Australians are struggling to deal with the new “infinite workday”, with “focus-sapping” meetings and messages interrupting the most productive parts of the day, a new study has found.

Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Index Annual Report includes an analysis of data from the tech giant’s suite of products, including Teams.

It found that workers are being bombarded by unplanned meetings, incessant messages and 24-7 emails, and that the proper implementation of artificial intelligence could hold the key in overcoming this.

The average worker is receiving 117 emails each day, and 153 Teams messages.

In core work hours, an employee can only make it an average of two minutes before being interrupted by a meeting, email or message.

“For many, the workday now feels like navigating chaos – reacting to others’ priorities and losing focus on what matters most,” the Microsoft report said.

“In a time when every hour counts, that drift could quietly drain energy and stall business progress.”

Productive hours stifled

Previous research has found that between 9-11am and 1-3pm many people have a natural productivity spike.

But the Microsoft data shows that these are the most common times for meetings – with half of all meetings occurring in these time slots – leaving little time for “deep focus”.

“Instead of deep work, these prime hours are spent cycling through a carousel of calls,” the report said.

The data also shows that the workday is beginning earlier, with 40 per cent of the workers already online at 6am reviewing emails and working out priorities for the day.

The data shows that 11am is the busiest time of the workday, with a surge in messaging activity and the majority of employees being online.

And while there is a break in meetings after lunch, there is an increase in the use of apps such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, with workers attempting to put their head down and work.

An infinite workday

The workday is also stretching into the night, with the data showing a 16 per cent year-on-year increase in meetings happening after 8pm, and the average worker sending or receiving more than 50 messages outside of their core hours.

There has also been an uptick in the use of work email on the weekend, with nearly a fifth of all workers now checking their emails before noon on Saturday or Sunday.

“As business demands grow more complex and expectations continue to rise, time once reserved for focus or recovery may now be spent catching up, prepping, and chasing clarity,” the report said.

“It’s the professional equivalent of needing to assemble a bike before every ride.

“Too much energy is spent organising chaos before meaningful work can begin.”

To help overcome these obstacles to productive work, the Microsoft report recommends using AI to help workers implement the 80/20 rule – a focus on 20 per cent of the work that delivers 80 per cent of the outcomes.

It said that AI can make this rule scalable and help to streamline low-value tasks outside of the 20 per cent, such as status meetings and routine reports.

A report by Atlassian early last year found that more than three-quarters of work meetings in Australia are ineffective and are preventing people from completing actual work.

The survey of 5,000 workers across four continents, including 1,000 in Australia, found that meetings were the number one barrier stopping them from completing their day-to-day work.

It also found that nearly 65 per cent of workers were attending meetings where the intended goal of it was never stated, and more than 45 per cent had worked overtime due to meetings taking up too much of their time.