This CEO is offering lengthy paid sabbaticals for his employees

 Aaron Stahl takes sabbaticals every five years; now his company is doing the same for its employees.

Entrepreneur Aaron Stahl believes in the power of sabbaticals, so much so that’s he implemented a paid sabbatical program for as long as three months for his employees at P3 Cost Analysts.

Stahl’s latest sabbatical will begin Dec. 28, when he leaves for Cape Town, South Africa, where Stahl will surf, golf, mountain bike, rest, read and volunteer. 

Starting in 2023, employees who have been with P3 Cost Analysts for 5 years will receive a 1-month paid sabbatical; those at 10 years will earn 2 months’ paid; and those at 15 years will get 3 months paid. This is in addition to already determined paid vacation time.

P3 announced the initiative right before Thanksgiving, and he said the feedback was incredible.

“It struck a nerve, even for the employees who have been here only a year or two because they’re already starting to plan for their five-year anniversary,” Stahl said. “This is something we believe in, and it’s something we needed to offer to our employees.”

Shortly after telling their employees, Stahl posted on LinkedIn about his upcoming sabbatical and the company’s initiative as well, and the post drew rave reviews and feedback. This will be Stahl’s third sabbatical. In 2011, he spent 5 months in Colombia learning Spanish. Six years later, he pursued his passion for aviation, became a flight instructor and spent 6 months in Alaska giving flight lessons and flying around the state. The sabbaticals were inspired in 2007 when Stahl read the 4 Hour Work Week book by Tim Ferris.

“I didn’t want to work until I was 65 and hope I was healthy enough to enjoy retirement, and I vowed to take a mini retirement every 5 years or so,” Stahl said.

With P3 Cost Analysts, Stahl is taking a simple model of saving businesses money across numerous avenues and bringing to the masses through franchising.

P3 Cost Analysts, which was created after P3 Waste Consulting (founded 2004) acquired Cost Analysts Inc. in 2018, supplies the following to clients:

P3 Cost Analysts is a nationwide cost reduction consulting franchise with franchisees in 23 states and growing. The company uses its expertise to help businesses and city/county governments across the U.S. reduce their overhead costs. It also specializes in expense categories such as Telecom, Waste/Recycling, Utilities, Property Taxes, Merchant Processing, Copiers/Print, and Uniform and Linen.

P3 works on a shared savings basis. If it can’t find savings, there is no fee. Stahl said P3 finds savings at more thanr 90 percent of the clients it works with.

P3 Cost Analysts is a 100 percent work remote company with franchisees based in 23 states around the country.  Revenue this year is expected to hit about $4.3 million, and Stahl projects at least $6 million in annual revenue by the end of 2023.

The company began franchising the concept around the country in 2018. Currently there are 40 franchisees, and Stahl expects that number to grow substantially in the coming years. Stahl said businesses engage with P3 Cost Analysts on a risk-free basis to audit their expenses. After the initial assessment P3 is able to determine what and how much they can deliver back to their client’s bottom line.  Once their findings are approved by the client P3 works with the vendors to implement the savings.  P3 only makes money if they are able to deliver bottom line savings to the client, and then only shares in those savings with the client. Since the company’s inception, they have delivered hundreds of millions back to clients’ bottom lines.

Stahl grew up on a cattle farm in Mountain Home, Arkansas, two hours east of Fayetteville. Free time was spent exploring the farm and wilderness with his older brother, Brian.

Both Stahl and his brother are Eagle Scouts – an honor reached by only 4 percent of Boy Scouts.

Stahl has had two non-entrepreneurial jobs: one working construction and the other as a dishwasher at a guest ranch in Big Sky, Montana near the Gallatin River – site of the fly fishing scenes in “A River Runs Through It.” Stahl found the position after he and a friend decided one summer in college to drive to Montana and go door to door at different ranches and ask for work.

Each time Stahl has taken a sabbatical, he said, the company’s employee count has grown, from 2 in 2011 to more than 17 now.

“We think this program will add to the company’s culture and camaraderie because everyone will want to support one another while someone is on their sabbatical,” Stahl said. “I think this is something that all business owners could benefit from doing for their employees. You’re giving the gift of time back, which is best gift you can give somebody.”