‘Microshifting’ puts a new spin on 9-to-5 schedules

Before the hustle of her household begins, Jen Meegan seizes quiet morning moments to check company emails and refine ideas drafted the night before. After getting her teenagers to school, she might grocery shop or fill up her car before returning to her role as head writer and cofounder of creative services agency Sheer Havoc.

Meegan’s workday unfolds in focused bursts of a few hours, punctuated by breaks to handle family and personal matters—a pattern that repeats until she completes her tasks late in the evening.

This approach, known as “microshifting,” is gaining traction among workers who structure their professional responsibilities around their personal lives rather than adhering to traditional nine-to-five schedules. In this model, performance evaluation emphasizes outcomes over hours spent at a desk.

“Sometimes the break’s when most of the work will get done in your head, because you’re not sitting in front of a laptop just staring at a screen going, ‘I can’t come up with anything,'” Meegan explained.

The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed this trend, as remote and hybrid work arrangements revealed new possibilities for balancing professional and personal demands. As return-to-office mandates emerged, many workers sought ways to maintain flexibility for self-care and family responsibilities.

“As more managers and more organizations get better adept at giving a little bit of autonomy, this is becoming not only a little more popular, but it also gives employees the motivation and almost the license to ask for this,” said Kevin Rockmann, management professor at George Mason University’s Costello College of Business.

While independent contractors have long worked in flexible patterns, microshifting is now reaching traditionally structured roles. Some companies explicitly offer such flexibility, while others tacitly accept the practice without formal policies.

Advocates argue that intermittent work enhances productivity by allowing mental refreshment. Activities like walking or attending a child’s school event can reinvigorate workers drained by extended screen time.

“From a creativity standpoint, it’s good to take breaks,” Rockmann noted. “When you stop thinking about a task is when your best ideas come to you.”

Shellie Garrett, former director of investigations and appeals at Oklahoma Community Cares Partners, allowed her eight-person team to determine their own schedules, requiring only availability for emergencies and attendance at weekly meetings.

“Everybody needed to maintain availability for emergency questions or issues. But I let people determine what worked best for them productivity-wise,” Garrett said. “If productivity was lapsing, we had to figure out different solutions. But overall, I feel like giving that autonomy led to better production and happier employees.”

The arrangement accommodated team members with diverse needs—one was nursing an infant and homeschooling a preschooler, while another maintained a second career in real estate.

Amanda Elyse, who balances roles as a full-time legal writing professor at Seattle University School of Law and part-time policy lead at the Northwest Animal Rights Network, values microshifting for its personal benefits.

“There’s just so many little things in the day that, when you’re in control of your schedule, you can take that time to do,” said Elyse, who can share meals with her night-shift-working partner and play with her dogs during daylight hours.

However, Rockmann cautions that while microshifting often strengthens personal relationships, it can strain professional ones. “The whole idea of microshifting is taking care of yourself,” he explained. “It’s not that taking care of yourself is bad. It places the emphasis on the individual, not the relationships.”

Pranav Dalal, founder and CEO of remote staffing firm Office Beacon, acknowledges that microshifting occurs informally among his managerial staff spanning India, the Philippines, Mexico, and South Africa.

“It’s happening without a policy and without me saying it, and those are in positions where they’re more managerial positions,” he said. “I don’t really question it because I know that people are getting their work done at those levels.”

As a single father, Dalal understands the need for flexibility, but he has drawn boundaries when necessary. He once terminated an employee who routinely arrived late to in-person events, citing the resentment such behavior creates among team members.

“As an employer, it definitely is a big shift for companies,” Dalal added. “And the shift is, essentially, can you deliver the same quality service, reliably, when there’s microshifting happening?”

For those with health challenges, microshifting can be particularly valuable. Isabelle “Izzy” Young, a political organizer in Texas, uses schedule flexibility to manage her autism and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. If she needs additional sleep, she schedules meetings later in the day; if her nervous system requires resetting, she might take midday breaks before working into the evening.

“I am very lucky to have a principal that is a compassionate person,” Young said. “He’s acutely aware that life happens, and you can be incredibly productive and chronically ill.”

The tradeoff? Young feels perpetually on-call. “The job never ends, so you’re never really off the clock.”

Garrett also found microshifting essential for managing her autoimmune disease and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. “Microshifting was honestly a godsend,” she said. “I don’t know if I could have done this job without being able to do that.”

For workers considering requesting such arrangements, Garrett advises emphasizing employer benefits: “You have to go into the interview and sell it. You have go in and say, ‘I’m willing to do whatever schedule and put my best foot forward, but if you want me to be most productive or most creative, this is how I work best, if this is something you’re willing to work with.'”