After working in local government for almost 11 years, Jade Law was starting to wonder what else was out there for her.
The 32-year-old from Brisbane/Meanjin says she decided to take a leap four years ago and have a career break.
"I had heard of others in the organisation doing it, I got thinking, maybe I could work somewhere else or live somewhere else for a little bit and then come back."
Jade took a year of unpaid leave from her human resources role after being offered a one-year contract with an insurance company.
She says her employer was "very supportive" of the request and called it an external secondment.
"I just felt really good about the whole thing," she says.
"It would have been so scary without having [the] safety net of my job being held for me."
What exactly is a career break?
Roxanne Hart is a lawyer and specialist in workplace relations law, based in Melbourne/Naarm.
She says a career break is typically extended, planned leave that's not long service leave, annual leave, personal leave or another type of leave.
"A career break is not a technical recognised leave entitlement in Australia, so, there's no special leave category for it, and it would just simply be unpaid leave," she says.
"It is normally just by agreement with an employer."
She says what you are permitted to do during a career break comes down to what your employer will allow and they are under no obligation to say yes.
"There's no entitlement for people to request this unless a business has a policy of offering a career break," she says.
"It's typically used in order to undertake a passion project, have a long break from work, go on a long vacation, maybe do some study in another area."
Organisational psychologist Dr Amanda Ferguson says if it is available to you, a career break can be an opportunity to spend time "career crafting".
And if you can do that in your own organisation, with their agreement, it can be a way to do that while being paid.
But Dr Ferguson says typically most career breaks are unpaid, so it is important to plan for that.
"A really important point in this … you estimate how much time can you afford to take financially," she says.
"Then … 'do I pick up some other type of work for income to supplement or to support me during that time?'
"[And] how do you do it in a way that doesn't compromise any return to work in your organisation?"
How can you ask for a career break?
Jade says in her case, asking for a career break was made easier because the company was already open to it.
She recommends others do some research before approaching their employer.
"I think probably key to this is to get some HR advice or advice from someone who knows how to articulate an application for it," she says.
She is now studying organisational psychology and may one day be providing advice on career breaks.
"It might be a full circle moment for me," she says.
Our experts say that putting forward a proposal to your manager about how the leave will be taken is beneficial.
"If I was to do it, I would be presenting a comprehensive plan for the business on how it would work," Ms Hart says.
"Obviously, a business's main concern is going to be 'how is the job going to be done whilst you're not here?'.
You should make it clear when you'd be returning to your usual job and what the benefits would be to yourself, and the business, she adds.
Dr Ferguson also recommends staying in touch with the employer during the break.
"I want to be part of the monthly meetings still," she says as an example.
"I want to know what changes are happening."
Things to consider before taking a career break
Ms Hart says going on a career break can affect your long service leave and other entitlements under the Fair Work Act.
"You won't be getting other entitlements such as annual leave and personal leave accrual on the career break, unless you're getting paid during that time," she says.
She says some of the rules differ depending on which state or territory you live in, including how it impacts your long service leave accrual, so this is something to check.
Dr Ferguson says the other consideration is that the employer may see the role as being redundant during your time away.
"I've seen it time and time again, there's this formal leave of absence for a certain amount of time, the employer then goes back to the organisation and their role's been made redundant," she says.
Ms Hart agrees and says while there are "redundancy protections, consultation obligations and redundancy pay … ultimately, if the job no longer exists and you've demonstrated that by not being there, then that might not bode well".
"[But] if the company's hiring somebody to fill the career break position, they can hire somebody on a fixed-term contract to cover that period [and keep the role ongoing]."
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