New Trend: Stopping Work at 4:00, and Finishing at 10:00 P.M.
Here's another office trend that wasn't possible a few years ago: Working nine-to-five in one solid chunk is less common than it used to be.
Instead, people are working until late-afternoon . . . skipping out early . . . taking an extended break . . . and logging back in before bed to finish up.
The term for it is a "triple-peak day," because there are three different times when productivity spikes now. There used to be two peaks . . . 11:00 A.M. and 3:00 P.M. Now there's a third one around 10:00 P.M.
Basically, people are using their "flex hours" to leave work early and beat traffic, or go pick up their kids. Then they're logging back in at home before bed to finish a project, or deal with leftover emails.
Management doesn't love it, because it delays everything. If they send someone an email at 3:30, they might not hear back for seven hours. And if they schedule a meeting for 4:00, half the staff is already gone.
There's concern it could also blur the lines even more between work hours and "me time." But it might be impossible to put the genie back in the bottle.
(Insider)
Originally posted on July 25th, 2023