Remember the trend “bare minimum Mondays”? Just last month, TikTokers were touting the self-care hack as the solution to “Sunday scaries” and a way of reducing stress.
Unsurprisingly, the career advice we all secretly wanted to hear—that there are benefits to starting your week with a lie-in and tackling your to-do list at a leisurely pace—went viral.
But starting the week by doing the bare minimum may actually be counterproductive, according to a careers expert.
Instead, workers who are struggling to juggle their work-life balance should front-load their work to create space for a quieter end of the week: Enter “quiet weekends.”
What is a “quiet weekend”?
Despite the increase in workplace trends poised to increase workers’ autonomy and ring-fence their personal time, according to Glassdoor research, discussions around mental health and being overworked are still on the rise, indicating employees are still struggling to find a good work-life balance. Meanwhile, mentions of the word burnout hit record levels last year.
So Jill Cotton, career trends expert at Glassdoor, recommends workers give “quiet weekends” a go.
Rather than chaotically trying to play catch-up on a Friday and starting your weekend stressed out, this involves maximizing your productivity earlier on in the week so that you can truly switch off and decompress when you log off work for the week.
This could look like clearing Fridays (if that’s your last working day of the week) of long meetings, hard deadlines, or tasks that can’t be completed in a day.
“Unlike quiet quitting, quiet weekends aren’t about scraping by and doing the bare minimum to avoid losing your job,” Cotton says. “The tasks saved for the quiet Friday often need specific focus or extra headspace and can be completed alone. When done right, quiet weekends can be a clever tactic for employees to protect their work-life balance and get the most out of their job.”
Why it works
Working at full speed every day, filling your calendar to the brim, isn’t sustainable. What’s more, taking proper time off from work is crucial for mental health, as well as creativity and productivity.
“But if you step into the weekend still wired from a stressful week, two days may not be enough to decompress and switch off from your job,” cautions Cotton, while adding that it could be the cause of Sunday scaries.
So by taking on fewer major tasks on a Friday, workers can avoid the feeling of panic while racking their brains in bed trying to remember where they left off at the end of the week—and therefore, what needs to be picked up again on Monday morning.
“Quiet weekends can help employees sign off fully at the end of their working week, protecting their precious days off and allowing them to recharge and bring their best selves back to work after the weekend,” Cotton asserts.
5 tips for implementing quiet weekends
As much as the idea of practicing an unofficial four-day week may be appealing, this workplace hack isn’t giving license to not work altogether on a Friday.
“Treating quiet weekends like a day off is a big no-no,” warns Cotton. She distilled her advice for those looking to try out the trend into five tips:
- Be transparent about your quiet weekend. If you want to use Fridays for focused time, structure your week in advance and be open with those who may need your input to complete their tasks so they can also effectively plan their workloads.
- Be open to change. Quiet weekends may not be possible every week, and that’s okay. Last-minute projects may fall on your plate, but with extra headspace scheduled for the end of the week, you will mentally have the capacity to take it on and still move positively into the weekend.
- Don’t break the trust of your team. Clearing your last day at work from meetings and hard deadlines will allow you to be available if your boss or coworkers need you. Quiet weekends aren’t a day off; make it known you are still contactable on your focused days.
- Prioritize essential tasks on Fridays that will set your Monday up for success. This will reduce the risk of Sunday scaries.
- Be realistic about what you want to achieve on your quiet day. Set goals you can complete by the end of the week to stop work hanging over your head through the weekend.
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