It's the Latest Rejection of 'Hustle Culture'

It's not "quiet quitting." And it's definitely not "overemployed." It's a new workplace trend, one that seems to be equally parts embraced and ridiculed, called "Bare Minimum Mondays." As Axios explains, it was coined by TikTok creator Marisa Jo Mayes (see her video here) as a way to ease the stress of a new workweek by doing, yes, the bare minimum, on Mondays. "I would wake up on Monday already feeling behind, overwhelmed, and anxious—this feeling would only compound as the week continued," she tells CNBC. Mayes, who is self-employed, sees the idea as the antidote to what she calls "hustle culture," and the stress it induces. As with "quiet quitting," how people might apply it would vary according to their jobs.

For example, physical therapist Logan Lynch tells Good Morning America that she has stopped taking patients on Mondays. "I'm very familiar with hustle culture and the grind and doing everything all the time," says Lynch. "So to have a mindset, to have a system to kind of give yourself a little bit of a break, I really resonated with that." Stories about the trend tend to cite a survey by LinkedIn and Headspace suggesting that 75% of Americans experience the "Sunday Scaries," or a dread of the coming workweek. It even made it to South Park, where Eric Cartman slacks off in his new job and explains, "Haven't you heard of bare minimum Mondays? It's a thing that young people created because we care about our mental health."

Other critics are more direct. "Bare minimum Monday is a great way to get fired," Ivan Misner, author of the book Who's In Your Room? tells Axios. And at Outkick, Anthony Farris mocks the media's coverage of all this. "Next thing you know, they’re going to tell us that showing up on time and completing assignments are qualities of people who keep their jobs and often get promoted." Mayes has heard all of the criticism. As with "quiet quitting," she says her term is not about slacking off. It's about doing good work while not stressing about going above and beyond. "I think we're seeing a rejection of hustle culture manifest in a lot of different ways and bare minimum Monday is definitely one of them." (More workplace stories.)