Kloten, Switzerland — The traditional 9-to-5 workday has “evolved into a continuous cycle of digital communication” resulting in the “infinite workday,” a new report from Microsoft Switzerland concludes.
For the Microsoft Work Trend Index Special Report, researchers analyzed trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals from 31,000 workers across 31 different markets. On average, a worker receives 117 emails and 153 Teams messages during a workday – and that’s expanding quickly.
Around 40% of the workers check their email before 6 a.m., while meetings after 8 p.m. have increased 16% year over year.
Other findings:
- 20% of the workers actively work on weekends.
- 57% of meetings are called at a moment’s notice, without a calendar invitation.
- The average worker is interrupted every two minutes – 275 times a day – by meetings, emails or chat notifications.
The researchers recommend that employers focus on the 20% of their work that delivers 80% of outcomes; adjust work teams to be agile, outcome-driven groups formed by artificial intelligence; and build teams that leverage AI for routine work while humans focus on strategy and creativity.
“The data confirms the boundaries between work and personal time have become increasingly blurred,” said Marc Holitscher, national technology officer at Microsoft Switzerland. “The solution isn’t working hard but fundamentally reimagining how we work.”
