Officer Sabbaticals: Analysis of Extended Leave Options

Harry J. Thie, Margaret C. Harrell, Marc Thibault

ResearchPublished 2003

As a competitive employer in the United States, the Department of Defense (DoD) strives to maintain benefits comparable to those of the public and private sector. Throughout the 1990s, as the state of the economy improved, many companies began offering their employees a variety of extended leave, or "sabbatical," options to increase morale, meet employees' needs, improve retention rates, and compete with other employers. In response, DoD recently asked RAND to explore the greater use of extended leaves as part of the department's strategic human resource plan. This report looks at the possible use of extended leaves for military officers. In particular, the authors focus on the different kinds of existing civilian leave programs, how the programs might work if implemented in the military, and how such programs could be evaluated. The authors offer recommendations and observations on which extended leave programs would most benefit the military as well as ideas on how to implement such programs.

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web Only
  • Year: 2003
  • Pages: 97
  • Document Number: MR-1752-OSD

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Thie, Harry J., Margaret C. Harrell, and Marc Thibault, Officer Sabbaticals: Analysis of Extended Leave Options. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2003. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1752.html.
BibTeX RIS

Research conducted by

The research described in this report was sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). The research was conducted in RAND's National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center supported by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the unified commands, and the defense agencies.

This publication is part of the RAND monograph report series. The monograph report was a product of RAND from 1993 to 2003. RAND monograph reports presented major research findings that addressed the challenges facing the public and private sectors. They included executive summaries, technical documentation, and synthesis pieces.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.