Career breaks from employment are longer than normal leave entitlements. Initially, many were aimed at high flying professional women who felt they needed to spend more time with their young children before returning to their careers.

The way the career break package is presented varies and often schemes are restricted to family-friendly initiatives, with separate arrangements operating for sabbaticals, eduational leave and secondments.

Legal issues can arise around the status of the employee during the break.

• The organisation can decide to continue the contract of employment and this is often the case with sabbaticals, education leave, rehabilitation leave, extended holidays, etc.
• The majority of longer-term employment break schemes require the employee to resign formally from employment at the beginning of the break. Statutory rights need to be earned again on return, although the employer can choose to bridge contractual benefits.
• any employers state their commitment and what they expect from the employee in a letter of agreement, which both parties sign. Any failure to abide by this agreement could be enforced legally if problems cannot be solved amicably by both parties.