The four-day dream is over

Frank Weishaupt, CEO of Boston-based video-conferencing company Owl Labs, says the four-day workweek conversation has completely shifted. Workers have stopped pursuing it as an endpoint.

“We have completely shifted away from a conversation about the four-day workweek”

Work now stretches across six days

Instead of compressing hours into fewer days, workers have stretched their weeks into a sixth day, breaking work into non-linear blocks around parenting, energy levels, and personal errands.

Three-quarters work on Sundays

Seventy-four percent of employees say they do some kind of work on a typical Sunday, and twenty-one percent call it a full or near-full workday, according to Owl Labs' report.

Coffee badging becomes billboard days

Owl Labs popularized coffee badging, the practice of badging into the office just long enough for a cup of coffee and face time with your boss before heading home around three pm.

Nearly half strategically time office days

Forty-eight percent of workers say they've picked specific in-office days deliberately to be seen by senior leaders or clients, or plan to start. Forty percent of billboard-day participants are managers.

Leadership oversight drives return-to-office

Seventy-six percent of employees say the real driver of return-to-office policies is leadership oversight, not productivity, collaboration, client service, or culture. Employees have concluded showing up is mostly theater.

Career minimalism and job hugging spread

Fifty-three percent of employees say they've adopted or plan to adopt career minimalism, deliberately scaling back ambition to protect health. Thirty-eight percent are holding onto roles they've outgrown because leaving feels riskier.

AI creates a trade-off period

Sixty-nine percent of workers say AI has made them more productive, while forty-six percent say it's hindered them at times. Weishaupt sees a trade-off period where AI adoption creates mixed effects on productivity and presence.