Even for employees in traditional 9-to-5 industry jobs, the 9-to-5 workday is fading.

A CareerBuilder survey of 1,000 workers in financial services, IT, sales and business services jobs found that nearly two-thirds of them say the 9-to-5 workday is fast becoming — or has already become — extinct.

These folks said their work hours are erratic and, at least for a quarter of them, include checking their email and other work messaging channels while spending time with family and friends.

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No one's forcing them to do so, said 62 percent of respondents. They're doing so as a personal choice.

"Workers want more flexibility in their schedules, and with improvements in technology that enable employees to check in at any time, from anywhere, it makes sense to allow employees to work outside the traditional nine-to-five schedule," says Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer of CareerBuilder, in a release with the survey results.

"Moving away from a nine-to-five work week may not be possible for some companies (yet), but if done right, allowing employees more freedom and flexibility with their schedules can improve morale, boost productivity and increase retention rates."

Among the other findings of the survey:

  • 20 percent said work is on their minds when they go to bed;

  • 42 percent said they wake up with work on the brain;

  • 20 percent said thinking about work interrupts their down time.

More men than women work outside the 9-to-5 time slot (44 percent vs. 32 percent), check email outside those hours (59 percent vs. 42 percent) and check on work communications during friend and family activities (30 percent vs. 18 percent). However, more women (23 percent) than men (16 percent) say work is the last thing they think about before going (or trying to go) to sleep.

The breakdown by age offered some insights, some perhaps unexpected. For instance, far fewer younger worker work outside of 9-to-5 than older workers, while the checking of work emails outside the office didn't vary nearly as much by age. Seven in 10 workers age 55 or older said they choose to connect to work outside the 9-to-5 hours, compared to 56 percent of 18-to 24-year-olds. Younger workers were far more likely than their older peers to go to bed and get up with work as the last and first thing on their minds.

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Dan Cook

Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.