Gen Z in the UAE are planning multiple “mini retirement” career breaks to focus on family, professional growth and personal passions, a new study has found.
Gen Z – born between 1997 and 2009 – aspire to take the most pauses in their careers compared to their older counterparts, according to HSBC’s Quality of Life: Affluent Investor Snapshot survey.
It polled 10,797 people aged 21 to 69 across 12 global markets, including 697 from the UAE. All respondents held investable assets ranging from $100,000 to $2 million.
About 41 per cent of affluent investors in the UAE plan on taking a “mini-retirement” break, and 73 per cent of them plan two or more breaks to “realign, reflect and pursue renewed goals”, the survey found.
Among those planning multiple career pauses, UAE respondents are aiming for the most breaks, with an average of 3.2.
They are also the most confident about their financial planning to support themselves, at 81 per cent compared to the global average of 74 per cent.
Most plan to fund their breaks through personal savings, investment returns and rental income.
“It is interesting to see how attitudes towards retirement are evolving in the UAE,” Dinesh Sharma, HSBC's head of international wealth and premier banking for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, said.
“The increasing confidence people demonstrate in considering and planning for multi retirements – and their appetite for multiple, intentional career breaks – demonstrates a more dynamic and rewarding vision of what retirement can be.”
Mini-retiring, also know as micro-retiring, is a growing trend in which employees take planned, extended breaks from work, often through sabbaticals or unpaid leave. These can range from weeks to months, or involve resigning from jobs with the intention of returning to the workforce later.
This year, 10 per cent of Americans are planning to take a micro-retirement, with many using savings or side hustles to fund breaks to rest, travel or explore personal and career goals, according to a poll by the platform SideHustles.com.
On average, Americans take four months for a micro-retirement and aim to save around $15,000 beforehand, according to a poll of 1,000 people in the US.
Top reasons for taking a micro-retirement include mental health recovery, travel, gaining life experiences and relief from work stress. Professionals working in areas such as technology, health care, retail, hospitality and finance plan to micro-retire in 2025, the survey found.
In the UAE, key motivations include spending quality time with family, starting a business and living an international lifestyle. However, the main challenges are anxiety about re-entering the job market, family obligations, and concerns over healthcare benefits, the HSBC study revealed.
Around 51 per cent of UAE respondents are planning to take between two and three mini retirements during their lifetime and a further 22 per cent plan more than three with a preferred interval between breaks of approximately six years, the data found.
“The data shows multi retirements are not a generational fad or a more traditional ‘career break’,” said Cora Pettipas, financial planner and retirement specialist at HSBC.
“Multi retirements are a mindset shift, with some individuals increasingly taking time out to focus on living their wealth, not just accumulating it.
“They are creating space for it now – with careful planning to ensure they can fund multiple pauses over the course of their lives. They aren’t viewing it as stopping work or their careers, rather, taking new directions that feel more aligned to their values and needs of their families.”
