‘Bare Minimum Mondays’ is the viral productivity trend praised by workplace expert

Everyone can relate to feeling the "Sunday scaries," and now the new viral trend "Bare minimum Mondays," is helping people cope.

(After all, no one is a fan of Mondays are they?)

Thanks to Marisa Jo’s viral TikTok videos, "Bare minimum Mondays" has racked up nearly 470 million views, along with the #bareminimummonday hashtag receiving over 1m views.

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The trend is basically where employees only do the bare minimum when they turn up to work after the weekend.

It's all about self-care and making yourself feel good before the working day ahead - for example, Jo shows how she journals, enjoys a coffee, listens to music, and completes her skincare routine.

She describes the trend as a “rejection of all the pressure I felt on Sunday and Monday" with productivity taking a back seat to make way for comfort, health and happiness.

“I had to tell myself to do the bare minimum in order to not make myself sick over how productive I was being," she explained the backstory behind her bare minimum Mondays.

But the question is, how beneficial is this new trend for the workplace?

Workplace solutions expert and CEO of Officeology, Adam Butler, has shared his expert opinion and believes there are positives to take from the trend:

“The ‘Sunday scaries’ can be something we all battle with, regardless of how passionate we are about our jobs. However, I think this new ‘hack’ to help cope with the first day of the working week does have its benefits," he said.

"By prioritising the absolute essential tasks you need to have done on the Monday, rather than focusing on everything else you have going on in the week, it helps to reduce feelings of overwhelm and makes your Monday to-do list more manageable.

"This will result in feeling accomplished at the end of the day, knowing you’ve done the important things, without overdoing it- there’s no better feeling than starting the week off with a productive, yet more relaxed day."

Butler provided further tips to add to people's bare minimum Monday's, recommending to keep active.

"Other tips to incorporate into your ‘bare minimum Monday’ could be setting aside time in your Monday lunch break to go outside for a walk or focus on a hobby for half an hour. By having an activity planned that you enjoy, it can ease the Sunday night fear and increase productivity.

He added that this trend isn't just for the employees as bosses can also get involved in their own way too.

"Employers can also encourage a more relaxed Monday to enhance wellbeing and productivity within their teams. ‘No-meeting Mondays’ or allowing employees to block out focus time are just some of the small changes that can make a big difference to people’s perception of the first day back at work."

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