What Is ‘Bare Minimum Monday’? Understanding The Work Culture Tiktok Trend

Last updated on March 9th, 2023 at 07:06 am

A new set of workplace terms has emerged in recent years to label various approaches to work-life balance and work culture, including “Quiet Quitting,” “Sunday Scaries,” and now, “Bare Minimum Monday.”

The concept of “bare minimum Monday” is similar to “quiet quitting,” which entails doing only what is required of one’s job.

Over the last few months, Marisa Jo Mayes, who has more than 154,000 followers on her TikTok account, introduced the “Bare Minimum Monday” concept.

As she said in one of her videos, it prevents burnout for me and makes me feel better overall. It’s changed my life. Previously, I was physically making myself sick with stress. As a result of the level of burnout I reached, I couldn’t produce anything. I wasn’t being productive doing it the other way.”

Her “Bare Minimum Mondays” entail working from the couch instead of a desk, ignoring all “wishful thinking tasks” – harder tasks that can be ignored without consequences – and only focusing on one checklist item at a time, rather than overwhelming yourself with multitasking.

Multitasking, she said in one of her videos, is a one-way ticket to overwhelm.

On a “Bare Minimum Monday,” Mayes writes, she doesn’t take meetings and takes it slow for the first two hours. She said, “I’ll read, journal, perhaps work around the house. It’s two hours of not technology — no checking email — just doing whatever I need to do to feel good starting my day.”

Mayes is, however, a self-employed individual.

MONDAY WORK SOON TO BE A THING OF THE PAST?

Many municipalities across Canada are working on four-day work weeks, which could include not working on Mondays. Mayes keeps her Monday workload light, but some workers are dropping the day altogether.

There are seven rural municipalities in Ontario that have implemented a four-day work week for staff, as well as two municipalities in eastern Canada and one in Alberta.

Those in municipalities that have implemented the four-day workweek have the option of taking either Monday or Friday off to improve their work-life balance.

Most managers anticipate their company will transition to a shorter working week within the next five years, according to a survey conducted by recruitment firm Robert Half in 2022. Ninety percent of senior managers polled said they would support a four-day work week for their staff.

A four-day work week could improve employee retention, productivity, and wellbeing, according to the poll.

Sixty-one percent of U.K. companies that shed one day from their work week from June to December this year will continue working fewer hours to promote work-life balance, according to one of the world’s largest four-day work week trials.

As Ross Wainwright, CEO of Toronto software-company Alida, told CP24, his company’s 500 employees are “clearly happier and more balanced” after implementing four-day work weeks.

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