Data shows that workers and bosses are already at war over where to work, with management demanding more days in the office and employees trying to buck these mandates. But according to a recent report, a new front has opened in the battle over workplace flexibility. It centers not on where employees work but when.
When videoconferencing company Owl Labs surveyed 2,000 U.S. workers for its 2025 State of Hybrid Work report, almost half reported they did not have enough flexibility in regard to when they worked. What kind of flexibility were they hoping to get?
Something that Owl Labs calls “microshifting.” You may know it simply as breaking up your day as you see fit, taking an hour or so to run an errand or recharge when you need and returning to your work whenever suits you best.
Whether you use the latest business jargon for microshifting or not, it’s clear that it’s popular with employees. Sixty-five percent said they’d like to work this way, and 37 percent said they would turn down a job that did not provide flexible scheduling. But experts suggest workers should be careful what they wish for.
A new term for an old phenomenon
Microshifting might be the new buzzword, but the idea of working whenever suits you best isn’t new. It’s been on the rise since the pandemic exploded old expectations about how our workdays are organized.
Back in 2022, Microsoft researchers looking at data on the use of the company’s products documented the rise of what they called the “triple-peak day.” Workers, the numbers showed, were most active on their computers before lunch and after lunch. That’s as you’d expect from a traditional office workday. But there was a new third spike in the usage data, too. Many of us were logging in during the quiet hours right before bed.
The Microsoft researchers called this mass return to our laptops around 9 or 10 at night the triple-peak day. Owl Labs analysts would probably look at the same numbers and see it as evidence of microshifting in action.
The problem with an undefined workday
Just as previous research suggests that microshifting isn’t a new phenomenon, it also offers several reasons why workers might want to think carefully before they demand it as a formal policy from their organizations.
The appeal of microshifting is obvious. We’ve all had a dentist appointment or kid’s soccer game we need to be at during traditional work hours. The ability to step out for these obligations and make them up another time makes the juggle massively easier. But making the workday amorphous and open-ended also comes with costs.
A variety of pandemic-era data shows that when workers are offered more flexibility in where and when they work, their workdays tend to balloon. Yes, they have more control over their time. But they also tend to end up working more hours. Different studies came up with slightly different figures, but flexibility seems to have stretched the workday by an hour or two.
In real life, asking your boss for the flexibility to run out for some errands often translates to giving them permission to urgently email you at 8:30 at night and expect a prompt reply.
Does microshifting actually reduce stress?
Not only can asking for microshifting embolden management to expect more after-hours responsiveness, but other research suggests it might not be as good for workers’ peace of mind as they expect. When Google asked workers to report whether they prefer to keep their work and home lives rigidly separate (they labeled these folks “segmentors”) or blend the two (“integrators”), the search giant discovered one approach was associated with higher life satisfaction.
“We found that, regardless of preference, Segmentors were significantly happier with their well-being than Integrators. Additionally, Segmentors were more than twice as likely to be able to detach from work (when they wanted to),” Google reported.
Interweaving work and life sounds appealing. But it can also lead to a blurring of boundaries that can lead not only to longer hours but also higher stress and less relaxation.
Be careful what you ask for
All of this isn’t to say that workers have no idea what’s good for them and they should welcome being basically chained to their desks from 9 to 5. Adults have complicated, busy lives and have every right to demand the flexibility to handle personal issues during work hours when they arise. That’s a matter of simple practicality and respect.
But by turning an everyday level of understanding into a formal policy with a buzzy label, microshifting runs the risk of going a step further. It doesn’t just stretch the boundaries of the workday to accommodate real life. It threatens to dissolve them.
That might sound good at first. But evidence suggests that saying the workday is whenever seems convenient can have unforeseen consequences for workers. If you can declare it’s easier for you to get something done at 11 p.m., why can’t your boss? Or, for that matter, your constantly-on-the-clock brain?
It’s one thing to ask to step away for an hour here and there. It’s another to allow work to leak into every moment of your life. Before you advocate for microshifting, make sure that’s not what you’ll end up with.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
—Jessica Stillman
This article originally appeared on Fast Company‘s sister publication, Inc.
Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.