Viral trends like "Quiet Quitting", "Rage Applying" and "Great Resignation" have captured the annoyance and frustration of some employees as Covid-19 pandemic disrupted their workdays. Now, a new trend has emerged in the industry and is known as "Bare Minimum Monday".
According to Fortune, "Bare Minimum Mondays" are a form of the Monday blues that can have an impact on employee productivity and the employer-employee equation. It's a practice in which employees arrive at work on Mondays to do the bare minimum, often starting the day late after a productive morning of self-care rituals. The concept is similar to "quiet quitting" - you work, but not as hard. This essentially implies doing enough to get by without stressing yourself out.
The phrase was made popular by Marisa Jo, a TikTok user, who showed how she manages her workload and holds herself accountable to "doing the least amount of work necessary to get by that day".
In the video, the user describes her habits to slow down on Mondays and do things that make her feel better. "Nothing extra, no overachieving," she says in the video. Furthermore, she explains the trend as "rejection of all the pressure I felt on Sunday and Monday" and choosing to put personal well-being before productivity rather than falling for the hustle culture.
"I had to tell myself to do the bare minimum in order to not make myself sick over how productive I was being," she adds in the video.
Also Read: After 'Quiet Quitting', 'Rage Applying' Is The New Workplace Trend Among Employees
It is to be noted that lockdowns and a sudden shift to a work-from-home culture and then to a hybrid environment caused many employees to overwork and burn out. This eventually led to many employees quitting or "taking a break" to clear their mind about their career goals.
Jill Cotton, a Career Trends Expert at Glassdoor, told Fortune. "I think that it's less about the bare minimum Mondays having an impact on productivity and more about employees and employers working together to create the most productive workplace possible. "When we look at what it is that employees and workers really want at the moment, it's autonomy."
