Workers are struggling to cope with a “seemingly infinite workday,” involving an increasing load of meetings scheduled at 8 p.m. or later and a near-constant stream of interruptions, according to new research by Microsoft.
The company analyzed data from users of Microsoft 365 services — which include Outlook and PowerPoint — globally between mid-January and mid-February. It found that the number of meetings booked between 8 p.m. and just before midnight had risen 16% compared with last year. Geographically dispersed teams, as well as those with flexible working arrangements, were responsible for much of that increase.
“The infinite workday… starts early, mostly in email, and quickly swells to a focus-sapping flood of messages, meetings, and interruptions,” Microsoft said in a report Tuesday.
The company found that the average worker is interrupted every two minutes by a meeting, an email or a chat notification during a standard eight-hour shift — adding up to 275 times a day.
And those messages don’t stop after they’ve clocked off. During the study period, the average employee sent or received 58 instant messages outside of their core working hours — a jump of 15% from last year.
The typical worker also receives 117 emails per day and, by 10 p.m., almost one-third of employees are back in their inboxes, “pointing to a steady rise in after-hours activity,” Microsoft noted.
“The modern workday for many has no clear start or finish,” the company said in its report. “As business demands grow more complex and expectations continue to rise, time once reserved for focus or recovery may now be spent catching up, prepping, and chasing clarity.”
“It’s the professional equivalent of needing to assemble a bike before every ride. Too much energy is spent organizing chaos before meaningful work can begin,” it added.
One outcome is that one-third of workers feel it has been “impossible to keep up” with the pace of work over the past five years, according to a Microsoft-commissioned survey of 31,000 employees around the world, cited in the Tuesday report.
“Each email or message notification may seem small, but together they can set a frenetic tempo for the day ahead,” the company said.
Half of all meetings take place between 9–11 a.m. and 1–3 p.m., Microsoft also found, “precisely when, as research shows, many people have a natural productivity spike in their day, due to their circadian rhythms.”
Ultimately, Microsoft said, meeting-hungry bosses and colleagues sap workers’ productivity, with some time-starved employees forced to catch up at the weekend.
“Instead of deep work… prime hours are spent cycling through a carousel of calls,” the company noted.
Artificial intelligence could help lighten the load for workers, according to Microsoft. The technology can help carry out “low-value” administrative tasks, it said, freeing up time for people to work on what truly benefits the organization.
However, the rise of AI has fueled anxiety about the technology’s potential to oust human workers from their jobs. According to a survey by the World Economic Forum, published in January, 41% of employers intend to downsize their workforce as AI automates certain tasks.
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