In a recent piece about how and why companies in the marketing creativity world offer their staffers paid sabbaticals, Ad Age notes: "Only 15% of U.S. companies offer sabbatical programs, down from 17% last year, according to the Society of Human Resource Management's annual benefits survey. And of the companies offering programs this year, just 5% gave paid time off."

The piece features details on our own sabbatical program, which offers people six weeks of paid time after seven consecutive years of employment, and an additional four weeks off every subsequent five years.

The story outlines how some W+K staffers have made the most of the break:

"Zoe Schrepel, a W+K production manager, spent her sabbatical hosting a refugee from Iran who arrived the day that President Trump enacted a policy blocking citizens of some predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. Azsa West, a W+K creative director, spent her time off directing a music video in Tokyo. Ben Grylewicz, W+K's director of film craft, caddied at the Masters golf tournament. John Parker, a creative director, took his family on a four-week RV trip across the country, followed by visits to Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam and Vietnam, where they met members of his wife's family whom she had not previously met. Matt Hunnicutt, the agency's co-head of production, went to spring training baseball games in Arizona and Florida."

WKNY ECD Karl Lieberman says: "Typically (a sabbatical) expands people's worldview as well. They come back with a more interesting perspective on the business."

Read the full story on Ad Age.