Can’t quite log off? Microsoft reveals the bleak reality of work today – and 3 ways AI can help

How often do you find yourself working early in the morning, late at night, or even on weekends? Whether you’re responding to emails, checking reports, or attending meetings, the workday often seems like it never ends. That’s especially true in this age of remote and hybrid workers. Well, at least one major tech giant apparently feels your pain.

In a new special report entitled “Breaking down the infinite workday,” Microsoft describes how and why the never-ending workday plagues many professionals. Released on Tuesday, this special report is a follow-up to the company’s recent “2025 Work Trend Index Annual Report.” In that one, Microsoft explored the concept of a Frontier Firm in which work is managed by hybrid teams of AI agents and humans.

Also: 5 ways to turn AI’s time-saving magic into your productivity superpower

With the new report, the company analyzed how and when people use different Microsoft 365 products, such as Outlook, Teams, and Office. The goal was to map out the time and duration of a typical workday. In its anonymized analysis, Microsoft found a roadblock to productivity in the form of a seemingly infinite workday. Here’s how that plays out for many professionals.

The never-ending workday

The workday often starts at 6 a.m., with 40% of the people reviewing email to prioritize the tasks for the day ahead. The average worker gets around 117 emails each day, most of them skimmed in less than 60 seconds. (Keep that in mind the next time you send an email to someone.) Though one-to-one emails have declined by 5% over the past year, mass emails hitting 20 or more recipients are up by 7%.

By 8 a.m., Microsoft Teams takes over for email as the main method for communicating. Here, the average worker gets around 154 Teams messages each day. Across the world, that number represents an average gain of 6% over the past year. However, in regions like Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the increase surges to 20%. In the UK and South Korea, the jump in the number of messages is 15%.

Also: Microsoft’s new AI skills are coming to Copilot+ PCs – including some for all Windows 11 users

After tackling all the initial emails and messages, it’s time to focus on some hardcore work. Ahh, not so fast. Here comes the meetings.

Based on Microsoft’s analysis, half of all meetings occur from 9-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. Those times may seem reasonable. But past research has indicated that your productivity spikes exactly during those hours. Rather than spend that time in meetings, you should be at your desk focused on more demanding or challenging work that requires your concentration.

Plus, meetings themselves have become more of a grind. Some 57% of them are scheduled on the fly without a calendar invite, according to the report. Even some scheduled meetings are booked at the last minute. Large meetings with 65 or more participants are the fastest-growing type. Almost a third involve people across multiple time zones.

Following a break for lunch, many employees turn to productivity apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This is when they finally focus on work like writing, analyzing data, and preparing presentations. But even here, the time is fragmented, said Microsoft. On average, a worker is interrupted every two minutes by an email, notification, or ad hoc meeting.

Okay, now comes 5 p.m. Quitting time, right? Nope. The data shows that the workday continues. As one example, meetings that run after 8 p.m. have risen by 16% over the past year. This is largely due to global and flexible teams trying to accommodate people around the world. Plus, the average employee receives more than 50 messages after normal business hours. By 10 p.m., 29% of workers head back to their inboxes to check their latest emails.

Aah, but now it’s the weekend. Time to relax and not think about work. Think again. Almost 20% of employees check their email before noon on Saturdays and Sundays. Some 5% return to their email on Sunday evenings after 6 p.m. as they prep for another week with more of the same.

Also: Why the argument for WFH could get a big boost from AI

Even in a workaholic society and culture, the infinite workday is madness. Not only does it suck up work time that should be spent more productively, but it leaves workers feeling tired and burnt out. And that hurts not only themselves but their employers.

What’s the answer? For this, Microsoft suggested we rely more on AI, specifically AI agents. Though I think we now pin too much of our hopes on AI, it’s worth reviewing what the company has to say.

Follow the 80/20 rule

Activity is not the same as progress. What good is work if it’s just busy work and not tackling the right tasks or goals? Here, Microsoft advises adopting the Pareto Principle, which postulates that 20% of the work should deliver 80% of the outcomes.

And how does this involve AI? Use AI agents to handle low-value tasks, such as status meetings, routine reports, and administrative churn. That frees up employees to focus on deeper tasks that require the human touch. For this, Microsoft suggested watching the leadership keynote from the Microsoft 365 Community Conference on Building the Future Firm. 

Redesign for the work chart

Instead of using an org chart to delineate roles and responsibilities, turn to a work chart. A work chart is driven more by outcome, in which teams are organized around a specific goal. Here, you can use AI to fill in some of the gaps, again freeing up employees for more in-depth work.

Microsoft cited a typical product launch as one example. For this, the content rests with marketing, the data with analytics, the budget with finance, and the messaging with communications. This means that a basic change like a price increase could take multiple days and meetings to get all the necessary parties on board. 

Also: Tech leaders are seemingly rushing to deploy agentic AI – here’s why

Instead, Microsoft pointed to Supergood, an AI-first agency previously called Supernatural. At Supergood, employees use AI to incorporate the right data into all of the offered services, from consumer research to brand strategy to creative ideas.

Acknowledging that AI can trigger anxiety among people fearing that they’ll be replaced by machines, Supernatural co-founder Mike Barrett said: “AI is no more coming for your job than circular saws came for the jobs of carpenters. The idea that you’re going to turn on some power tools, leave them in a room by themselves, and come back to fully finished furniture? It’s ludicrous.” Rather, Barrett suggested that workers look at AI as “a power tool for creative people.”

Use AI agents wisely

Finally, Microsoft pointed to a new breed of professionals known as agent bosses. They handle the infinite workday not by putting in more hours but by working smarter. One example cited in the report is Alex Farach, a researcher at Microsoft. Instead of getting swamped in manual work, Farach uses a trio of AI agents to act as his assistants. One collects daily research. The second runs statistical analysis. And the third drafts briefs to tie all the data together.

Also: Why smart businesses use AI to offload tasks and supercharge their teams

Of course, there’s still the challenge in learning how to use AI wisely. And that may take time and patience. “AI offers a way out of the mire, especially if paired with a reimagined rhythm of work,” Microsoft said in its report. “Otherwise, we risk using AI to accelerate a broken system.”

Get the morning’s top stories in your inbox each day with our Tech Today newsletter.