What the last thing you do before bed reveals about you
OK, here's another one: it's 10pm and you're about to switch off the bedroom light, what's the last thing you do? Again, for around a third of us, we'll check our emails as one of the final actions before going to bed.
We never completely switch off from work, from early light to late at night, and this growing trend even has a new name: the infinite workday.
Most workers fall into one of two categories – segmenters and integrators – depending on how adept you are at separating your work and life schedules. However, new research shows that it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep the two apart as technology speeds up and expectations rise.
Every time you open an email, send a private message or type a sentence using a Microsoft product, that click is captured. These trillions of data points are then anonymously aggregated to give us fascinating insights about how real people are spending their workdays – and this year's data is confronting.
The average employee now sends or receives more than 50 messages outside core business hours.
Microsoft's 2025 Work Trend Index Annual Report found that many office workers start checking their email in the early morning, before switching to instant communication channels such as Teams by 8am. Now, I don't need to remind you of the additional problems this new technology brings, but research shows the number of messages a worker receives on Microsoft Teams is up 6 per cent year-on-year, averaging 153 per weekday.
The middle of the day, which was once thought of as our most productive window, is usually consumed by an avalanche of meetings in the calendar, with afternoons spent trying to keep up with the onslaught of information.
But the clearest indicator of the infinite workday occurs later on – yes, you can close your laptop screen, or travel home from the office, but work still stretches well into the evening.
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AI technology is expected to be a major focus at the three-day event in Canberra after the Tech Council predicted it could add $115 billion a year to Australia's economy by 2030. More than 30,000 teachers could be trained in the use of artificial intelligence technology as part of a year-long trial spearheaded by US tech giant Microsoft and Australia's Future Skills Organisation. The firms will announce the pilot program in Canberra on Wednesday in collaboration with 13 industry and education partners, and in a move designed to promote wider adoption of AI technology. The plan to boost Australia's AI use comes a day after the Productivity Commission recommended schools deploy the technology for both teachers and students, and after it named AI adoption as one of its priorities for the year. Artificial intelligence technology is also expected to be a major focus at the federal government's Economic Reform Roundtable next week. 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