"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."
"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. 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."
Microshifting enables employees to break the workday into flexible segments, taking hour-long breaks to run errands or recharge and returning when convenient. Nearly half of surveyed workers report insufficient timing flexibility, with 65% wanting microshifts and 37% willing to decline jobs lacking flexible schedules. Microshifting emerged as pandemic-driven changes reshaped work rhythms and is associated with the 'triple-peak day' pattern of activity spikes. Experts warn that greater scheduling freedom can create trade-offs for boundaries, productivity, and work-life balance and may trigger managerial resistance or new workplace tensions.
Read at Fast Company
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