Florence Poirel, a senior program manager at Google in Zurich, Switzerland, made headlines when she decided to leave her lucrative position, earning $390,000 annually, in April 2024. Poirel spent more than 10 years with the tech behemoth, where she achieved all her financial objectives. Today, she looks forward to a new chapter that focuses on her personal joy and fulfillment.
Born in Belgium, Poirel moved to Dublin for her professional career and settled in Zurich for good in 2017. She departed her unfulfilling marketing job and fully leaned into project management gigs. It was these opportunities that set into motion her ascendance into senior leadership. During her time at Google, Poirel proved herself to be an admirable and powerful leader.
By January of 2024, Poirel realized a fiscal coup with $1.5 million in savings. This newfound financial freedom allowed her to gain the confidence to leave her high-stress corporate job. After much soul searching, I came to this conclusion. The Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement motivated me to save with financial intention and invest my money so I could achieve early financial freedom.
In addition to chasing down huge waves, Poirel spent her mini-retirement doing tons of other things that filled her up. Swim in Lake Zurich and explore the world with her spouse Jan, a Googler 17 years her senior. She offered career coaching to women wanting support in their careers and career pivots.
“I realized how much quality time with the people I love is the most important.” – Florence Poirel
Yet Poirel’s decision to leave her post was not without its difficulties. She admitted that leaving behind a six-figure salary might be a bit nerve-wracking. Despite all of this, she knew that there was a deep need for her own life to change.
“That’s when it hit me that I didn’t need to keep on climbing that ladder. I had reached the point when it was just enough — and I was happy and free to do something else.” – Florence Poirel
We caught up with Poirel to hear about her experience over the past year and a half out of the daily grind. At first, she worried that boredom would set in. Instead she discovered the opposite to be true.
“I thought I would get bored very easily. But now, it’s been a year and a half and I still haven’t [had] a time of boredom.” – Florence Poirel
Her story serves as a reminder that self-discovery and having the courage to bring more of oneself into one’s career can be incredibly valuable. Despite that glittering career trajectory, Poirel made a different choice. This choice has freed her up to prioritize what is most important—time spent outdoors, with family, on creative pursuits that increase her overall well-being.
In explaining her approach to life after Google, we found this simple but incredibly moving expression of choosing wellness over employment.
“Life is too short and life is beautiful and it’s too sad to spend most of that time spending it at work when we can spend it in beautiful nature with friends, family, loved ones, and doing things that make us truly happy.” – Florence Poirel
Each day is a new adventure, and as Poirel embraces the beginnings of this new chapter, she doesn’t shy away from the idea of heading back into work someday.
“I’m not particularly antsy about going back to employment.” – Florence Poirel