Monday Work for You?

Good news and bad news today.

The good news is that it looks like the Quiet Quitting trend is finally subsiding.

The bad news it that it’s being replaced by Bare Minimum Monday.

Oy vey.

According to workplace experts, there’s a massive movement afoot in which employees intentionally drag their feet on Mondays.

Their body shows up for work (and Zoom), but their brain is still back in bed.

Let’s add it to your list of employee engagement challenges, and your #1 priority is to overcome them, no matter what.

As you might expect, it seems like Bare Minimum Monday was born on TikTok. And now it’s taken off.

According to ABC News:
Marisa Jo, who boasts 154,000 followers on TikTok, popularized the phrase with a series of posts that criticize angst-filled preparation for the workweek & ambition-fueled exhaustion brought about by overactivity on the first of five consecutive work days.

Instead, Jo encourages workers to do as little as possible at work on Mondays, restoring their energy and focusing on other interests.

Times have sure changed.

After my college graduation, I remember working 7 days a week (not to be outdone by The Beatles, who put in 8 days a week.)

So, what’s the cure to Bare Minimum Monday?

I’ve got it. Micromanage your people into the ground. Track their every activity. There’s even software that will activate their Macbook camera to see what they’re up to. Then ask them every four hours for an update on what they’re doing.

That’ll work for sure… If your goal is to drive them into the arms of another employer.

Okay, how about this one? Let’s increase their comp by 20%. Yes, a raise will do it. We’ll buy their hearts and minds. Plus, reward them for their Monday work slow-down. That’ll send the right message to everyone else.

Okay, okay. Let’s get real.

There’s only one surefire way to re-engage the Bare Minimum Monday crowd. And you already know what it is. Because the best boss you ever had did it all the time.

Challenge them.

Yep.

Challenge them to do bigger and better things: set big hairy goals and let them find ways to achieve them. To improve their metrics by 50% by discovering their own breakthroughs (and then actually giving them to space and room to figure it out.)

It’s a win/win.

They can manage their time, their schedule, their Mondays. So, even if you get 20% less productivity from them, you get 50% improvement in results because the rest of the week they’re finding breakthrough ways to get the work done better. Smarter. Faster.

Make the work hard, challenging.

Not to be a jerk. Or a micromanager. Or a tyrant.

But to encourage them to be the best version of themselves. Put your (proverbial) arm around them and tell them you know they can do it. Then, agree on some big hills to conquer, and you’ll likely be surprised by what they deliver… and how much more engaged they become.

The best part? It becomes self-reinforcing. Top-performers aspire to achieve, to deliver results, and they won’t suffer with a B or C Player on their team, slowing them down.

You’ll inevitably be left with a team of Rockstars.

And so, this is my challenge to you: make a list of the folks on your team who are dragging, uninspired, and bored, and challenge them to something big.

Happy Wednesday!

Jeff Hyman

Jeff Hyman launched his recruiting career at Heidrick & Struggles and Spencer Stuart, the preeminent global executive search firms. Today, he’s Chief Talent Officer at Chicago-based Strong Suit Executive Search. Along the way, Jeff created four companies, backed by $50 million in venture capital. He currently teaches the MBA course about recruiting at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and hosts the five-star Strong Suit Podcast. Jeff has been featured by Inc., Fortune, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Bloomberg, and other media outlets. He holds a master’s degree from Kellogg School of Management and a bachelor’s degree from The Wharton School.