Overworking so much that you only pause to sleep? Welcome to the infinite workday

You work all night, you work all day, to pay the bills you have to pay? (There really is a Mamma Mia quote for everything.) But seriously—we’re all overworking, right? Like, we’re working all day and then, somehow, well into the evening, too? Maybe the moment you open your eyes, you instinctively reach for your phone to check your work emails. And maybe, on your “lunch break,” you find yourself quickly finishing up some last-minute to-dos. And possibly, on your commute home, you use the “free time” as a chance to get ahead for the next day. You might even find your laptop calling to you after dinner.

If all of this sounds familiar, you may have found yourself falling into the trap of the “infinite workday”—which is exactly what it sounds like. A workday that feels like it never ends, whether you’re heading home for the evening or even jetting off on holiday.

And Microsoft’s Work Trend Index has found evidence to back it up. Meetings outside the traditional 9 to 5 have risen by 153%, with meetings after 6pm increasing by 46%. Plus, the average employee sends or receives over 50 messages outside of core business hours. They even found a new “third peak” of work, which happens at 10pm.

It’s “characterised by a frenzied pace and never-ending pull to be working,” explains Bree Groff, author of TODAY WAS FUN: A Book About Work (Seriously). It tends to follow a similar pattern. “The classic infinite workday starts as early as 6am, with an employee rolling over to check their email seconds after they open their eyes and before looking at any partner lying next to them,” she says.

Throughout this unending workday, things probably feel hectic. You might feel pulled in multiple directions or find yourself multitasking to the point of confusion. “The workday itself is characterised by a barrage of interruptions with little to no focus time,” says Groff. And this style of work is becoming more common—Microsoft cites that workers are interrupted on average every 2 minutes by a meeting, email or message. “And the work only continues into the evening with evening emails,” she says. 29% of active employees claim they dive back into their inboxes by 10pm. “Then, of course, there’s weekend work too, with no day spared from the grind.”