What do many workers want to leave behind for 2026? The 9-to-5 schedule. Instead, many people are interested in employing a technique called “microshifting.”
Owl Labs’ 2025 State of Hybrid Work report reports that 65% of workers are interested in microshifts, defined as working in “short, nonlinear blocks based on an individual’s energy, responsibility, and productivity patterns.”
“Microshifting appeals to employees not only as a scheduling preference, but also as a way to regain control of their increasingly fragmented work lives,” Owl Labs CEO Frank Weishaupt told CNBC Make It. “Employees are coming up with improvised solutions to reconcile the demands of work with the realities of life.”
During the pandemic-induced remote work boom, many workers have gained more control over their time during the workday. Interest in microshifts may reflect an interest in maintaining that flexibility, especially among those doing some degree of remote or autonomous work, as it can be more difficult for office workers with traditional 9-to-5 jobs.
However, microshifting is not an entirely new technique. Doug Gregory of Grand Rapids, Michigan, says he’s been working remotely for decades, before it even had a name, and he’s been doing it even more since the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve somehow gotten used to the idea of being present or available for our loved ones,” he says of the wide range of emotions among employees that have arisen from the remote work era of the pandemic. “We have become accustomed to paying more attention to our health.”
While Gregory acknowledged that “not everyone has control over their calendar,” he found that microshifts “make your day more fluid.”
“If I need an hour off during the day to do something with my grandkids or go to the doctor, that’s okay. I’ll make up for it in the evening or early morning,” he says. “It comes down to what you’re responsible for accomplishing, how you do it, and how you organize your life to accomplish it.”
Gregory previously worked in sales and is now self-employed working in audiovisual integration.
“I make a living based on results,” he says. “Nobody is sending me a check for how many hours I work a week.”
Microshifts can be particularly helpful for parents and caregivers. A report from Owl Labs found that caregivers are about three times more likely to attempt microshifting than non-caregivers.
Teresa Robertson of Elkridge, Maryland, is one of them. For 25 years, Robertson said she has been juggling work, including work as a project manager, with caring for her late husband, who had chronic health problems.
“For me, it was just about not losing my job,” she says. “I had to take care of my husband and I had to work, so I had to figure it out.”
That meant scheduling meetings around doctor’s appointments, starting a few days early or finishing late other days to take them to doctor’s appointments, manage medications, and juggle other caregiving responsibilities.
“We had a routine. After I calmed him down and made sure he was dressed, had his medication, and had food, I was able to relax and focus on work,” she says. “I have more control over my day and I can stop and make decisions. Okay, I need to check his blood pressure and then get back to work.”
She points out that some of her jobs during this period were more outcome-based, such as project management, so she was trusted to manage her time as long as she got the job done.
“If I finished the job on time and on budget, they didn’t tap the clock to see if I was in the building at 7 a.m.,” she says. “I’ve had a lot of Zoom meetings in my hospital room. I take my laptop with me everywhere I go, and when I can work, I can work.”
Robertson now runs a virtual assistant agency, which she says is helping her keep microshifting. She schedules her time so that Friday afternoons, for example, are mostly free to run personal errands.
“I’m always doing microshifts,” she says. “It’s the only way I can make a living and earn an income.”
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