The Right to Leave to Conduct a Business Operation Act is one of a series of rights afforded to Swedish employees, allowing them to take time off to study or care for a family member. It’s also one of the reasons the country’s capital, Stockholm, has become Europe’s start-up capital, second only to California’s Silicon Valley for the number of unicorns (billion-dollar tech companies) that it produces per capita.

One such Swedish start-up success is Spotify. Set up in 2006, the company floated on the New York Stock Exchange last year and has a market capitalization of $24.5 billion. Others include Skype, which was acquired in 2011 by Microsoft for $8.5 billion, and Mojang, the company behind Minecraft, which was also acquired by Microsoft, in 2014 for $2.5 billion.

Anyone who’s been in full-time employment for at least six months is entitled to apply for the unpaid sabbatical, or tjänstledighet, as it’s called in Sweden. Employers can only turn the request down if the employee is vital to the business’s operations. Also, your new idea can’t compete with your existing employer, nor cause them any significant inconvenience.

There’s a growing trend in many countries for people to develop a business venture outside of regular working hours, then devote their free time to nurturing it. A side hustle, as it’s often called.

Source Credit: World Economic Forum
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