"This trend has been a bit puzzling for
people who grew up in other generations,
or who grew up with a different under-
standing of what work is within the context
of one's life," says Lee. "I think there has
been some pushback."
At the same time, he sees this
as an opportunity for companies and
hiring managers to adopt more compas-
sionate worldviews.
"I do think there is a benefit to HR
departments and hiring managers consid-
ering what micro retirement means more
broadly," he says. "If we think about what
HR was meant to do—which was actually
redesign workplaces so that they were far
more human—I think there is something
to be said about the fact that micro retire-
ment, and the presence of micro trends,
reflects something about our current
moment, about our current culture."
And as long as someone who took a
micro retirement can outline what they
learned from it, thinks career coach
Sally Yue Lin, it doesn't need to be seen as
a negative thing.
"People are taking a micro retirement
because they want to explore different
skillsets, different interests," she says. "It's
being able to say, 'I intentionally took this
break, because this is something that's
really important to me, and this is how it's
made me a better human,' when they're
interviewing for a future position or com-
ing back to a position."
After all, the average career is long.
Micro retirements remind us that the ben-
efits of hard work can be enjoyed sooner
and more often.
"Humans are working longer because
we're living longer," says Pangilinan. "So
why do we need to wait until we're actually
retired at the age of 75-plus to do all that
fun stuff ? I think if we can embed it, we're
going to be more satisfied and more happy,
as well as better employees."
TAKING IT IN
For Pangilinan, micro
retirement means enjoying
what life has to offer before
getting older
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