There are various logical exit points, such as seven years, ten years of service (now has to be within ten of retirement age), and so on. It's more interesting to study the demographics of those at these key points, a glance at the seniority list shows many entering these time windows where exploring options becomes infinitely reasonable. People can hold whatever personal opinion they want of the options out there, but it doesn't alter that there are currently many options.
Setting aside for a moment the whole living in Dubai in the Middle East thing.
When you combine the pilot stats with a constantly eroded package, rising inflation, sheer fatigue, roster nonsense, and complete indifference from management it's hardly a shocker that many are looking and more than a handful are leaving. And yes, it's more than anecdotal - people
are leaving. In spite of the happy-clappy line from HR (And
what exactly about EK managers would lead ANYONE to put any faith in the truth of what is said by those muppets? Their stellar record of kept promises?!).
Plus, 3% of 3500+ constantly resigning pilots is a bit of a different logistical challenge than 3% of several hundred pilots. Just as the fleet doesn't mathematically double quite as quickly as it did a few years back, neither can some claimed percentage of leavers be considered in the same way as it once was.