The Infinite Workday: 5 Things HR Needs to Know and Do About It

Your employees are working sunup to sundown. Some might work sundown to sunup.

Either way, they’re working more hours than ever. And it’s probably burning them out.

Microsoft coined it the Infinite Workday. And they have hard proof that it exists.

Research Proves the Infinite Workday

Microsoft has a boatload of information on how we work. In its 2025 Work Trend Index Annual Report, the company behind most of our workplace email and meeting platforms used data from trillions of “productivity signals” to find out when people work.

Here’s part of what they discovered:

• By 6 a.m., many users are scanning overflowing inboxes — the average worker gets 117 messages a day! Forty percent of those early morning scanners are trying to establish the day’s priorities.
• By 8 a.m., employees are more vigorously using Microsoft Teams, where the average person receives 153 messages. The frantic tempo of email, meetings and pings creates interruptions every two minutes.
• 9-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m.: These are the hours people are naturally most productive … and they’re exactly when most meetings are scheduled. That leaves little time for focused work and more time spent in soul-sucking events.
• 11 a.m.: As Microsoft calls it, the most overloaded hour of the day: Real-time messages, scheduled meetings and app switching surge in that hour before lunchtime.
• Around 1 p.m., Word, Excel and PowerPoint use surge. Apparently after lunch, employees attempt to focus on writing, analyzing and creating.
• The afternoon is full of chaos, researchers found. About half of all employees say work feels chaotic and fragmented, peppered with impromptu meetings, changing priorities and mental demands.
• After 8 p.m., employees are back at it. The data shows meetings after 8 p.m. are up 16% year over year. Employees send and receive more than 50 messages outside the core work hours.
• On the weekends, about 20% of employees check their email before noon each Saturday and Sunday!

So we shouldn’t be surprised that researchers (who probably got up early and stayed up late) agreed that employees are inching toward an Infinite Workday, where one day practically bleeds into the next.

Now, let’s dive in to what this means for employers and employees:

1. The Problems with an Infinite Workday

The Infinite Workday does offer some flexibility. But it has some drawbacks for both employers and employees.

For employers, they might see a dip in work quality and productivity.

“Cognitive function — focus, decision-making and memory — slows down as employees get fatigued,” says Kim Seals, a partner in West Monroe’s Organization, People & Change practice. “So late evening work, without the corresponding time away during the normal workday, will likely lead to lower quality outputs from employees. Mental exhaustion limits problem-solving and creative thinking, meaning employers are not getting the best thinking from their teams.”

For employees, who might like the flexibility that remote or hybrid work allows them, the Infinite Workday can mess with their well-being.

“If not managed well, consistent late evening work can take a toll on employees’ well-being and productivity,” says Seals. “Context switching between meetings, catching up on emails, and making time for family can increase stress, pressure and cognitive load. Evening work, when not paired with less work during the day, disrupts recovery cycles that we all need, reducing our focus and decision-making capacity the next business day.”

2. The Upside of the Infinite Workday

Yes, there are some upsides to the Infinite Workday, but they come with caution.

For instance, Microsoft found in separate research that working late affects people differently. Remote workers often see evening hours as a productive window for quiet catch-up. Hybrid workers find working in the evening more stressful.

Seals sums it up well: “If the late evenings are paired with a truly flexible work schedule, this is typically considered a benefit. Caregivers for both children and aging parents will often express a desire for and gratitude for the flexibility to be with their families during typical work times, e.g., picking kids up from school, attending school events, taking parents to medical appointments, and then returning to their work later in the evening.

“Also, employees working across time zones on global teams generally need a more flexible schedule to meet and collaborate with colleagues and the Infinite Workday allows for that. Additionally, for workers in high autonomy jobs, late evening work can be a boost to their productivity, allowing them to work at their own pace and schedule.”

3. Should We Embrace the Infinite Workday?

Whether employees think of it as an Infinite Workday or not, many people will continue to practice it. Employers likely need to embrace the trend and help employees better handle it.

“This means setting clear expectations around availability and encouraging boundaries, while also supporting those who choose flexible hours,” says Seals. “Tools that track work patterns and promote healthy habits can help employees stay balanced. Ultimately, it’s about enabling flexibility without sacrificing well-being.”

4. How Can We Manage the Infinite Workday?

To avoid burnout — a major risk from working chaotic, long days — employees will likely need some help and/or guidance on managing their Infinite Workdays.

“Preventing burnout in an always-on environment starts with a culture that values balance and models healthy work behaviors. Managers should regularly check in with their teams and encourage asynchronous work to reduce pressure,” says Seals. “Technology can support this by helping employees disconnect and monitor their workload. When used thoughtfully, these practices make flexibility sustainable.”

5. How to Set the Right Workday Culture for You

Regardless of your choices on the Infinite Workday, here are ways to manage it:

If You Embrace an Infinite Workday …

If you want to embrace the idea of an Infinite Workday and the flexibility it can offer, then lean into it by:

• Reminding employees to maintain a balance. If necessary, have them maintain some form of time cards again to ensure they aren’t working too many hours.
• Implementing focused work time. Create meeting-free time zones — ideally in the supposed productive times of 9-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. — throughout the workweek, giving employees time to focus on deep work practices.
• Creating expectations around communication. People will feel less of a need to be “on” constantly if you create and maintain expectations around how and when employees respond to each other. For instance, you might ask for messaging app responses within an hour, email responses within a half-day and meeting requests within a day.

If You Want to Avoid an Infinite Workday

If you want employees to avoid the trappings that exist around it, Seals has some best practices for you.

• Identify the root causes of the Infinite Workday. Could it be …
  • Company culture. Employees work remotely or in a hybrid environment and feel the need to be visible online, also known as “digital presenteeism”, to prove they are working and are more productive.
  • Meeting mania. Too many recurring, invite-all meetings or spontaneous, last-minute meetings; no real norms in the organization about how to use asynchronous tools to communicate key messages.
  • Lack of trust. Leaders with remote or hybrid teams tend to default to real-time touchpoints in hybrid settings to feel more in control of their teams and ensure that work is getting done.

• Once you identify the underlying issues, try to:
  • Reward leaders for cutting or restructuring low-value meetings
  • Encourage no-meeting days and blocking time on calendars for focus hours
  • Create learning modules on effective meeting design (e.g., agendas, being thoughtful about who needs to participate, 25/50-minute default meeting times)
  • Use internal organization-wide communication tools to celebrate unplugging as a strength that leads to better outcomes for the business, not a weakness
  • Role model healthy boundaries for the team, e.g., using delayed sending features in emails, using out-of-office auto replies, establishing the norm that a leader sending emails or messages during off hours isn’t always a request for the employees to respond during off hours
  • Run better, shorter, purpose-driven meetings and using email/messaging tools when practical to communicate or share status updates, and
  • Ensure that performance evaluations are about outcomes, not just hours worked or responsiveness during off hours.