“I need fallow.” This is how Pablo Alborán announced a temporary pause in his career last year. A track that has now been followed by the musical group Vetusta Morla: “We move away to strengthen ourselves”, and which has been echoed in recent days by Ana Mena: “I have put the brakes on to breathe” and Lola Índigo: “I am mentally exhausted”. Taking a break for a few months, or even a sabbatical, is a trend that is taking root in the world of work. Workers ask their companies for time. “A global and unstoppable movement that is shattering the established work model. We are moving towards hyper-personalization of the employee. And this will happen,” predicts ManpowerGroup general manager of talent, Orestes Wensell. According to a Worldatwork report, 27% of global organizations already offer unpaid sabbaticals (up from 18% in 2016), and 10% pay for them.
With the engagement rate dropping to 21%, according to the Nailted platform’s 2025 Employee Experience survey, “incorporating sabbaticals can be a tool for cohesion and a powerful form of loyalty,” says Cristina Orejas, director of legal employment and human resources at Grant Thornton Spain. Although he warns: “As long as it is managed with clarity, fairness and strategic vision. It’s not a question of leaving, but of coming back better.” Which, according to the directive, poses a challenge for human resources departments. “Not just by authorizing them. Their legal and organizational impact must be managed and these benefits must be provided with a solid legal structure, since they have no legal regulation and could generate internal conflicts. Comparative complaints, claims for discrimination or alteration of working conditions.”
In Spain, IBM is the leading company with its sabbatical plan so that the employee can dedicate this time to rest or personal projects, receiving 35% of his salary. Hiscox has also incorporated the Sabbatical program which allows workers, with five years of service, to enjoy a four-week paid leave, without being limited to a single occasion. “It is an opportunity to unplug, enjoy the family and dedicate time to new purposes. Also to recharge energy and motivation”, underlines Nerea de la Fuente, undersigned director of Hiscox Iberia, who enjoyed a break of almost three months “combining two sabbaticals with three weeks of vacation, which I took advantage of to travel with my family to Canada”. And it encourages more companies to implement it because “it strengthens the relationship with the company and the organizational culture and really makes a difference”. A proposal that Alfonso Jiménez, partner of the Essex Avenue studio, supports: “I advise companies to offer these breaks, even a sabbatical, if they don’t want to lose talent forever.”
Cultural change
“These formulas, which reflect a cultural change at work, allowing breaks to rethink one’s professional career, take care of mental health or train, will increase,” predicts Jiménez. They are successful formulas for retaining even the most technical profiles that are not abundant on the market. Meta is another company following the path. It has the Recharge program, a 30-day paid leave for employees with five years of seniority. A break that the technology company Alan extends for a month and a half. Although the employee can extend it for up to six months without pay. “We evaluate case by case, evaluating high performance and productivity. The absent employee must leave everything organized so that the team does not take over his work”, underline sources from the institution. And they point out: “There are those who go to Indonesia to surf or to the Alps to ski, dedicate themselves to a gardening project or create craft workshops”.
There are professionals who go further and leave their company permanently to take a break. Stopping machines is a growing trend among executives and managers with stressful careers and good savings, especially in the technological and financial fields. It is not uncommon to read on your Linkedin profile: Professional rest.
Domingo Barroso left the Fidelity fund manager “with a good cushion. I took a few months to thank life for everything it gave me. I had to enjoy my family. And I dove into Indonesia”. While he acknowledges that “several companies have reached out to him,” he plans to extend his hiatus for now. Ana Rivero, Investment and ESG Director for Europe at Santander AM, also decided to “pause the whirlwind of everyday life” after leaving the bank. He was doing very well in business development and team management. However, “taking on corporate responsibilities was too much and not what I wanted,” he admits. After a six-month break “to rebuild my mind, travel, read and follow my favorite music groups in Europe”, she returned to the arena as an operating partner of the Alantra fund and a member of the investment advisory board of the Calouste Goulbenzian Foundation. But Rivero warns: “Pausing your career means you will come back.” And to do this “you need to be sure that your personal and professional background as well as your network of contacts allow it”. In the case of architect Arancha Riestra, who “worked in London and traveled extensively,” the break motivated her “to try to become a mother after repeated miscarriages.” A year and a half later and with twins, “I came back as a fintech entrepreneur,” she says.
Natalia López, after eight years as general director of the technology company The Trade Desk, has decided to take a sabbatical to “rest and thoroughly study the possibilities of artificial intelligence”. He is not worried about returning or which country to practice his profession in “because there are always places in the digital field”. The same as the engineer Santiago Prada. After eight years in a start-up, «for which we raised 30 million euros and invoiced another 10», his request for connection seven days a week left him «without energy». He decided to take a break. With “very comfortable” financial support, he tries to “rest, live and go out on his motorbike to find peace of mind”. We’ll be back. “This is what the technology offers,” he says. “I will renovate it to set up a new environment with a product that excites me,” he concludes.
Trend between SMEs and start-ups
SMEs e start-ups They join the staff break bandwagon to empathize with young employees or because their business falls into sensitive sectors where “transmitting empathy, tranquility and positivity to the customer represents a high percentage in the good performance of one’s service”. This is what the owner of the Natividad Lorenzo clinic that bears her name says: “If I detect an employee with little energy and not at 100%, we discuss the case and I have no problem granting her days off. Even if this requires a reorganization of shifts and, at times, an extension of my working day, the team transmits care and sensitivity if they feel it is so”, she underlines.
