Over recent years, new workplace terminology has emerged that aims to label various approaches to work-life balance and work culture. Recent additions include 鈥淨uiet Quitting,鈥 鈥淪unday Scaries,鈥 and now 鈥 the latest addition to the lexicon 鈥 鈥淏are Minimum Monday.鈥
Similar to 鈥渜uiet quitting,鈥 which involves doing just the minimum requirements of one鈥檚 job, 鈥淏are Minimum Monday鈥 entails mustering minimum effort on the first day of the work week.
Marisa Jo Mayes, who posts wellness content to her and has more than 154,000 followers, introduced the 鈥淏are Minimum Monday鈥 concept to the social media platform over the last few months.
鈥淚t prevents burnout for me and it makes me feel better overall,鈥 she said in one of her videos. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really changed my life. Before I started doing 鈥楤are Minimum Monday鈥 I was physically making myself sick with stress. And I couldn鈥檛 produce anything because of the level of burnout I have reached. I wasn鈥檛 being productive doing it the other way.鈥
Her 鈥淏are Minimum Mondays鈥 entails working from the couch instead of a desk and ignoring all 鈥渨ishful thinking tasks鈥 鈥 which are more difficult tasks that can be left without consequences 鈥 and only focusing on one checklist item at a time, instead of overwhelming yourself with multitasking.
鈥淢ultitasking,鈥 she said in one of her videos, 鈥渋s a one-way ticket to overwhelm and having everything take longer.鈥
In an essay for Insider, Mayes wrote that on a 鈥淏are Minimum Monday,鈥 she doesn鈥檛 take meetings and takes it slow for the first two hours. 鈥淚'll do some reading, some journaling, maybe some stuff around the house. It's two hours of no technology 鈥 no checking email 鈥 just doing whatever I need to do to feel good starting my day,鈥 she said.
An important distinction, however, is that Mayes is self-employed.
IS WORKING ON MONDAY SOON TO BE A THING OF THE PAST?
While Mayes keeps her Monday workload light, some workers are dropping Mondays altogether. Several municipalities across Canada, for instance, are in the process of creating a policy regarding four-day work weeks, which could involve not working on a Monday.
Up to seven rural municipalities across Ontario have implemented a four-day work week for staff, as have two municipalities in eastern Canada, and one in Alberta.
Employees at municipalities where the four-day work-week has been implemented have the option of taking either Monday or Friday off to boost their work-life-balance and prevent burnout.
A 2022 Canadian survey by recruitment firm Robert Half determined that 91 per cent of senior managers polled claimed they would support a four-day work week for their team, and most managers anticipate that their company will transition to a shorter working week within the next five years.
The poll suggested that offering workers the option of a four-day work week could support employee retention, productivity and wellbeing.
One of the world鈥檚 largest four-day work week trials, in the U.K., found that 61 per cent of companies that shed one day off their work week from June to December of this year will continue with fewer work hours to promote work-life balance.
Ross Wainwright, CEO of Toronto software-company Alida, told CP24 that implementing four-day work weeks for his company鈥檚 500 employees at the start of June, 2022, led to 鈥渆mployees that are clearly happier and more balanced.鈥
