We Promised AI Would Free Us. Leaders, Why Is the Workday Now Infinite?

When I was 19, I was told the 5-day workweek wouldn’t survive the 21st century.

Technology, we believed, would change everything.

We were entering an age of automation, smart tools, and connected systems. Tasks would shrink. Collaboration would flow. And we’d finally reclaim our time.

Now, my own 19-year-old hears the same promise.

Except he’s watching us work exactly the same way we always have—just with more apps, more meetings, and more stress.

He’s preparing to enter a world of work we were supposed to have outgrown.

A world of:

• Endless meetings
• Constant interruptions
• and weekends blurred by notifications.

We didn’t reinvent work. We digitised it. We automated pieces of it. And now, we’re adding AI to it.

But:

We’ve layered AI onto a work model built in 1925—and we’re expecting 2025 results.

We promised liberation. But we’ve delivered the infinite workday. Because work never ends unless we end it!

The Modern Work Paradox

The data is clear: we are more connected than ever—yet increasingly exhausted, disengaged, and overwhelmed.

According to Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trends Index:

• By 6am, 40% of employees are already triaging email.
• The average worker receives 153 Teams messages and 117 emails every day.
• 50% of meetings are now scheduled during peak cognitive hours.
• After-hours meetings are up 16% year over year.
• We face interruptions, on average, every 2 minutes.

Research consistently shows that productivity plummets after 50 hours per week. Beyond 55 hours, it flatlines. You’re working—but not producing. And yet, many leaders still mistake motion for momentum.

We keep refining the tech. But we haven’t redefined the system.

What started as efficiency has morphed into digital fatigue.

And now, the AI revolution is accelerating everything—except our capacity to lead differently.

Why This Is a Leadership Crisis

The real issue isn’t AI. It’s how we lead in response to it.

“Most leadership frameworks are broken—because they ignore the core driver of performance: connection.” — Tiana Homsani, Global Executive Leader

We’ve spent years investing in platforms, productivity tools, and AI pilots—while still measuring output by presence, hours, and availability.

Meanwhile, your people are quietly drowning:

• In meetings that should have been Slack messages.
• In Teams channels that never sleep.
• In the false urgency of inbox zero.

And this isn’t just a senior leadership problem.

Millennial and Gen Z leaders—the next generation of executives—are inheriting a culture of burnout masked as “performance.”

They want impact, meaning, and flexibility. And many are already experimenting with AI to do their jobs better—often without official support.

So ask yourself:

Are you empowering your people to work smarter with AI… or just expecting them to work harder, faster, and longer?

How to Lead Like It’s 2025, Not 1925

This isn’t about another HR initiative or a shiny AI tool. It’s about rethinking how we define, measure, and lead work.

Here’s how forward-looking CEOs and CHROs are stepping up:

1. Redesign Work, Not Just the Workplace

Stop debating office mandates and hybrid schedules. That’s not the transformation we need.

Instead, ask:

• Why does a typical day require 8+ meetings?
• What are we truly optimizing: outcomes or optics?
• Are we building capacity or just compliance?

Design workflows around focus, not visibility. Create role clarity and decision rights that prevent constant escalations. Shift from “always available” to “strategically accessible.”

Leadership isn’t about being present everywhere—it’s about being present where it matters.

2. Treat AI as a Co-Pilot—Not a Micromanager

AI should enhance human creativity, not surveil or overwhelm it.

Yet in many companies, AI is being deployed with a focus on:

• Monitoring time,
• Tracking keystrokes,
• Or replacing judgment with dashboards.

Instead:

• Use AI to automate low-value work.
• Co-create solutions with teams—don’t impose tools from the top down.
• Build communities of practice around AI experimentation. Your people are probably ahead of you already and using AI.

“It is in this collaboration between people and algorithms that incredible scientific progress lies.” — Demis Hassabis, CEO, DeepMind

If you want innovation, trust your people. They’re already using AI. The question is whether they feel safe enough to share it.

3. Redefine Performance: People + Results

Our metrics haven’t evolved.

We reward long hours, rapid responses, and overloaded calendars. But those signals are outdated.

Start rewarding:

• Clarity over hustle.
• Creativity over consensus.
• Outcomes over optics.

This means investing in qualitative performance reviews, team health metrics, and real psychological safety.

As MIT Sloan notes, toxic culture is 10x more predictive of attrition than compensation.

And it often hides in plain sight:

• Micromanagement masked as accountability.
• Silence mistaken for harmony.
• Burnout disguised as dedication.

The most dangerous cultures don’t look toxic. They look polite, quiet, and productive—until your best people leave.

4. Model the Boundaries You Want to Scale

As a leader, your shadow is your loudest signal.

If you respond to emails at 11pm, your team thinks that’s expected. If you cancel 1:1s for status updates, you’re telling them tasks are more important than people.

Build a culture where:

• Focus time is protected.
• Time off is real.
• Deep work is celebrated.

Put boundaries in your calendar—and make them visible.

In an age of infinite digital connection, boundaries are a leadership skill.

The Path Forward: Human-Centric, AI-Enabled

AI isn’t the enemy. But if we don’t rethink leadership alongside it, we’ll simply scale dysfunction faster.

We don’t need more dashboards. We need more courage.

To lead like it’s 2025, you must:

• Trust your people.
• Redesign your culture.
• And create space for human work—not just busy work.

So, CEOs and CHROs:

The real risk isn’t missing the next AI tool.

It’s missing the opportunity to lead a generation that’s ready for something better.

Because the future of work isn’t about AI replacing us. It’s about whether we’ll step up—and lead like humans.

I'm Liz Rider and as an Organizational Psychologist with decades of experience working in and with large, global companies, I can see what needs to change.

DM me if you want to transform the leadership in your business - Human Centric Leadership.