What are Bare-Minimum Mondays?

Let’s face it, we’ve all been there.  We’ve all had a weekend that went by far too quickly and then were faced with the looming dread of Monday morning, which led inexorably to sitting around for the first couple of hours of the workday, not really accomplishing much of anything.

That, in a nutshell, is a Bare-Minimum Monday.  It’s exactly like it sounds.  Exactly what you think it is.  It’s the ultimate expression of “I’m not ready to start adulting yet!”

Of all the terms in the modern workplace lexicon, this is probably the least harmful to business owners.  After all, literally no one imagines that employees are operating at 100% productive capacity from the moment they hit the door till the moment they leave for the day. 

Every business has ebbs and flows in its workday, and if your employees take a little longer than is strictly necessary to finish, as long as everything is done on time and up to your standards, does it really matter?  Most employers would say no.

The simple reality is that Mondays tend to be awful.  You’d be hard-pressed to find a genuine fan of Monday mornings, and that’s okay.  This is one of those times where it’s almost always better to bear it with a gracious smile than to come down too hard on an employee for not being as bright eyed and bushy tailed as you’d prefer, first thing in the morning.

If you’re looking for ways to help take some of the sting out of Monday Morning, why not periodically treat your employees to some candy or snacks?  A bit of sugar first thing might be just what they need!