Quiet Time as a strategic tool: creating space for deep work in an “Infinite Workday”

09/12/2025

Based on trillions of aggregated and anonymized Microsoft 365 productivity signals, the latest Microsoft 2025 Work Trend Index reveals a work environment where interruptions never stop and true focus time has almost disappeared.

💡 Key findings from the report:

▪️ The average employee receives 117 emails/day and 153 Teams messages/day.

▪️ 57% of meetings are ad hoc, scheduled "in the moment".

▪️ During core work hours, employees are interrupted every 2 minutes by notifications, messages or meetings.

➡️ Mornings:

▪️ 40% of people online at 6:00 a.m. are already reviewing emails to identify the day's priorities.

➡️ Midday:

▪️ The most valuable productivity windows — 9–11 a.m. and 1–3 p.m. — are filled with meetings, exactly when most people hit their natural focus peak.

➡️ Afternoon:

▪️ After lunch, employees try to switch to deep work — Word, Excel, PPT usage surges — but focus is still fragmented due to constant pings.

➡️ Evenings and weekends:

▪️ Meetings after 8 p.m. are up 16% year over year.

▪️ Employees send or receive 50+ messages outside core hours.

▪️ Work regularly spills into weekends.

Experiences show that regular quiet time improves:

▪️ problem-solving

▪️ memory consolidation

▪️ emotional regulation

▪️ cognitive flexibility and overall mental health

🎁 Solution-focused question and tip for organisations

❓ How would our workflows, well-being and performance look like if quiet time were not optional, but a built-in, protected part of how we work?

💡 Exercise for organisations

  1. Define a company-wide Quiet Time Protocol — e.g., 60–90 minutes of protected focus time daily or dedicated meeting- and message-free hours.
  2. Establish communication norms where possible (e.g. delay-send after 6 p.m., no weekend notifications) and support them with built-in tools.
  3. Track the impact for several weeks and build it in into the organizations operating protocol. 

🎁 Solution-focused question and tip for leaders

❓ How can we (re)design my team's routines so that quiet time becomes part of the default operating routine?

💡 Exercise for leaders

  1. Agree on a daily or weekly quiet time block as a team, and communicate it to other teams.
  2. Move check-ins and standups out of peak productivity windows.
  3. Set expectations for response times (e.g., no instant replies required unless agreed otherwise).
  4. Follow and protect the quiet time rules - ensure others follow them as well!
  5. After 2 weeks, reflect together: is focus easier? Are interruptions fewer? Has energy improved? Has productivity improved? What are the experiences and feelings?

Quiet time is not less work. It is the time that supports and makes meaningful work possible.

Sources:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/breaking-down-infinite-workday?utm_source=chatgpt.com 

https://hbr.org/2015/01/the-ideal-work-schedule-as-determined-by-circadian-rhythms