New boundaries needed for 'infinite' workday

THE nine-to-five is fading, replaced by a fragmented cycle of early logins, late-night notifications and weekend catch-ups. According to Microsoft’s latest Work Trend Index, the “infinite workday” is no longer an edge-case scenario it has become the norm for many knowledge workers.

- CAREY BENTLEY

Unfortunately, it seems that pandemic-era work patterns are reemerging, with after-hours activity once again becoming a common occurrence. Meetings after 8pm are on the rise and by 10pm nearly a third of active workers are back in their inboxes. And weekends are not off-limits either — among those not officially working on weekends, about 20% say they still check their email before noon on Saturday and Sunday.

During the week, prime focus windows are being eaten alive. Half of meetings land between 9am and 11am or lpm and 3pm - the very hours many people are naturally sharpest.

Chaotic fragmentation

What feels like productivity is quietly fuelling burnout, chaos and fragmentation. The risk is fatigue and focus-loss.

When communication never sleeps, neither does context-switching - a leading cause of mental exhaustion. Microsoft’s telemetry finds that on average, employees are interrupted every two minutes during core work hours — adding hundreds of notifications a day among heavy-communication users. It’s no surprise that nearly half of employees (48%) and more than half of leaders (52%) say work feels chaotic and fragmented.