- Microsoft Report warns against “The Infinite Workday” crawling in
- Workers come online earlier and end later than ever before
- They are also interrupted by an email or a cat message every few minutes
New research by Microsoft has revealed that many of us have trouble maintaining a balance between professional and privacy – and that an overload of tasks could be what prevents us from achieving any kind of productivity.
The special report of the working trend index of June 2025 of the company warned against “infinity the working day” which, according to it, is a “significant change” in working hours, largely thanks to the influence of hybrid workplaces – and, of course, AI.
The report, based on “billion” productivity signals such as emails, chat messages and meetings collected on Microsoft 365, warns that modern working day no longer has a clear start or end – and has requested greater adoption of AI tools to help reduce this burden to everyday workers.
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“Our research, based on thousands of billions of globally aggregated and anonymized productivity signals Microsoft 365, reveal a difficult new roadblock: an apparently infinite working day,” noted Microsoft.
“The AI offers a way to get out of the mud, especially if it is associated with a redesigned work rate. Otherwise, we risk using AI to accelerate a broken system.”
Microsoft said that he had found a major increase in online users at 6 am, when 40% of users apparently scan their reception box to prioritize the tasks of the day.
At 8 a.m., Microsoft’s teams exceeded email, half of all meetings taking place between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. – in particular, when most of us are the most targeted and productive all day.
Tuesdays were the busiest day for meetings, with 23% – while Fridays have only 16% of all meetings. In summary, Microsoft found that meetings that were held after 20 hours increased by 16% from one year to the next, showing that late finishes are also disturbing.
The use by e-mail of the weekend has also experienced a major increase, with almost 20% of employees checking their emails before noon on Saturday and Sunday-and more than 5% are back on emails on Sunday evening.
The report revealed that the average worker receives 117 emails and 153 team messages per day, which means that they are disturbed by an email, a cat or a meeting every 2 minutes. Most employees have also been found to send or receive more than 50 cats outside their main working hours, risking their winding time.
“This indicates a greater truth: the modern working day for many has no clear departure or end,” concluded Microsoft. “As companies require more complex and expectations continue to increase, time once reserved for concentration or recovery can now be devoted to catching up, preparing and chasing clarity.”
“The signals are clear: it is time to break the cycle. The future of work will not be defined by the quantity of chores that us automates, but by what we choose to reinvent fundamentally. The AI can give us the lever to rethink the pace of work, to refocus our team is not to know if the work will change the work.”
