At a Glance: What’s the business case for offering sabbaticals in consulting?
Oxalis’s “3 for 3” sabbatical program gives employees three fully paid weeks off after three years of service—with a full disconnect required. It’s helping prevent burnout, build resilience, reduce key-person risk, and shift the firm’s focus from hours worked to impact delivered.
As the CEO and founder of Oxalis, I know how intense our work can be. Consulting moves fast, the problems are complex, and people care—sometimes too much for their own good. Early on, I saw the signs of burnout in high performers, even those who genuinely love what they do. So we asked ourselves a simple question: what would it look like to give people real time to rest?
That question led us to create something we now call the “3 for 3” sabbatical program. The idea is simple: if you’ve been with us for three years full-time, you get three continuous, fully paid weeks off. You can add a week of PTO and turn it into a full month. But there are two non-negotiables: it has to be taken all at once, and you have to completely unplug—no emails, no Slack, no “quick questions.”
Why We Did It
The original goal was preventing burnout. Consulting firms, especially in the early years, often see high turnover around the 2–3 year mark. Some of that’s just career progression, but a lot of it comes down to exhaustion. The people who burn out are usually the ones who care the most—who push hard and rarely take a step back.
At Oxalis, our people are the business. If they’re burned out, the business suffers. If they’re rested and focused, we thrive. So we built a sabbatical program not as a perk, but as a tool to protect the long-term health of our team—and by extension, our company.
The Reality of Implementing It
Let’s be honest: implementing this in a consulting firm isn’t easy. The economics of professional services revolve around billable hours, utilization, and margin. Most firms talk about work-life balance, but everything in their model pushes the other way.
Even standard PTO can feel hard to take in this environment—so asking someone to take a month off? That’s a big ask. And not just from a planning standpoint—people don’t always want to disconnect. High performers often feel too responsible to step away. They worry things will fall apart, or that it sends the wrong message.
That’s why leadership has to set the tone. At Oxalis, we celebrate sabbaticals during team meetings. We encourage people to share what they did, what they learned, or how they spent their time. And we model it ourselves. If leaders don’t unplug, no one else will feel like they can.
“If your company can’t run without one person, that’s a risk. Sabbaticals help expose—and fix—that risk.”
What We’ve Gained
The benefits have gone far beyond burnout prevention. Here’s what we’ve seen so far:
1. Better Resilience and Scalability
When a key person steps away, the team adjusts. Gaps get revealed. Documentation gets updated. Knowledge gets shared. The business gets stronger because we’re not over-relying on any one individual.
If your company can’t run without one person, that’s a risk. Sabbaticals help expose and fix that risk.
2. A Shift in How We Measure Value
In traditional consulting, hours are currency. But we’re moving toward a model based on impact and outcomes. When you encourage people to take real time off, you’re also saying: what matters isn’t how many hours you logged—it’s what you delivered.
That’s a big mindset shift, and an important one as the industry evolves—especially with AI and automation changing how work gets done.
3. A Stronger Culture
People come back with fresh ideas and a renewed sense of purpose. And maybe more importantly, they come back knowing their company has their back.
It reinforces trust. And trust is hard to build, easy to lose, and critical to any business that wants to last.
Why I Think More Firms Should Do This
There’s a lot of talk right now about employee wellness, sustainable growth, and the future of work. But talk is cheap. If you’re not building systems that support your people, you’re not really solving the problem.
We built our sabbatical program because we believe rest matters. Not just for the individual, but for the business. Not just as a perk, but as a strategy.
If you’re running a services firm—especially in a high-pressure industry like consulting—I’d encourage you to think seriously about how you treat time. Are you rewarding hours, or outcomes? Are you building a business that can scale, or one that relies too heavily on a few individuals?
And most importantly—are your people getting the rest they need to do their best work?
At Oxalis, we’re still learning and evolving. But I can say this with confidence: giving people space to step away has made us stronger. And I believe it’s one of the smartest decisions we’ve made.
