The impact of remote work on the organization of the workday is an invisible change, specifically in terms of how time is perceived rather than recorded. The shifts that once defined them have been removed, even though the actual hours may remain the same. There is no longer a commute for the start of the day, nor a ritualistic exit to signal its conclusion. The workday occurs in the same setting as all other activities, and with repetition, this blend feels less flexible and increasingly continuous.
Certain activities do not fit into clearly distinguishable blocks; instead, communication is performed during activities rather than between them. Messages are received between sessions or while working, or sometimes even much later, after the official end of the day. It was found that new forms of communication appeared in the context of the digitalization of the workplace, according to the Microsoft Work Trend Index (2022). The whole process turns from shifting from one activity to another into performing several activities at the same time. There is also an entirely different level of availability due to remote work because the notion of presence loses its meaning since there is no need to actually be somewhere physically. Instead, being online and answering messages serve as indicators of engagement in the process. The responsiveness of individuals depends largely on the mentioned indicators in a context where continuous communication is expected, as stated in the article in the Journal of Applied Psychology (2021). In other words, not responding means something else here.
What seems most obvious is the gradual blurring of the finish line at the end of each workday. There is no tangible delineation of the endpoint, like there was when it came to exiting a certain space after work. It is a gradual winding down of activities, as opposed to an outright cessation of actions. There is no extension of working hours, per se; yet, it seems that the day has become less contained, almost limitless in its dimensions.
