After three decades of building a demanding career, Angela Cheng-Cimini realised she wanted something different from work and life. The senior HR professional stepped away from her role as chief HR officer and chose a less conventional path. Instead of retiring completely, she now works just three days a week and calls the arrangement her “rewirement”.
Cheng-Cimini, now 56 and living near Baltimore, shared her experience in an interview with Business Insider, explaining how the loss of several friends around her age prompted her to reconsider her priorities and the way she was spending her time.
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Why she quit her full-time HR job
“A few years ago, my husband, Michael, and I started losing friends who were around our age,” she said. Three of them died from pancreatic cancer, experiences that made her think more seriously about her own mortality.
“I’d been working full steam ahead for 30 years,” Cheng-Cimini said, adding that she felt it was time to reassess her priorities.
{{/usCountry}}“I’d been working full steam ahead for 30 years,” Cheng-Cimini said, adding that she felt it was time to reassess her priorities.
{{/usCountry}}At the time, she was chief HR officer at Harvard Business Publishing, a role she found deeply fulfilling. However, the demands of the job followed her home.
“I didn’t know how to compartmentalise. I brought work home psychologically, emotionally, and, to some degree, physically,” she said.
She also realised she had been neglecting her own wellbeing. After considerable thought, she resigned in December 2024.
From early retirement to ‘rewirement’
Although some people viewed her decision as early retirement, Cheng-Cimini did not want to leave her profession altogether.
“I wasn’t ready to go the full nine yards and quit my career,” she said. Instead, she began searching for opportunities that offered greater flexibility.
That search led her to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, where she found a part-time chief HR officer position. She started the role in January 2025 and now works three days a week.
The arrangement allows her to continue working while receiving benefits including health insurance, a 401(k) contribution and paid time off.
For Cheng-Cimini, it is a mutually beneficial arrangement. She gets to remain professionally active and use the experience she has gained over three decades, while the organisation gets access to an experienced HR leader without employing her on a full-time basis.
More time for mentoring and travel
The shorter working week has also given Cheng-Cimini more time to mentor younger professionals. People often reach out to her through LinkedIn, and she now has the time to speak with them without trying to squeeze mentoring between work commitments.
“I felt that I should pay it back by paying it forward,” she said, recalling that there were few female Asian leaders she could look up to when she was starting her career.
She also serves on several unpaid advisory boards for HR start-ups, helping entrepreneurs assess their ideas and understand the market.
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Outside work, she and her retired husband are making more time for travel. They recently took a bucket-list trip down the Nile aboard a century-old steamship.
According to Business Insider, Cheng-Cimini plans to remain in her part-time role for as long as the organisation will have her. However, she is conscious that she now has fewer years ahead of her than behind her, which has changed the way she views work and leisure.
“Wednesday afternoon comes along, and I’m ready to shut down my laptop after three days of work that stimulates my brain,” she said.
For Cheng-Cimini, “rewirement” is not about giving up work completely. Instead, it has allowed her to remain professionally engaged while making more room for travel, mentoring and the other things that matter to her.