#BareMinimumMonday or looking forward to Monday on Sundays

Today, the topic "Brave new world of work" has been on the agenda since the morning. Radio Ö1 was talking about Generation Z, who prefer a good work-life balance to big money and are happy to work from home. And then I read for the first time about the idea of Bare Minimum Mondays from a start-up founder called Marisa Jo Mayes, who made this term so popular on TikTok that many media outlets have written about it in recent days. She has found a method for herself to start the working week moderately and without pressure by doing things on Monday mornings that are fun and enjoyable for her. She only devotes herself to work at lunchtime, and only to the most important to-dos for around two hours.

Focus Online describes the phenomenon as follows: "Bare Minimum Monday is supposed to help with this, Burnout and counteract the so-called Sunday Scaries, i.e. the bad mood that arises on Sunday when you think about the mountain of work that awaits you on Monday."

The concept has been widely criticized in the media because it is not feasible for some professional groups, is not accepted by some supervisors and its positive effects have yet to be proven by research.

In my opinion, this method is very much in line with the spirit of the times, which is to escape the ever-increasing pressure in our world, and especially in our working world. For health reasons, as with Mayes, who suffered from burnout, or because we want more from life than to be constantly under stress.

The constant availability, taking work with you everywhere due to the availability of data and communication, the increasing demands on the individual employee, the threat of dismissal, the threat of illness due to excessive demands, rising costs with the same or, in real terms, even falling wages, the second and third job. How many people became newly self-employed because no job wanted them anymore? Many are under massive pressure. Many are also under existential pressure. How are they supposed to make ends meet tomorrow? The pressure is increasing. Enormously.

And some manage to get off, either voluntarily or due to external circumstances, without going bankrupt financially. For me, #BareMinimumMonday symbolizes this exit from the hamster wheel. At least temporarily. And of course it doesn't work everywhere. But the more of these ideas and methods of self-esteem are in circulation, the more companies will think about them. And the fewer people want to work for a company because of the conditions, the more likely it is (or should be) to think about something.

I didn't understand the criticism of Maye's method, because it's not about a principle to be introduced for all professional fields, but about a woman who talks about her way out of burnout on TikTok. And this can be taken as inspiration. As a way to ward off the pressure. We as a society can take this as an opportunity to speak out loudly about the major problems in our working realities. Such as the blatant staff shortage in the health and care system, the shortage of skilled workers, the rapid increase in mental illness among employees in recent years and so on and so forth. And finding new ways. #BareMinimumMonday