🌅 The Era of the “Infinite Workday”

SOURCE

Microsoft

WHAT TO KNOW

• Workers are interrupted by a calendar, email, or chat alert 275 times during a normal work day, amounting to a ping every 1.75 minutes. The finding comes from Microsoft’s annual Work Trend Index Report, which analyzed data from millions of global users of Microsoft 365 productivity apps (Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint, etc.).

WHY IT MATTERS

• The report found the modern workday has no clear start or finish for many knowledge workers, with 40% checking their email by 6 am and 29% checking it again at 10 pm. Meetings starting after 8 pm are also up 16% year-over-year, while chats sent outside typical work hours are up 15% over the same period. The average worker now sends 58 work messages outside normal business hours each month.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Microsoft found 48% of workers and 52% of team leaders say their work feels chaotic and fragmented, with many feeling like they spend more time navigating problems and responding to others’ priorities than doing productive work. One issue could be the timing of meetings, which the report found often take place between 9-11 am or 1-3 pm (50% of all meetings happen during those two periods), precisely when research shows humans are the most alert and productive. The authors argue rather than spending deep focus time on work, employees are stuck “cycling through a carousel of calls.”