EHR vendor Epic pays for its employees to visit a country they've never been to every five years.
Founder and CEO Judy Faulkner got the idea for the "Epic Sabbatical" after talking to a young programmer and realizing the staffer had never left the Midwest, she wrote in a March blog post.
Under the policy, at year five, Epic pays for flights and lodging for two people, and every five years after that, for four people.
"Our staff from other countries (95 other countries today) like it because previously they used their vacation time every year to go home to be with Mom and Dad. For the Sabbatical, Mom and Dad would join them in the new country they were visiting," Ms. Faulkner wrote.
Staffers also get an extra four weeks of vacation every half-decade. Some employees have volunteered to staff overseas offices after falling in love with the countries they visited.