The last time we covered the Microsoft Work Trend Index report was two years ago when they crunched Microsoft 365 data and discovered that Teams is the biggest productivity killer at work. In case you missed that article and don’t want to click through to read it, here are the highlights:
- Sixty-eight percent of people say they don’t have enough uninterrupted focus time during the workday. And 62% of survey respondents say they struggle with too much time spent searching for information in their workday. Across the Microsoft 365 apps, the average employee spends 57% of their time communicating (in meetings, email, and chat) and 43% creating (in documents, spreadsheets, and presentations).1 The heaviest email users (top 25%) spend 8.8 hours a week on email, and the heaviest meeting users (top 25%) spend 7.5 hours a week in meetings. And this global average includes frontline workers— for knowledge workers, who rely even more on digital communication, the share of the week taken up by emails and meetings is even greater. [Ed. note: “knowledge workers” is you guys]
- Take meetings, for example. People report that the number one productivity disruptor is inefficient meetings, followed closely by having too many meetings at number three. Most people say it’s difficult to brainstorm in a virtual meeting (58%) or catch up if they joined a meeting late (57%), that next steps at the end of a meeting are unclear (55%), and that it’s hard to summarize what happens (56%).
As it did with most everything else, the pandemic made the burden of meetings even worse. Since February 2020, people are in three times more Teams meetings and calls per week (192%).
Coming back to current year, for the 2025 report they chose a disturbing tagline: The Infinite Workday. You’ll see why in a second.
The figures Microsoft shares in the report are “based on trillions of globally aggregated and anonymized Microsoft 365 productivity signals.” In other words, data derived from traffic zipping through their servers. If anyone has a massive pile of data from which to make conclusions about the working world it’s the overlords of 365. Here’s what they found:
They go on to break down the data by time of day, starting with the asscrack of dawn and the morning hours that follow it:
The workday often begins before a lot of people are out of bed. By 6 am, many Microsoft 365 users are scanning overflowing inboxes in hopes of getting ahead. Our telemetry data shows:
- 40% of people who are online at 6 am are reviewing email for the day’s priorities.
- The average worker receives 117 emails daily—most of them skimmed in under 60 seconds.
- Mass emails with 20+ recipients are up 7% in the past year, while one-on-one threads are on the decline (-5%).
By 8 am, Microsoft Teams overtakes email as the dominant communication channel, shifting the day into high gear.
- The average worker receives 153 Teams messages per weekday.
- Messages per person are up 6% YOY globally—more than 20% in regions like Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and over 15% in the UK and South Korea.
By midday, it’s meetings, meetings, meetings:
The most valuable hours of the workday are often ruled by someone else’s agenda. Half (50%) of all meetings take place between 9–11 am and 1–3 pm—precisely when, as research shows, many people have a natural productivity spike in their day, due to their circadian rhythms. But our data reveals that we fill this time with meetings, leaving little room for deep focus. Tuesdays now carry the heaviest meeting load (23%), while Fridays taper to just 16%. Instead of deep work, these prime hours are spent cycling through a carousel of calls.
OK at least tell us things calm down by evening. Please tell us that.
The shift to the triple peak day that started during the pandemic is no longer a trend—for many, it’s the norm. Today’s workday stretches well into the evening. Our telemetry data shows that meetings after 8 pm are up 16% year over year, with global and flexible teams accounting for much of the increase. And it’s not just meetings: the average employee now sends or receives more than 50 messages outside of core business hours, and by 10 pm, nearly a third (29%) of active workers dive back into their inboxes, pointing to a steady rise in after-hours activity.
[F]or some, this pressure spills into the weekend—making Sunday feel like just another Monday:
- Our telemetry data shows a notable bump in weekend email usage. Nearly 20% of employees actively working on the weekend are checking their email before noon on Saturday and Sunday—waking up to work, even on typical days off. And over 5% are back in email on Sunday evenings (6 pm and later)—the Sunday scaries are real and measurable.
- And while email patterns mimic the workweek, other apps tell a different story: over the weekend, usage of WXP overtakes Teams messages as employees finally carve out time for uninterrupted focus work.
I’m a Mac/Chromebook gal and we use Slack/Google Workspace here so, not having used Windows since I ran my last machine over with a forklift some years ago, I had to Google WXP. All I’m getting is Windows XP and there’s no way (RIP the best Windows OS of our adult lives) so if someone can please let me know what that is I’d greatly appreciate it.
Anyway, the figures for late nights and weekends seem terrible on the surface but, as Microsoft points out, could be due at least in part to remote and hybrid workers catching up to make up for missing out on regular workday hours due to personal commitments. Or they’re just so bombarded by meetings, Teams messages, and obnoxious huge email chains with 20+ people CC’d that evenings and weekends are the only time they can get any actual work done.
It appears to be the latter. 1 in 3 employees surveyed as part of the report say the pace of work over the past five years makes it impossible to keep up.
You see now why they picked “infinite workday” as the theme of this year’s report?
Breaking down the infinite workday [Microsoft]
WXP – Word, Excel, PowerPoint makes sense , particularly in the context of evening work