Monday morning the alarm goes off, and the weekend is over. You hit snooze a couple times, but finally drag yourself out of bed and go through your morning routine. Ready to go, you back the car out of the driveway onto the pitch-black street. It’s not even 5 a.m., and you’re on your way to work.

Is this your life? Is the traditional 9 to 5 workday a thing of the past? There is a good chance it could be. Companies are allowing their employees to work flexible hours in order to accommodate family schedules as well as the need to communicate with clients across the U.S. and around the world.

As the corporate world evolves, the rest of the world is right behind it. Starbucks stores around the country are opening their doors even earlier, some as early as 4:30 a.m.  Public transportation also is following along with many weekday trains running at 5 a.m. now.

Scripps alumna Jolie Hillier (BSJ ’05) says that she has noticed most businesses open earlier now, mostly between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. Hillier also says that as a result of businesses opening earlier, they close earlier too, with more people getting out of the office at 4 p.m. or 4:30 p.m.

According to the Department of Labor, approximately 29 million people begin their workdays between 4:30 a.m. and 7:29 a.m., which has increased by more than 2 million in the last 10 years. One of the biggest reasons this has happened is because of the evolution of technology.

"Technology has become both a blessing and a burden," says Scripps alumna Sarah Spence. "You can be in constant contact via e-mail, cell phones, Blackberrys, text messages, etc.—that blurs the lines between when work ends and downtime begins."

Spence graduated from OU in 2003 with a degree in public relations. She currently works in the Ohio Senate for Senator Gary Cates. Spence says that she does most of her after-hours work via her laptop and text messages, but she has not given in to the Blackberry world yet.

"If I owned one, I would probably do more work than I do now," Spence says.

Along with the death of the 9 to 5 workday comes the death of the 40-hour workweek. So much for working full time. It is now working major overtime. Spence says that at times she works as many as 60 to 80 hours per week.

Among other reasons for the death of the 9 to 5 workday is the fact that the average employee does not actually work all eight hours. According to a survey conducted by Salary.com, the average employee wastes approximately 20 percent of the workday. What, may you ask, is everyone doing when they are slacking off? Mostly just surfing the ’net, checking their Facebook, Twitter and personal e-mail accounts to stay connected to the social world.

The good news that comes with this change is that one-third of workers who have more flexible schedules report more satisfaction with their jobs.