For Gen Z, breaks are the answer to burnout

Young professionals across India are taking intentional career breaks early in their working life to prioritize mental health and to reset

- Geetika Sachdev

When 24-year-old product designer Suraj Menon quit his job at a Bengaluru startup this year, he didn't have another offer lined up. What he did have was a spreadsheet of savings, a one-way ticket to Tokyo, and a firm decision: to take a year off from work.

"I enjoyed the work, but the relentless pace was driving me insane—long hours, tight deadlines, no time to decompress," he says. "It took a toll on my mental health and strained my relationship with my parents. I didn't want to burn out before 30."

It wasn't impulsive, Menon says. He'd lost seven kilos, slept poorly, and stopped meeting friends. "I would come home irritable, eat junk, and go straight to bed. The only thing I looked forward to was logging off."

Menon's story isn't unique. A 2023 Indian Journal of Psychiatry study found burnout-related depressive symptoms up 17% among Indians aged 22-30. Chronic stress, overwork and digital fatigue are hitting Gen Z earlier and harder. So it's little surprise that more young professionals are embracing "micro-retirement"—self-funded career breaks taken to prioritize mental health, reset, and reflect, unlike employer-sanctioned mid-career sabbaticals.

"It's a generational response to relentless work, stress and burnout," says Roma Puri, area chair (organizational behaviour and human resource) at IMI Kolkata. "Gen Z sees how it erodes well-being, so they take time away, even if it means resigning and using savings."

FROM PAUSE TO PATTERN

Micro-retirement might seem like a privilege, but it's part of a broader shift. The 2024 YouTube Culture & Trends Report found that 83% of Indian Gen Z say they see themselves as creators, based on a survey of 320 respondents from that demographic.