Hybrid Work Creates a New Dead Zone

Ever try to reach a remote colleague between the hours of 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.? Odds are, it wasn’t an easy task.

That might have meant a meeting had to be rescheduled or a reply was delayed until evening hours, when you had left the office behind. For some, it’s frustrating. For others, it’s the new normal.

The 4-6 p.m. time block is becoming increasingly less accessible as remote workers use that time and the flexibility afforded by their work situation to run tasks. Whether it’s picking the kids up from school, dropping them off at soccer practice, hitting the gym before the rush or just taking care of household chores, remote workers are reclaiming that time as their own.

Taking that time doesn’t mean shirking their duties, however. A new study from Microsoft, which looks at usage of keyboard activity, shows there are three peak times that home-based workers are most active on their systems—the morning, the afternoon and after 10:00 p.m. And that “triple peak day” is likely to stick around, the company says.

“Having your kids at home, having no breaks to eat or exercise, we see that one of the ways to cope is to take a break, eat dinner, and then spend time in the evening actually getting things done,” says Mary Czerwinski, research manager, human understanding and empathy, at Microsoft Research.

Parents who do tend to family or personal activities during the mid-afternoon make up for that by working non-traditional hours, sometimes after the kids have gone to bed and the frenetic symphony of Slack chimes, email alerts and Zoom requests has quieted down.

“This [third] peak is different from the other two peaks because it raises the question, ‘Is this about flexibility, or is it about work encroaching on someone’s personal hours?’” says Shamsi Iqbal, principal researcher on productivity and intelligence at Microsoft Research and Microsoft Viva Insights.

Whatever the answer, the workday is work/life balance is certainly tipping past the balance line. The average Teams user today sends 42% more chats per person. And that raises fears of burnout, which has been a problem since early in the pandemic.

That’s especially worrisome, as many people are shouldering responsibilities they didn’t have to handle before, whether that’s childcare or even being the caretaker to a family member. Add in the sometimes-chaotic scheduling that often accompanies a global workforce and it can tip the scale.

That’s what makes flexibility, including that new dead zone, so important, Microsoft argues. But it’s equally imperative for both companies and coworkers to be empathetic towards people who don’t keep the same hours—and to communicate clearly about their own needs.

“Workers are not islands,” Iqbal says. “Right now, you cannot assume that everyone on your team is going to be available during the 9-to-5 timeframe, or that others will want to collaborate when you’re working outside regular business hours.”

Some companies are learning to embrace this new dead zone. At Deloitte U.S., the company has cut back sharply on end-of-the-day training sessions and rolled out recorded tutorials instead. And Komet U.S.A., a dental equipment maker in South Carolina, has altered company policy to do away with meetings after 4 p.m. or on Friday afternoons. 

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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