Some Workers Want to Redefine Their Workday with Microshifts

The debate over where employees should work is still unsettled as workers push back against strict return-to-office mandates. Related to that battle is when employees work. According to new SHRM data, more than a third of workers (35%) said they would leave their current job for one that allows microshifting — even if it required changing careers.  

Microshifting refers to working in flexible, short bursts (six hours or less) throughout the workday instead of adhering to a continuous eight-hour day, which allows employees to balance responsibilities such as caregiving, education, or multiple jobs. 

Twenty-eight percent of respondents in the SHRM research said they would accept less meaningful work for the ability to take microshifts, and 25% would take a pay cut to do so. Office workers were especially willing to trade meaningful work for flexibility compared with deskless workers (32% versus 24%). 

The approach represents the next evolution of flexible work, focused less on location and more on autonomy and productivity management. It creates space for workers to complete work activities when they are most productive and adapt their schedule to other life tasks in between. 

Generation Z is at the forefront of this change, eager to redefine the structure of their days and reject the rigidity of the 9-to-5 schedule, but caregivers — such as parents and those providing elder care — are also embracing the model. 

Related Article: Employers Urged to Redesign Work to Prevent Burnout

The Potential Benefits

Advocates of microshifting say the approach unlocks productivity, engagement, and well-being. By allowing employees to align their schedules with their peak performance hours, organizations may see more energized workers who can better balance caregiving and personal priorities. 

Crucially, microshifting supports work/life integration rather than the traditional concept of work/life balance. Workers can manage their professional and personal responsibilities without feeling they must sacrifice one for the other. The model grants employees greater autonomy, which is often a key driver of engagement and retention. 

The Challenges Ahead

Still, microshifting isn’t without pitfalls. Flexible, nonlinear schedules can blur the boundaries between work and personal life, creating the risk of what some call “the infinite workday.” Without clear expectations, employees may find it difficult to truly disconnect. 

There are also collaboration and communication challenges. When employees work on different schedules, it can become harder to coordinate, share ideas, or maintain team cohesion. Leaders may need to adopt new tools, meeting norms, and performance management systems to make the model sustainable. 

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“Microshifting when and how you work can help you flexibly fit your work and life together in a way that works for you and your job; however, it is best if you make those small, intentional shifts within a set of parameters that guide how, when, and where work is done more broadly,” said Cali Williams Yost, a nationally recognized expert on workplace flexibility and the CEO and founder of the consultancy firm Flex+Strategy Group in New York City. 

“Those parameters could include norms that dictate hours when nonurgent messages can be sent and answered, when nonurgent meetings can be scheduled, when you should be accessible and responsive if someone needs to reach you, and how they should do it,” Yost said. “The problem is few organizations have actively engaged their workforce in the process of defining those parameters. And without that structure, microshifting runs the risk of devolving into a workday that can overwhelm rather than serve employees and the organization they work for.”