Australians caught up in new ‘infinite workday' trend

News.com.au

23-06-2025

Advancements in technology have been heralded as a game changer when it comes to flexible working.
Forgot to respond to an important email? No need to trudge back to the office to log onto your computer, you can just do it from your phone.
What once would have required an in person meeting is now a Zoom call and the rise of remote work means employees are saving countless hours each week they would have otherwise spent commuting.
While there is no doubt all of these things have had a positive impact when it comes to the way people work, we are now starting to see the flexibility scales tip so far that it is actually having a negative impact on work-life balance.
Being able to send of a quick email after hours has turned into scrolling through your inbox as soon as you wake up.
Having access to virtual meetings now means being asked to jump on a call at 8pm and being able to work from anywhere has turned into being expected to work at any time.
This phenomenon has been dubbed the 'infinite workday', with Microsoft's 2025 Work Trend Index Annual Report revealing just how widespread it has become.
An analysis of data from users of Microsoft 365 services found a series of disturbing changes in the way people are working around the world.
In describing the chaos of the seemingly infinite workday trend, the report noted that 'it starts early, mostly in email, and quickly swells to a focus-sapping flood of messages, meetings, and interruptions'.
A whopping 40 per cent of users who are online at 6am are reviewing emails, with the average worker receiving 117 emails a day, the report found.
By 8am, Microsoft Teams overtakes email as the dominant communication channel, with the average worker receiving 153 Teams messages a day, a 6 per cent year on year increase globally.
Microsoft found that, during a standard eight-hour shift, the average worker is interrupted every two minutes by either an email, chat notification or meeting, adding up to 275 times a day.
Speaking to news.com.au, Bryan Stallings, Chief Evangelist at Lucid Software, said, if left unchecked, this type of fragmentation will have a severe impact on workplaces across Australia and the rest of the world.
'The consequences of this systemic chaos are taking a toll on Australian workers,' Mr Stallings said.
'Left unchecked, this 'infinite workday' won't boost output. Instead, it leads to disengaged employees, crippling innovation due to a dwindling capacity for deep work, and a workforce unable to truly adapt at 'the speed of business', as research warns.
'This unsustainable model demands a fundamental shift towards intentional design that moves away from accidental chaos and towards visual clarity in how we work.'
With employees receiving all these interruptions during the standard work day, you might be wondering, when does this leave time for any actual work to be done? The answer is, it doesn't.
Which is why an increasing number of employees are logging back on at night so they can focus on their work without being interrupted.
Microsoft found that, for remote workers, they often see evening hours as a productive window to catch up on work, but hybrid workers are more likely to experience that same time as a source of stress.
The research found that meetings after 8pm are up 16 per cent year on year and the average employee now recited more than 50 messages outside of core business hours,
By 10pm, 29 per cent of active workers are back in their inboxes trying to get on top of the influx of emails.
Work is also spilling over into the weekend, with the data showing almost 20 per cent of employees actively working on the weekend are checking their email before noon on Saturday and Sunday.
It is clear that boundaries are quickly eroding, with one in three employees saying the pace of work over the past five years makes it impossible to keep up.
'This points to a larger truth: the modern workday for many has no clear start or finish,' the report states.
'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.'
Ending the infinite workday isn't just about individual workers putting boundaries in place to protect their work-life balance.
While its vital to have personal limits, Mr Stallings pointed out they are often 'rendered ineffective by broken systems', with the primary responsibility of addressing these issues lying with executive leadership.
He said that senior management must shift focus from where work gets done to how it gets done.
Recent research from Lucid has revealed the systematic roadblocks facing Australian employers, with 35 per cent citing a lack of standardisation and 34 per cent pointing to insufficient automation.
The data showed that only 31 per cent of Australians have been trained on effective hybrid collaboration, leaving room for communication breakdown.
'Expecting Aussies to set boundaries in a chaotic system without executive leadership's intentional design also erodes psychological safety,' Mr Stallings said.
'Often, management talks about a sustainable pace while inadvertently rewarding 'hero' behaviours that undermine work-life balance, sending deeply conflicting signals.'
The Microsoft research points to artificial intelligence as one of the tools that can be used to help redesign the rhythm of work and give people their time back.
However, when it comes to Aussie workplaces, there is a still a major literacy gap when it comes to using AI effectively.
Kade Brown, Workforce Solutions Director at RMIT Online, told news.com.au that, because of the rapid pace of AI advancement outstripping traditional education, many Australians are missing the skills needed to confidently prompt, apply and evaluate using AI tools at work.
'AI offers powerful opportunities to boost productivity by streamlining repetitive tasks and freeing up individuals for more strategic, creative work,' he said.
'We need to use AI intentionally, set healthy boundaries, and ensure it enhances (not replaces) human judgment.'
In order to thrive in the evolving AI landscape, Mr Brown said people need to embrace a lifelong learning mindset.
PwC has estimated AI will contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, with Mr Brown noting that, for those ready to adapt, the 'potential for transformation is enormous'.
'For the individual, staying curious, continuously upskilling, and building digital confidence are now essential,' he said.
'Businesses that invest in training, particularly in areas like AI literacy, won't just keep pace, they'll lead.'