, which was close to both of their large extended families. "We parked ourselves in a big beach house and let everyone come to us, as we had an infant and a toddler at the time," Schmutzler recalls. "It was really an opportunity to decompress and reconnect with family and friends." That was in 2008.

Eight years later, they both became eligible for another sabbatical, so they took the whole family up and down the East Coast, visiting relatives. Their sabbatical culminated in a two-week trip to Portugal, while their children stayed with grandparents. At Genentech, no one really begrudges you the