Workers love flexibility, with most preferring a greater work-life balance than the old model of sitting at a desk for eight hours (give or take a lunch break) provides.
So it’s no surprise that “micro-shifting” is trending among employees, especially Gen Zers and millennials, per a survey of 2k US employees by video conferencing company Owl Labs.
“Micro-shifting”...
… involves breaking up work into shorter, non-linear blocks to allow for other activities during the traditional work day.
Many of us probably already do this without calling it "micro-shifting." You go to work in the morning, take a break to go to the dentist or get a haircut, go back to work, leave to pick up your kids or walk your dog, have dinner and family time, and cram in a bit of work before bed. Congrats, you’re a micro-shifter.
Meanwhile…
… employers are engaging in a move called “hybrid creep” that threatens the freedom micro-shifters enjoy.
Rather than risk employees balking at a full RTO mandate, some companies asked employees to work a hybrid schedule. But Owl Labs found that ~33% of employers switched up their hybrid policies in the last year.
Some employees don’t mind the office — Owl Labs found the majority of respondents would accept two to three days in-office — but many still struggle, with 47% saying they have less flexibility than they desire.
So why do employers creep?
Employers who want to track their workers’ output or encourage face-to-face collaboration prefer them in-office, even if long commutes and stress can lead to burnout.
And even in hybrid work, employees still push back against unnecessary meetings and wasted time due to technical difficulties or people who show up or log in late.
This leads to Owl Labs’ most interesting finding: where RTO was once a battle over where employees worked, it’s now shifting into one that also includes when.