In short: Keep in mind throughout and instantly after the lockdowns, when so many corporations promised a brand new period of work-life stability and suppleness? In accordance with new analysis from Microsoft, the other is now true, with most individuals working an “infinite workday” that lasts greater than 12 hours and bleeds into weekends. It is impacting productiveness, and whereas AI might make issues higher, it might additionally make them worse.
Microsoft’s June 2025 Work Development Index Particular Report warns that extra folks are actually trapped in a seemingly infinite workday. It begins at 6 am, goes on after 8 pm, and would not cease when Saturday and Sunday arrive.
The findings, based mostly on trillions of worldwide aggregated and anonymized Microsoft 365 productiveness indicators, present that 40% of people who find themselves on-line at 6 am are reviewing e mail for the day’s priorities.
A lot of the most efficient hours of the day, between 9/11 am and 1-3 pm, are when half of all conferences are held, losing folks’s pure mid-day efficiency spike. 11 am can also be when peak messaging exercise is reached, as real-time messages, scheduled conferences, and fixed app switching converge.
For many individuals, work continues late into the night. Microsoft discovered that conferences being held after 8 pm are up 16% in comparison with the earlier yr. Furthermore, the typical worker now sends greater than 50 messages exterior of core enterprise hours, and by 10 pm, practically a 3rd (29%) of energetic employees examine their inboxes.
The weekend brings little respite. Round 20% of workers are checking their e mail earlier than midday on Saturday and Sunday, and over 5% are engaged on emails on Sunday evenings.
The info reveals that a mean employee receives 117 emails and 153 Groups messages every day. It signifies that workers utilizing Microsoft 365 are interrupted each 2 minutes by a gathering, e mail, or notification.
Unsurprisingly, nearly half of all workers and greater than half of leaders really feel their work is chaotic and fragmented.
Microsoft says that AI gives a method out of this limitless workday, although it might additionally speed up the present system. The corporate recommends deploying AI and brokers to streamline low-value duties and specializing in the 80/20 rule, the place 20% of the work delivers 80% of the outcomes. It additionally suggests transferring from inflexible organizational constructions to agile, outcome-driven groups augmented by AI.
AI brokers are highlighted repeatedly within the report as an answer to those endless workdays. There is no point out of the people they might put out of a job, in fact.
This is not the primary time a examine has proven working excessively lengthy hours, particularly with out stopping, can have a unfavorable affect on productiveness. One other report discovered that the most efficient workers function on a 75/33 work-to-rest ratio: work for 75 minutes then relaxation for 33 minutes. It additionally claimed that being in an workplace, the place folks cease working for duties like speaking to colleagues and even strolling round, might be extra productive than working relentlessly at house.
