Some people call it self-advocacy.
asserted
people → call → it
Their bosses call it a scheduling headache.
asserted
bosses → call → it
Either way, “chronoworking” — structuring your job around your personal circadian rhythm instead of the traditional 9-to-5 — has become the workplace buzzword of the return-to-office era, and it’s already dividing offices into two camps: the biologically enlightened, and the deeply annoyed.
The idea is simple.
asserted
idea → structure → camps
Not everyone’s brain and body hit peak performance at the same hour.
asserted
brain → hit → hour
Some people are wired to be sharp at 7 a.m. and useless by 3 p.m.
asserted
people → wire → p.m.
Others don’t fully wake up until noon and do their best thinking at 9 p.m.
Chronoworking — a term coined by British journalist Ellen C. Scott — argues that instead of forcing every employee into the same fixed shift, companies should let people work when their internal clock says they’ll actually be good at it.
asserted
they → wake → it
It’s not a fringe idea anymore.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
Clinical psychologist and sleep expert Dr. Michael Breus, who developed a widely cited four-category chronotype system, found that 55% of people peak between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Fifteen percent are sharpest in the early morning, another 15% peak at night, and the remaining 10% have irregular, easily disrupted rhythms.
A 2023 survey of 1,500 American workers by MyPerfectResume found 94% said they’re currently working outside their preferred hours, and 77% said it hurts their job performance.
Meet the chronoworkers
Eloise Skinner isn’t waiting for permission.
The 32-year-old London-based writer, fitness coach and therapist doesn’t open her laptop until around 11 a.m., teaches gym classes in the afternoon or early evening, and saves her most demanding work for after 7:30 p.m. — when, as she puts it, “the world has gone quiet,” letting her concentrate far more effectively.
asserted
her → develop → it
A self-described night owl, Skinner has structured her work life around that rhythm across multiple jobs and time zones.
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Skinner → describe → jobs
“It may seem a bit extreme, but it reflects how intensely I concentrate around 8, 9, or 10 p.m.,” she told The Post.
uncertain
she → seem → Post
“That’s when I’m most efficient.”
asserted
I → ’ → ?
The freelance writer and mother of three has spent the last five years building her workday around the opposite end of the clock.
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writer → spend → clock
“I naturally feel sharpest in the morning, like pre-5 a.m.,” Mickelson said.
asserted
Mickelson → feel → a.m.
“My work schedule reflects this because I typically get up around 4:30 and work for a bit before the rest of the house wakes up.”
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rest → reflect → house
Even on days with hours of free time ahead of her, she added, “I still do my most focused work in the morning.”
asserted
I → add → morning
The routine wasn’t a plan so much as a survival strategy that stuck.
asserted
that → stick → strategy
When she started freelancing, her three kids were a newborn, a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old, so mornings were the only uninterrupted stretch available.
asserted
mornings → start → ?
“It wasn’t always a guarantee, but I could usually get in an hour or two if I woke up around 4,” she said.
uncertain
she → get → 4
“Sometimes when my workload was heavy, I’d push it back to 3:30.”
asserted
I → push → 3:30
Now that all three kids are in school, she still can’t shake the early start.
asserted
she → shake → start
“I don’t love it and am going to start getting up at 4:30 again,” she said of her current 5 a.m. wakeup.
asserted
she → love → wakeup
Before freelancing, Mickelson taught middle school English — and even then, she was front-loading her focus time rather than staying late.
asserted
she → teach → time
“The only time I had to work was in the morning and after bedtime,” she said.
asserted
she → have → bedtime
“As a teacher, I always got to school early to do grading and lesson planning rather than stay after school or stay up late to finish things up.
asserted
I → get → things
But she’s clear-eyed about what’s actually transferable to a standard job: “With a traditional 9-to-5, it would be tough to use this schedule to do actual ‘on the clock’ work.
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it → ’ → work
The complete flexibility to work when I work best is definitely only possible because of freelancing.”
asserted
I → work → freelancing
Skinner and Mickelson are also exactly the kind of case a skeptic would flag: both are self-employed, with no single boss or team calendar to negotiate around.
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both → flag → boss
That’s the built-in asterisk on nearly every chronoworking success story — the people most able to do it have the least oversight, which is why the real fights over chronoworking are happening inside traditional offices, not outside them.
asserted
fights → ’ → them
Corporate wellness consultant Tawn Williams, founder of House of Anaya, said she’s watched the concept spread mostly among freelancers and solo entrepreneurs, where “reduced necessity for synchronized team meetings” effectively creates a “create your own schedule” paradigm.
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necessity → say → paradigm
Larger organizations, she said, have quietly absorbed pieces of this through remote and hybrid work, “although these adaptations are often vaguely defined and less structured under broader flexibility policies.”
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adaptations → say → policies
Some employers are building chronoworking into official policy rather than letting it happen informally.
Julia Lyons-Ryle, an HR performance specialist with Insperity in Austin, Texas, recommends flex schedules with protected overlap hours — letting staff work 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. instead of 9 to 5, but requiring everyone online from noon to 2 p.m. so teams can still convene.
asserted
teams → build → p.m.
The biggest risk, she added, isn’t the schedule itself — it’s the communication gap it creates.
asserted
it → add → ?
“Team members and managers need to be aware of one another’s working hours so they can meet when they need,” she said.
asserted
she → need → when
The science is real — but it’s not a blank check
Chronotype isn’t just vibes; it’s a documented, largely biological trait.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
But Christopher Barnes, an organizational-behavior researcher at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, said the fix doesn’t require blowing up the whole calendar.
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fix → say → calendar
“For most people, it’s a matter of shifting even one or two hours from some sort of anchor,” he said.
asserted
he → ’ → anchor
“If you give workers the flexibility to push that forward or backward by an hour or two, that’s already a potentially large benefit to their lives.”
asserted
that → give → lives
Barnes’s research has found real downsides to ignoring chronotype entirely.
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research → find → chronotype
His studies show “larks” behave less ethically late at night, while “owls” behave less ethically early in the morning.
asserted
owls → show → morning
He’s also found bias against employees who start later, even with explicit permission.
asserted
who → find → permission
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
