Tips for employers to reduce the 'Sunday Scaries' among employees

Today we want to explore the notion of Sunday Scaries – what is it? What can organizations do to help shift this trend? And what can you, the employee do to help you move through these feelings of anxiety, rumination and worry that emerge as Sunday draws to a close, and more notably, Monday looms on the horizon? Here’s the thing: Sunday Scaries are not new to us. When I was growing up, this phenomenon was referred to as The Sunday Night Blues.

While it appears everyone feels this way from time to time, the underlying factors that contribute to these types of feelings are complex and multi-determined. Sometimes it has to do with patterns of dysfunction that are the responsibility of the employee to explore and shift. For example, maybe an employee has a pattern of procrastination and avoidance that leads to this feeling of dread as Monday rolls around because they are aware of the pile of work they have pushed off for weeks. However, it might be squarely the responsibility of the employer(s)/organization, who have created a toxic performance culture that placed unsustainable expectations on their team. And often it is a combo of both the employer and the employee who have to make subtle shifts in their approach to sustainable high performance.

At Exos, we decided to turn the microscope on ourselves for the greater part of the last year and see what we found under the hood of our own organization and team. We partnered with Wharton Business School, Adam Grant, and Marissa Shandell to better understand our own performance culture. Our goal was to create a blueprint for sustainable high performance, with an emphasis on sustainability, which meant a radical shift in many of our own beliefs and practices around high performance and human potential.

After more than a year of exploring our own high-performance culture and six months of implementing a radically new approach to sustainable high performance (company-wide), the data is in! It turns out you can emphasize both wellbeing and high performance and we do not need to sacrifice one for the other. The results were nothing short of remarkable. Here is what we found after just six months of intentional organizational changes aimed at creating a culture of healthy and sustainable high performance and reducing those pesky Sunday Scaries:

After six months, people reported an increase in attention and focus, absorption and engagement, time management, and perceived support.

• Following the implementation of flexible scheduling, 91% of employees believe they spent their time effectively at work, whereas only 64% of employees felt this way before the pilot.
• By enabling a work environment that allowed for deep-focused work, 91% of employees believed they were productive at work as opposed to only 67% before the pilot.

After six months, people reported a decrease in anxiety and rumination, exhaustion, the volume of demands/requests, and feelings of burnout.

• 20% of employees rarely experienced ruminating thoughts before the pilot, and 44% rarely experienced ruminating thoughts after the pilot (a two-fold increase).
• After the pilot, 80% of employees said the Sunday Scaries/work dread were no longer an issue.

You might be wondering what we did to get these results. What did we focus on? And, more importantly, what can you do to move your team in a similar direction to prioritize intentional moments of rest and recovery throughout the workweek to reduce feelings of rumination and work dread?

Let’s get under the hood on several things you can do as a leader of any team or organization:

Strategically model recovery as part of the workplace culture: As the leader, you have to stand behind this effort fully and completely. So that means it starts with you and how you model high performance. For real, all eyes are on you and your executive team to set the tone for this organizational growth. Something super simple you can do today is make your own recovery habits public on your calendar. This can include workouts, meditation, spending time with loved ones, or walking meetings –make them all public. This gives permission to your team to behave similarly. If it’s not modeled from the top, your results will be lackluster. Only the rebels and the die-hard self-care employees will take advantage of your efforts if it is not modeled from the top.

Perform a radical meetings audit: Ruthlessly edit your daily and weekly meeting habits. Our calendars are one of the most cluttered and habitual (read unconscious) pockets inside our organizations. I am constantly surprised at how dysfunctional our calendars really are when we get under the hood. Here are a few simple steps to start:

• Go through and make all your 30-minute meetings 20-25 minutes and make your 60-minute meetings 45 minutes to allow for micro-breaks within your work day for a quick recharge.
• In that time you just got back, do not do work and ask your teammates to also refrain.
• In places of work, you can breathe, walk outside, shut your eyes, get sunlight, meditate for 2-5 minutes at your desk, or call a loved one to connect. There is a multitude of research out there about the power of microbreak. Turns out, you don’t need a lot of time to contribute to huge neurobiological shifts in how your body feels at the end of the day.
• Require anyone requesting a meeting from you to have a clear and unambiguous goal for the meeting and to state that at the outset. Moral of the story: we land where we point our vessel. Be intentional about how to focus your meetings.

Leverage autonomy as a motivational fuel: Many leaders and organizations underestimate how much autonomy fuels motivation. And not just any old motivation, either. Autonomy fuels intrinsic motivation, the holy grail of motivation, because intrinsically motivated people don’t need external factors to keep them engaged. Make it a priority to create pockets of autonomy for your employees where they have flexibility over their calendaring/scheduling, some choice in what projects they spend their time on, and freedom to create boundaries that work for their lifestyle needs. Can we give an employee everything they want, all the time? No. But can we drastically change the way we approach certain aspects of our workplace culture and provide more choice, autonomy, and flexibility for employees to reduce burnout and rumination? Yes.

Read more: How benefits advisors can reduce HR workload and employee stress

With strategic and intentional effort you can help your employees feel better at work, engage more deeply in their work, increase productivity, and feel an increased sense of wellbeing. By implementing these measures, employers can help create a more supportive and understanding workplace that can reduce the anxiety associated with the start of the workweek. Remember, the key is to create a culture where employees feel their wellbeing is a priority.

Call it what you want, Sunday Scaries or The Sunday Night Blues, we’ve found that fundamental changes to our performance culture have produced profound changes in how we feel individually and as a community striving for excellence.

Sarah Sarkis, Senior Director of Performance Psychology at Exos