I Left My Chief HR Officer Job at 54. Now I Work 3 Days a Week — and Still Get Benefits.
A few years ago, my husband, Michael, and I started losing friends our age.
Three died suddenly from pancreatic cancer. It made me stop and think: I’d spent 30 years working at full speed. How much longer did I want to live that way?
At the time, I was chief HR officer at Harvard Business Publishing. I loved the work, but I couldn’t switch off. I brought the job home with me—psychologically, emotionally, and sometimes physically.
I was neglecting myself.
So in December 2024, at 54, I resigned.
Some people might call that early retirement. I called it “rewirement.”
I wasn’t ready to walk away from my career. I just wanted to work differently.
I planned to take a few months off, but then I found a part-time chief HR officer role at The Chronicle of Philanthropy. I started in January 2025.
Now I work three days a week—and still receive health insurance, 401(k) contributions, and paid time off.
It’s the best of both worlds.
My employer gets three decades of HR experience without paying for a full-time executive. I get to stay engaged in work I enjoy without letting it consume my life.
And the extra time is just as valuable.
I mentor younger professionals, advise startups in the HR space, and serve on several advisory boards. When I was building my career, I rarely saw Asian women in leadership positions I could look up to. Now I have the time to pay that experience forward.
Before, mentoring was something I squeezed between meetings and deadlines. Now, I can spend 45 minutes on a call and actually be present.
My husband is retired, so we also have more time to travel and enjoy life. Recently, we took a bucket-list trip down the Nile on a 100-year-old steamship.
I’m not planning to stop working anytime soon. I like the mental stimulation, and I’m happy to stay as long as they’ll have me.
But I’m also more aware that I have fewer years ahead of me than behind me.
When Wednesday afternoon arrives, I shut my laptop—and I’m done.
The work has challenged my brain. The rest of the week is mine.
That’s what “rewirement” means to me: not retiring from work, but retiring from the idea that work has to take over your life.