Business Commons^™

Perspectives On Sabbaticals And Job Satisfaction In Nonprofit Organizations, Beth Anne Spacht

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Nonprofit Studies Capstone Projects

For mission-driven organizations with limited resources to invest in employee salary and development, retaining top talent is a critical challenge. The monetary toll of turnover is particularly harmful to small organizations, which make up 66.3 percent of the nonprofit sector. To keep staff satisfied and incentivized to stay, nonprofits need to innovate creative new strategies to retain employees. The nonprofit sabbatical, a period of rest and renewal given to reward years of service, is one possible solution to reduce burnout and reward longevity. This exploratory study investigated the benefits and challenges of nonprofit sabbaticals in relation to theories of job …