A decade ago, I drove to my office job, where I had to swipe in and out with a badge. My days looked nearly identical as I clocked in at 8 a.m., worked on my computer all day, and clocked out at 5 p.m.. Fast forward five years, and I was working from home with way more flexibility. The typical 9-to-5 workday presented opportunities for lunch walks and quick errands as needed. Today, self-employment offers me the flexibility to create my own work schedule and plan my client deliverables around other parts of my life.
Two things are true here: (1) The level of flexibility that comes with creating my own schedule isn’t only for the self-employed, and (2) the workforce continues to change so rapidly that it’s challenging to keep up with. Today’s workers want flexibility, and one way they’re pushing for it is through the latest workplace trend: microshifting. Ahead, I’m breaking down what microshifting is, what’s causing the demand for it, how it can impact the workplace positively and negatively, and how to decide if it might be a fit for you.
What is microshifting?
“Microshifting” refers to an increasingly popular flexible way of work, specifically among Gen Z, parents, and caregivers, in which individuals work in short, non-linear blocks around their other responsibilities and commitments. Rather than forcing a full eight-hour shift, the approach creates space for workers to prioritize work-life integration, completing work activities when they are most productive and adapting their schedule for other life tasks in between.
Peter Duris, CEO and cofounder of Kickresume, said microshifting is an excellent way for employees to balance personal responsibilities alongside work, and it’s “especially game-changing for parents and carers.” For example, a working parent might work for a few hours before their children wake up, take a few hours away to drop their kids off at school and run errands, and then resume work later in the afternoon.
What is causing the demand for microshifting?
On the surface, the desire for more flexible work is causing the demand for microshifting. This begs the question: OK, so why is flexibility becoming increasingly critical for today’s workforce? These are the major culprits causing the demand:
The caregiving crisis
Millions of employees are tirelessly juggling professional responsibilities alongside family caregiving duties. According to a joint report by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC), 63 million Americans (up 45 percent over the last decade) are family caregivers. And 29 percent of caregivers fall into the rising sandwich generation—caring for both their aging parents and children, while managing their own household, workplace duties, and lifestyle. It’s no surprise that managing the time-consuming and ever-present demands of caregiving is increasing the need for flexibility in the workplace.
Gen Z’s influence on the modern workplace
Each new generation that enters the workforce brings fresh ideas, contributions, and priorities for consideration, and Gen Z is no different. In a study conducted by SurveyMonkey, almost a third of Gen Z workers reported that work-life balance is the most important thing they look for in a job, more so than their Millennial and Gen X colleagues. As the largest generation in the hourly workforce, Gen Z is already reshaping the hospitality and service industries through microshifting.
“Microshifting opens the door to work-life integration, allowing workers more flexibility to balance their workday tasks alongside high-priority caregiving, parental, or personal responsibilities.”
The evolving workplace
For many types of businesses, traditional work environments with rigid schedules and office-centric cultures feel outdated and in need of a refresh. Despite the growing number of return-to-office mandates in recent years, significant shifts in how, where, and why work happens are driven by changing employee expectations and technological advancements. The pandemic accelerated the rise of remote and hybrid work models, calling for a shift toward more flexible work arrangements. Duris told us, “Flexibility is one of the most common and sought-after perks in a job, whether that’s having the option to work from home or working flexible hours.”
How microshifting will positively impact the workforce
On paper, microshifting offers promising benefits for the workforce, including:
It allows more time for high-priority responsibilities outside of work
Perhaps most importantly, microshifting opens the door to work-life integration, allowing workers more flexibility to balance their workday tasks alongside high-priority caregiving, parental, or personal responsibilities, ideally without sacrificing their well-being and livelihood. For example, instead of waking up and caregiving, working a long eight-hour shift, and jumping back into caregiving until bedtime, workers could flex their days to meet their needs, and ideally, open up more time to take care of themselves as well.
Employees can align their schedules with their natural productivity cycles
Some of us work best right out of bed at 6:30 a.m.. Others find that they’re most productive after dinner, late into the evening hours leading up to their naturally late bedtime. Ultimately, each of us has a chronotype, which influences our alertness, activity levels, and, consequently, productivity. Microshifting offers workers the power and potential to capitalize on their natural productive hours, slotting work into their day when it makes sense, rather than adhering to a 9-to-5 schedule “because that’s the way we’ve always done it.”
It offers increased autonomy, leading to greater employee engagement
Employee engagement is a hot topic these days, with sources citing a notable decline in recent years. According to Gallup, employee engagement in the U.S. fell to its lowest level in a decade in 2024. Several contributing factors are at play, including unclear expectations, poor leadership, and a growing reduction in flexibility due to return-to-office policies. One way to help boost employee engagement? Paula Davis, author of Lead Well: 5 Mindsets to Engage, Retain, and Inspire Your Team, suggests autonomy is part of the answer.
According to Davis, there are different types of autonomy to consider incorporating, one of them being schedule autonomy. Microshifting is one example of schedule autonomy that provides team members with the freedom to choose when and where they work, which can lead to increased employee engagement and productivity.
READ: Workers Are “Revenge Quitting” in Response to Return-to-Office Mandates
How microshifting will negatively impact the workforce
And like all trends and ways of working, microshifting could present some significant workplace challenges, including:
It blurs the line between work and life
Microshifting intends to provide a better balance between work and life, but what happens when the boundaries between the two become blurred? When you mix the two, without clear expectations and deadlines, it can become challenging to determine when someone has finished all of their work for the day. And if you can work on a fluid schedule, you run the risk of the “infinite workday” without being able to clearly “leave” your work behind for the day.
READ: Help! We’ve Officially Entered the Era of the “Infinite Workday”
It can create communication and collaboration challenges
When team members decide when they work, communication and collaboration challenges will inevitably arise. One of the benefits of working alongside your team during similar working hours is that you can collaborate, share ideas, and build effective communication that helps keep everyone informed. Fluid schedules, while not impossible to work around, complicate these foundations.
“Microshifting is one example of schedule autonomy that provides team members with the freedom to choose when and where they work, which can lead to increased employee engagement and productivity.”
For example, if I work from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and I need help from Sarah, but she’s not available until 4:00 p.m., my project stalls, and I’m no longer working when she’s working. Additionally, finding overlaps in schedules can be tricky if teams don’t set agreed-upon shared working hours and expectations.
It’s not universally applicable
Much like remote and hybrid work doesn’t work for all types of roles (thinking about our friends in healthcare, for example), microshifting simply isn’t a fit for all kinds of work styles and roles. This can prove particularly problematic in organizations where some roles may be eligible for microshifting but others will not. For example, software engineers and product designers may be eligible to microshift, but what about in-person customer support and facilities staff within the same organization?
Outside of role variation, microshifting might not be a fit for certain work styles. For those who prefer firm boundaries between work and life, microshifting loosens those lines. Additionally, microshifting requires self-discipline, time management, focus, organizational skills, and self-awareness. Without these skills, microshifting can be overwhelming and impossible for workers who prefer the structure that an employer can provide.
How to know if microshifting is right for you
Even though most of us want more flexibility, the truth is that microshifting is not a perfect fit for every role, work style, or industry. With that in mind, deciding if it’s worth implementing going forward is up to you and your employer (if you have one). Here are some things to think about before incorporating microshifting or inquiring about it in your workplace.
Scan your current environment
Does your work allow for flexibility? Is your work deliverable-based, mainly individual, and not tied to real-time events? Do you have control over your schedule, or does your employer decide when you have to work? If you don’t have control, does your company culture invite experimentation and flexibility? The goal here is to determine whether microshifting is even a possibility in your current setup.
Assess your work style and level of self-discipline
If your environment allows for microshifting, you now need to determine if you’re ready to give it a try. Do you possess the habits that make microshifting work? Are you self-motivated? Comfortable setting boundaries? A good asynchronous communicator? Be honest with yourself! If you don’t feel like you have the skills to make microshifting work, try focusing on developing these skills first. And if you prefer a strict separation between work and home, or flexibility makes you feel anxious, consider that microshifting might not be a good fit for your work style.
Run a trial period
If your environment allows for it, and you have the skills to give it a try, consider running a microshifting experiment. You don’t have to go all in. Try microshifting for one week and track your energy, focus, and progress. Or work with your manager to run a microshifting experiment with your team for a few days, designating dedicated collaboration hours and flexibility outside of that. Run a brief retrospective at the end of the experiment to decide whether it’s worth continuing.
Alyssa Towns, Contributing Career & Finance Writer
Alyssa Towns is a Denver-based writer and communications professional whose writing and expertise have appeared in Business Insider, Clockwise, G2, The Knot, Passion Planner, Thrive Global, and more. In addition to being a freelance writer, Alyssa has a background in internal communications and change management and is passionate about helping humans thrive in the workplace.
