How To Reclaim Time And Boost Productivity During The Infinite Workday

Today’s employees face nonstop interruptions and never-ending workdays, with 48 per cent of employees and 52 per cent of leaders saying their work has become “chaotic and fragmented”.

That’s according to a recent study from Microsoft, which surveyed 31,000 knowledge workers worldwide. The company’s 2025 Work Trend Index discovered that employees using Microsoft 365 are interrupted every two minutes on average by a meeting, email or notification.

The typical workday is also extending long beyond 9am-5pm, with meetings after 8pm up 16 per cent year-on-year. The average employee now sends or receives over 50 messages outside of core business hours, Microsoft uncovered.

This reflects a broader trend at play: there is often no clear start or finish to the modern workday, with more time spent catching up or chasing clarity.

Locally in Australia, slowing long-term productivity growth remains a hot topic, particularly at the federal government’s Economic Reform Roundtable in August. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows the 20-year average annual growth rate was 0.8 per cent in 2023-24, down from 1.8 per cent in 2003-04.

With the nation laser-focused on addressing this central challenge, Logitech for Business believes both employees and companies are uniquely positioned to support greater efficiency gains.

Boosting national productivity is a collective effort, and it starts with empowering every Australian worker with the tools and strategies they need to succeed.

This could involve maintaining a hybrid working model, upgrading personal workplace technology and being more intentional with video conferencing.

Embrace A Hybrid-First Mindset

A key solution to solving sluggish productivity in Australian workplaces is understanding where your teams perform best – whether it be in the office, at home or a combination of both.

Although the answer will vary among individual employees, Logitech encourages business leaders to focus on the most effective model to deliver the best output.

Adopting a hybrid approach doesn’t mean sacrificing work-life balance either. With the infinite workday often blurring the lines between work and personal time, it’s vital to maintain clear boundaries regardless of what work environment you’re in.

Research from the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) recently found that productivity continues to be a direct benefit of hybrid working.

Some 65 per cent of respondents surveyed by AHRI also cited better work-life balance as a notable advantage. This was alongside improved employee retention (44 per cent), enhanced candidate attraction (41 per cent) and better employee health and wellbeing (41 per cent).

Don’t Underestimate Your Tech Set-Up

Investing in and transforming your personal workspace is one of the simplest ways to drive productivity. That starts with the technology surrounding you – from mice and keyboards to headsets and webcams.

In fact, poor technology can directly hinder employee efficiency, with Aetna International data revealing that 66 per cent of global workers said their remote work set-up negatively affected their performance.

The average Australian employee also loses 600 hours each year due to lost focus, according to Economist Impact and Dropbox research.

The conversation around boosting productivity doesn’t need to be overcomplicated. It could be as simple as deploying Ai-powered headsets that reduce unwanted noise and enable clearer audio in loud environments.

Straightforward yet smart changes to our daily workspace can deliver significant gains in efficiency, comfort and overall well-being.

To empower your employees both at home and in the office, businesses should consider:

• Devices that are easy for employees to adopt and use
  
  
• Devices that IT teams can effectively deploy and manage at scale
  
  
• Devices that provide a high-quality audio and visual experience

Work With Intention (Especially In Meetings)

Thanks to the rise of hybrid work, more time in the day is now spent in virtual meetings.

However, two-thirds of Australian employees are losing nearly three work hours each week to unproductive meetings, COS recently discovered, totalling nearly four full working weeks annually.

To avoid video meeting fatigue, organisations should prioritise setting clear agendas, reducing multitasking and having shorter meetings with fewer participants to enhance performance.

Unproductive meetings can spur on the infinite workday, leading to meeting overload and employee burnout. Business leaders must ensure that when meetings occur, they are purposeful, efficient and genuinely achieve an outcome, rather than consuming valuable time.

We believe that effective changes such as these will help employees not only survive but thrive in the infinite workday.

Employers and IT leaders alike have a vital role in deploying technology that protects focus and removes the daily friction employees face.

Sean Byrne is Head of Logitech for Business, ANZ.

Last Updated on September 16, 2025 by Sean Byrne