Qonto data shows that nearly three in four European SMEs (74%) regularly handle their business finances outside of traditional working hours, whether that’s early morning invoicing, late-night expense reports or weekend payment runs. That’s not counting more passive admin, like logging in to their Qonto app to balance-check or move money between accounts.
In total, 35% of SME activity on Qonto happens outside the 9am–6pm window, underscoring just how much of this cohort’s working day has stretched beyond its traditional boundaries.
The average monthly share of SMEs doing at least one out-of-hours finance task per month stood at 67% across 2020–2025. By 2025, that had already risen to 72%, and the latest 2026 data puts it at 74%, continuing its upwards trudge.
Thirty-five percent of all finance actions happen outside of 9am-6pm and 5% takes place at the weekend, suggesting a meaningful minority for whom the working week has no real end.
Finance admin spikes at 1am and 2am (2% and 3% respectively), with the 2am peak equal to or higher than some evening slots (2% of admin is done at 10pm).
Nearly half (44%) of all payment requests and reminders are sent outside of business hours, making chasing cash the task most likely to eat into evenings and weekends. Finalising client invoices is close behind, with 40% completed out of hours.
At the other end of the scale, uploading and paying supplier invoices are the tasks SME owners are most likely to keep within working hours, though even these see nearly a third completed out of hours (31% and 32% respectively).
