Bare Minimum Mondays: How Can This New Workplace Trend Benefit Your Workforce?
In the past few years, numerous significant societal changes have transformed the way we view our personal and professional lives, causing various workplace trends to emerge. Many will remember the Great Resignation and the major effects it had on the labor market. The latest trend gaining attention among employees and leaders is “bare minimum Mondays,” also known as “minimum effort Mondays” or “minimal Mondays.” The main concept behind this initiative is to start the work week with as little work as possible. Although your first reaction to this trend might be negative, don’t be too quick to reject it. In this article, we will discuss the reasons behind bare minimum Mondays and, most importantly, the potential benefits for your organization.
What Are The Characteristics Of Bare Minimum Mondays?
In this model, organizations give employees the freedom to start their weeks slowly, focusing only on the necessary requirements of their roles. Specifically, they can delay a few hours to answer emails and, instead, invest more time in their self-care or the more creative aspects of their job. They can attend only important meetings, answer urgent calls, and avoid anything that can wait until Tuesday. Generally, the need for minimal Mondays originates from the need to reduce the excessive stress and anxiety often correlated with the start of the work week. By providing employees with a slow start to the week to prepare themselves and efficiently organize their workload, leaders can prevent burnout and increase employee morale and productivity.
The Reasons Responsible For This Trend
Sunday Scaries
According to a poll, 58% of workers said that Mondays are their least favorite day of the week. Anxiety, stress, panic, and generally negative feelings start creeping in the moment Sunday evening arrives. This is when people realize that their time off work is almost over, and they have to go back to the office the next morning. This negative mindset can have a direct impact on anyone’s work, diminishing their productivity and making them feel swamped with responsibilities. That’s why starting slow on Mondays can give employees some time to ease themselves into the work week, manage their anxiety, and improve their overall energy and productivity levels.
Burnout And Poor Mental Health
Anticipating a busy Monday filled with demanding tasks can overwhelm employees and enhance feelings of anxiety and burnout, hurting performance levels. It’s difficult to produce at a high rate and quality when your mental health is suffering and you don’t have full energy reserves. Although bare minimum Mondays may not fully improve someone’s mental health, they can still serve as an effective coping mechanism. Planning a more laid-back day that reduces mental and physical exhaustion helps employees enter every week with more positivity and less stress. As a result, their productivity starts to pick up, improving over time.
Work-Life Imbalance
In recent years, employees have become aware of how important it is to maintain a balance between personal and professional life. Having clear boundaries in the workplace and adequate time for self-care is essential for employee wellness and engagement. However, strict leadership that insists on operating high-pressure workplaces threatens this already precarious balance. Employees in such work environments are demotivated and disengaged as their efforts are never enough to keep up with the frantic demands of their role. If we pair that with a lack of personal time, we get a combination of low employee morale and performance.
4 Benefits Bare Minimum Mondays Have For Employees
1. Focused Work And Productivity
Monday mornings can be quite hectic with a packed calendar full of meetings, emails, and phone calls. This can leave professionals feeling overwhelmed and unable to concentrate on their tasks. Introducing a “bare minimum Monday” model allows employees to slow down and take the time to organize their workload. Specifically, they can start with less demanding tasks and move meetings or collaborative projects to the afternoon. Knowing that they have control over their workload, they can devote time to the most urgent tasks, leading to optimized productivity. In hybrid working arrangements, team members can choose Monday as the day they work from home and, therefore, avoid the morning commute.
2. Improved Morale
Many employees feel an unbearable burden on Monday mornings due to the number of meetings they have to participate in. Instead of fulfilling their job responsibilities and projects, they are often tied up in multiple meetups discussing matters that are low on their priorities. To solve this, organizations should allow employees to block as much time as they need on their calendars so that they have time to focus on the work that truly matters. The more flexibility someone has on Mondays and throughout the week, the less burnout they will experience. Decreasing their stress and anxiety will improve their morale and overall job satisfaction.
3. Opportunity For Self-Care
Imagine going to work on a Monday, and for the first hour, you don’t do anything work-related. On bare minimum Mondays, instead of diving headfirst into work, employees can spend time on themselves and enjoy their coffee uninterrupted. This might sound counter-intuitive, but it will do wonders for their overall productivity. However, self-care should not be limited to one day of the week. Professionals should find ways to incorporate it into their daily activities. For example, they should take regular breaks to clear their heads when they feel overworked. They may also want to chat with a colleague to take their mind off their tasks for a few minutes. Lastly, they should remember to celebrate small victories.
4. Talent Retention
In a time when flexibility is highly valued by professionals, organizations must do their best to accommodate their employees as much as possible. Companies that offer bare minimum Mondays and allow hybrid workers to work from home or slightly modify their work hours can be more successful in retaining their workforce for longer. Such an initiative will help them build a great reputation, making it easier to attract top talent. This way, they express their investment in their workforce’s well-being as well as their trust that they will bring their A-game from Tuesday to Friday.
How Can Employees Make It Work?
While bare minimum Mondays are great, not all professionals can tackle their weekly job responsibilities by having a relaxed start to the week. You can start by planning your schedule for Monday before you leave work for the weekend. See what tasks you need to complete next week and prioritize them based on urgency and importance. If a deadline isn’t that pressing, you may push a task later in the week. Also, it’s best to time-block your week and allot specific time frames for each task to ensure timely completion.
Additionally, you can establish a post-work routine so you can unwind and disconnect from work. Even if you do everything correctly, keep in mind that a few Mondays might still get out of hand. Unexpected things can always occur, so you must have the composure and flexibility to address these situations efficiently.
Conclusion
While a good work ethic is crucial, our society has allowed and encouraged overworking for far too long. That’s why the trend of bare minimum Mondays has become so popular, showcasing the urgency for professionals to decrease their workload. While the benefits are there, organizations must assess their unique circumstances and ask for employee feedback to gauge whether it would fit them and their business model.
