‘Bare Minimum Mondays’: Bid Adieu to Monday Blues With This Self-Care Workplace Trend

‘It’s a Monday! Whoppie!’ – said no one ever! Just as the sun goes down on Sundays, our minds are tainted with a dreadful feeling of losing our oh-so-precious ‘free will’, ‘freedom’, ‘sanity’ and all the other deluded thoughts that come with the weekend’s respite. Someone rightly echoed that “Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7 of your life” and we couldn’t agree more.

While the ‘rise-and-grind’ motto guided the corporate culture for ages, young professionals now are denouncing it in favour of work-life balance and self-care. You must’ve heard of or even vouched for concepts like ‘quiet quitting’ or pushing a ‘four-day workweek’ where people are ditching fat paycheques and fulfilling only the bare essential requirements of their job. Another Tiktok trend reverberating the same principle is ‘bare minimum Mondays’ – a workplace concept that the internet is obsessed with.

What is the ‘bare minimum Mondays’ trend?

Coined by Tiktok creator Marisa Jo Mayes, ‘bare minimum Monday’ is a way to crack down on the work pressure and ease into the work week by prioritising self-care over productivity. The self-employed millennial and startup co-founder has been sharing her Monday routine and how it has aided her in living a stress-free life.

“Before I started doing bare minimum Monday, I was physically sick with stress and I couldn’t produce anything because of the level of burnout I had reached,” Mayes said in a video. She also talked about the similarities between her trend and the ‘quiet quitting‘ manifesto in another clip. “We’re seeing a rejection of hustle culture manifest in a lot of different ways and bare minimum Monday is definitely one of them,” Mayes mentioned.

While the concept has definitely helped many working professionals like Mayes by putting mental well-being first and thereby reducing work-related stress and burnout, others are dubbing it as a ‘lazy and unmotivated’ concept that promotes Gen Z’s slacking-off/ laidback approach to everything in life that requires effort.

So, is ‘bare minimum Mondays’ really a perfect start to your week or a recipe for disaster? Keep reading!

Weighing the pros and cons of ‘bare minimum Mondays’

Pros

• Eliminates ‘Sunday scaries’

Are you familiar with ‘Sunday scaries’? It’s basically the anxious feeling about returning to work that usually starts on a Sunday afternoon and builds up towards the evening. Instead of recuperating and rejuvenating, you waste your precious weekend dreading and whining about the workweek ahead, so much so that when you actually wake up on a Monday, you’re mentally drained.

Did you know that a recent study by LinkedIn and Headspace revealed that nearly 75% of working Americans admitted they experience ‘Sunday scaries? Too much, right?

Therefore, with its easy-to-take-on-Mondays approach, ‘bare minimum Mondays’ effectively tackle this issue. The reduced workload calms down the employees, keeping all negative emotions at bay.

• Increased productivity

With lower stress levels and flexibility to complete tasks at their own pace, ‘bare minimum Mondays’ pave the way for increased productivity levels. A burnt-out worker won’t be able to channel their creative juices as opposed to someone who has drawn boundaries.

• Improves talent retention

When companies support and offer employees much-needed flexibility at the workplace, they will automatically give their best to achieve their goals. A positive work environment is all we need to thrive, right? So, when employees feel valued, seen and heard, they won’t be tempted to join other companies for better perks. By supporting ‘bare minimum Mondays’ companies not only successfully retain good talent, but also attract a skilful workforce.

• Prioritises mental health

It’s time to cut yourself some slack and indulge in self-care. A healthy work-life balance will leave you refreshed, engaged and productive, devoiding you of all the stress and anxiety that take a toll on your mental health. Especially for Gen-Z, who have faced the pandemic-induced drawbacks of social isolation, fewer job opportunities and managing online courses/ jobs in a fully remote setup, prioritising mental health has become more important than ever. So, give yourself that extra dose of love with ‘bare minimum Mondays’.

Cons

• It’s not all-encompassing

Let’s face it, you can’t implement ‘bare minimum Mondays’ across job profiles. Not all companies and businesses will be okay with giving you that flexibility that causes delays in execution. For example, if you’re a pilot responsible for the lives of over 150 people onboard, you can’t simply give your 50% by making a case for self-care or fear of burnout. Similarly, a doctor operating on a critical patient doesn’t have the liberty to cut back on their effort simply because it’s ‘that day of the week’. So if you have a job that allows you to exercise ‘bare minimum Mondays’, cherish it!

• Doesn’t work for all employees

While ‘bare minimum Mondays’ ease the workweek for many young professionals, others don’t find it very lucrative. Some people prefer to be more productive on Mondays to kickstart their week on a powerful note and have lighter Fridays. There is no one-size-fits-all approach here! It’s all about preference.

• Fosters a ‘bare minimum’ attitude

While the concept is all about championing higher productivity by having a breezy Monday, it can result in a laid-back attitude. Reacting to the trend, one Tiktok user noted, “What next? Tired Tuesday, Why Are We Here Wednesdays, I’m Through With Thursdays, and Thank God It’s Friday.” By developing a habit of getting joy by doing the bare minimum, productivity levels gradually decrease and reduce the company’s output.

• You can lose your job

People also argue that ‘bare minimum Monday’ is a great way to lose your job. If you’re not committed to getting the job done and are simply hiding under the garb of ‘bare minimum Mondays’ to cover up your lazy attitude, get ready to be laid off.

When you decide to not give your 100% on Mondays without communicating it with your team, it can be disastrous. They’ll eventually get frustrated and build their own assumptions as to why you’re not participating. So when the day comes, you’ll be the first one standing on the line of fire!

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Conclusion

This generation of working professionals isn’t shying away from putting themselves first in the pursuit of happiness. While you simply want to have a better experience at work, completely disengaging from your job will result in negative career consequences.

Therefore, ‘bare minimum Mondays’ should be practised with the right intent – focusing on self-care rather than absenteeism. It’s also very important to communicate your intentions with your work entourage to avoid any bad work rapport. It’s also important for employees to understand that there may be circumstances when beating the Monday blues is impossible. So when unforeseen or urgent projects require an immediate call to action, be attentive enough to tackle them.

Similarly, employers should work on building trust and lead by example with their own attempt at creating a healthy work-life balance. Workload should be appropriately distributed among colleagues to avoid the extra stress of missed deadlines.

However, the core message of ‘bare minimum Mondays’ is great – take the time to focus on your mental health without feeling guilty. Self-care over everything! Isn’t it?

What are your thoughts on this latest workplace trend?

(Hero image credit: Samson Katt/ Pexels)

(Feature image credit: Andrea Piacquadio/ Pexels)

This story first appeared in Lifestyle Asia Hong Kong.