Mondays have a reputation problem. If your team dreads the start of the week — or if you do — a growing workplace trend called bare minimum Mondays might be worth a closer look.
Burnout Is Getting Worse
More manageable Mondays: Did you know that in 2022, 44% of people reported experiencing burnout symptoms? Quite a number, hmm? And it gets worse — in 2023, this alarming statistic climbed to a sad 62%. We office managers are very prone to burnout due to our heavy workloads, so I recommend a slight improvement: Bare minimum Mondays.
What Are Bare Minimum Mondays?
Bare minimum Mondays is a workplace trend where employees intentionally ease into the week by focusing only on essential tasks on Monday — no packed schedules, no back-to-back meetings, no trying to conquer the entire to-do list before lunch.
The term was coined by TikTok creator Marisa Jo Mayes in 2022. Mayes, who was dealing with chronic burnout and "Sunday scaries," started giving herself permission to do less on Mondays. She found that lowering the pressure actually made her more productive over the course of the week. Her videos went viral, and the hashtag has since gathered millions of views.
The idea isn't about slacking off. It's about pacing. According to a LinkedIn and Headspace study, nearly 75% of working Americans experience the Sunday scaries — that dread and anxiety about the upcoming work week. Bare minimum Mondays are a response to that cycle: start slower, stress less, and sustain energy across the whole week instead of burning out by Wednesday.
How Office Managers Can Apply This
You don't need to overhaul your entire Monday schedule to try this approach. Here are a few practical ways to bring the bare minimum Mondays philosophy into your office:
Protect Monday mornings from meetings. Block the first two hours for focused, heads-down work — or for planning the week ahead.
Set a "top 3" rule. Encourage your team (and yourself) to pick no more than three priorities for Monday. Everything else can wait until Tuesday.
Normalize a slower start. If your company culture allows it, let Monday be the day for planning and low-pressure tasks, saving high-intensity work for mid-week when energy is higher.
Use your weekly planner. A tool that lets everyone see who's in the office and when can take the guesswork — and the stress — out of Monday mornings.
Check in, don't check up. A quick Monday morning message asking "how's everyone doing?" sets a different tone than a 9 AM status update meeting.
Bare minimum Mondays won't fix a broken workload or a toxic culture. But as a small, intentional shift in how the week starts, they can make a real difference — especially for office managers who carry the emotional weight of keeping everyone else on track.
