Microsoft Study Finds That 9-To-5 Has Morphed Into 'Infinite Workdays' And Employees Can't Stop Checking Mail Even At Midnight

Microsoft MSFT warns that the traditional 9-to-5 has dissolved into an "infinite workday," with employees signing on before dawn, moving between impromptu meetings all day and checking email again near midnight.

What Happened: Microsoft’s June Work Trend Index Special Report, based on trillions of anonymized Microsoft 365 signals, shows 40% of users are already triaging messages at 6 am, while 29% return to their inbox around 10 pm.

57% of meetings are scheduled on the fly without an invite and half of all gatherings cluster between 9-11 am and 1-3 pm. — hours the research identifies as prime focus time.

Evening obligations are rising fast, too. Virtual meetings after 5 pm jumped 16% year-over-year, and the typical employee now handles about 50 Teams messages outside core hours. 20% of staff work on weekends, with many opening emails before noon on Saturday and Sunday.

Workers are pinged roughly every 1.75 minutes and about 275 interruptions in an eight-hour span. Microsoft thus calculates that the median employee enjoys just two consecutive minutes of deep focus during the day.

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The company calls meetings "the primary thief of concentration" and notes that mass emails to 20-plus recipients climbed 7% in the past year.

Why It Matters: Microsoft argues the always-on culture could stunt productivity unless firms rethink calendars and adopt AI tools to triage low-value tasks. The findings arrive after JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM CEO Jamie Dimon urged corporate managers to abandon meetings designed to impress bosses and instead focus on being transparent about business problems.

Similarly, Airbnb ABNB chief Brian Chesky has admitted he doesn’t do email and doesn’t attend meetings before 10 am. Similarly, Meta Platforms Inc.‘s META Mark Zuckerberg says the secret to his calendar management is leaving it empty and not packing it tight.

Photo Courtesy: Ground Picture on Shutterstock.com

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