The Wall Street Journal has an excellent article detailing Bill Gates annual Think Week.
With recent complaints about how R&D is being outsourced, I think it’s time that corporations started incorporating a similar ‘Think Week’ for employees. In the academic world, I always considered the sabatical to be a time when professors enjoyed a nice extended paid vacation. But this view soon changed when each professor who returned from a sabatical came back with renewed energy for further academic challenges. Similarly, the last time I had a vacation, I definitely was much more enthusiastic about returning to work.
Currently taking votes to try and turn this into reality.