'Chaotic and fragmented': Report highlights extra work, distractions plaguing workers

New research released by Microsoft has thrown a spotlight on just how much extra work, and how much distraction, employees are dealing with every day – and the picture is not encouraging. 

It’s an issue Christian Cook, professor of human resources at Mount Royal University, has been keeping an eye on for some time, and according to her, the situation is becoming dire for employees. 

“I have grave concerns about what's happening within the workday,” she says.  

“I don't know how on Earth we're getting anything done at all, quite honestly, because we're basically running an individual call centre, plus doing a job that is likely not a call centre.” 

Task-switching and cognitive load are taking a toll 

Looking at “trillions of globally aggregated and anonymized Microsoft 365 productivity signals,” the report breaks down a typical day of Microsoft 365 global users based on productivity data and various market surveys, including 1,000 full-time users in Canada. 

Key insights include the following: 

• 48% of workers and 52% of leaders feel work is “chaotic and fragmented” 

• Employees are interrupted up to every two minutes during the workday 

• The average employee receives 117 emails and 153 Teams messages per workday 

• 40% of users online by 6 am are already checking email 

• Meetings after 8 pm are up 16% year-over-year 

• Most meetings happen during peak productivity windows (9–11 am, 1–3 pm) 

• 57% of meetings are “ad hoc.” 

“I don't think that people are getting are getting the breaks they need. They're not getting the rest they need,” says Cook. 

“I also think about the cognitive load that it takes to switch tasks, and employees are being interrupted and asked to task switch just like dozens, maybe even hundreds, of times per day, and the load of that is high and negative. I have concerns about how people are doing, to be honest.” 

‘Move, shift, prioritize, cancel, delegate’ 

Many employees are stuck in the cycle of never being able to catch up – as the report points out, the workday feels for many now like “navigating chaos”, draining energy and slowing production. Tellingly, the report identified a “digital equivalent of cramming before an exam” period, seen in the final 10 minutes before meetings as PowerPoint activity spikes 122 per cent. 

“Even if they've been up past 10 pm, they get up in the morning and that inbox is full again. It's just like ‘There they are again, I thought I solved all those problems,’” explains Cook. 

“So, this feeling of ‘How am I going to get through it? How am I going to do this? What am I going to have to move, shift, prioritize, cancel, delegate?’ And then all of that might have happened to somebody before their feet have even hit the floor in the morning.” 

Flexibility failing employees  

What started optimistically during and post-pandemic as increased flexibility hasn’t panned out as expected, Cook adds, as those extra hours of promised personal time have just ended up being filled with more work: “The idea that we could be flexible, that I'm going to take a couple hours off during the day to go to my kid’s dance recital, and then I'm going to log back in in the afternoon... what's ended up happening is that I'm just working through and then doing the extra anyway.” 

Plus, flexibility itself adds another layer to the problem. With employees working on different schedules, even if an employee is off for personal time, the messages keep on coming from those who aren't.

“That's part of this around-the-clock phenomenon,” Cook says.  

“I still think that employees are feeling, in some cases, a little precarious in their jobs, and so they want to signal that they are present, they're available, they're on it, they're the person you can call at any time. And they feel like that will provide them some sort of job protection or at least reduce their precarity.” 

It’s not just office workers 

In considering which sector of employees are the most effected by the infinite workday, Cook points out that it’s not just office or knowledge workers, as she admits she too initially assumed. But her students tell her a different story. 

“Many of them work in hospitality or in a service industry, and their managers are texting them at all hours of the day and night. This tech is really everywhere,” Cook says.  

“I think it's probably a more severe impact for certain groups … but I'm losing sight of who would be immune to this.” 

Workplace distractors and after-hours emails from the boss are one thing; exacerbating the issue is the fact that with smartphones now also ubiquitous, employees are constantly accessible, to everyone. 

“It's coming to you through work channels, but then it's also coming to you through personal communication,” Cook says.  

“That's blending things, so that this is starting to feel really overwhelming.” 

What HR can do instead 

Rather than rely on new rules or policies, Cook offers clear, practical solutions grounded in workplace culture: 

• Reward the right behaviours: “Be really careful about what you're rewarding. When people are contributing to a culture that is not promoting wellness, and they might not be well themselves, help them, but don't reward that or encourage more of it.” 

• Be clear about priorities: “It would be helpful to help employees know what to focus on, but it would also be really helpful to let them know where not to turn their attention.” 

• Audit workloads: “Do a work audit and actually figure out if what is being asked of this person is reasonable for a 1.0 FTE.” 

• Use meeting time wisely with agendas: “If you're going to host a meeting, be really intentional and be really clear about what your expectations are.”  

• Train for better communication: “We need to provide communications training to employees. I think that you need to help people help themselves and each other by giving them tools to communicate more effectively, which in some cases means they're communicating less often, but with greater impact.” 

Reclaiming focus – Communication 101 

Tools like Do Not Disturb and schedule-send aren’t just conveniences, they’re sanity savers, and Cook says HR should be prioritizing helping employees use communication platforms in more efficient, respectful ways. 

This training would include emailing succinctly and with pertinent information upfront – a seemingly basic practice that many employees don’t do.  

“That, in my mind, is more effective than implementing yet another policy that HR owns but nobody abides by. And what are you going to do if somebody violates the policy?” Cook says. 

“Aren't we better to turn the culture toward ‘We communicate effectively and efficiently,’ rather than mandating that?”