One worker who took such a break was Mr Dom Chiam, who quit his job as a project manager in 2023, after 12 years in the workforce.<\/p>\n
“I was in an environment where the working hours are long \u2026 (with a) seven-day work week,\u201d said the 39-year-old.<\/p>\n
His partner Ms Lim Hui Jing, an engineer, joined him a few months later. \u201cHousing was also expensive in Singapore, so we wanted to try an alternative way of living \u2026 (by pursuing) van life,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The couple said they took more than a year\u2019s break from work, travelling and camping around Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
Others like 31-year-old Chen Zhi Liang started a new venture as his way of taking a break from employment, taking greater control of their time and work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel more recharged now. I think Monday blues is no longer a thing. I look forward to Monday, and of course \u2026 with the flexibility of running my own business \u2026 I can also plan my day better,” said the founder of a design and web development practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, Mr Chen acknowledged that his extended break was a privilege due to ample savings from work and some side hustles.<\/p>\n
Experts said that companies need to adapt to more people considering \u201cmicro-retirement\u201d because of burnout and changing priorities.<\/p>\n
“If companies have those programs that are available for their employees, then the employees would feel empowered to take these breaks,\u201d said Ms Chua.<\/p>\n
She added that employees would not view such breaks as stigmatising but rather as \u201can opportunity for growth, an opportunity to learn new skills, or gain perspective, or even just mental renewal.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Mr Chiam and Ms Lim, their travels in a van became a key talking point when they returned to Singapore, helping the duo stand out during job interviews.<\/p>\n
“It became \u2026 an icebreaker during our job interview process. Sometimes taking the leap of faith does have (a) good outcome,\u201d said Mr Chiam.<\/p>\n
Returning to work has motivated them to continue with their travel goals, he added.<\/p>\n
They are now saving up for their next \u201cmicro-retirement\u201d journey \u2013 driving to the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though \u2026 now that we are back, we never really stopped travelling in our van. We still go for short trips here and there whenever we can,\u201d said Ms Lim.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One worker who took such a break was Mr Dom Chiam, who quit his job as a project…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3092],"tags":[51,96472,3374,897,96474,16,15,96473],"class_list":{"0":"post-249841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-career-switch","10":"tag-employment","11":"tag-jobs","12":"tag-mid-career","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-workforce-singapore"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114821447396037658","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}