The manager’s initial ignorance did little to dissuade the workers. The kind of joyous, playful, break-the-tension fun they engaged in is taking place all around the world in organizations that care about performance, retention and profitability. Incorporating fun into the office is a great way to harness enthusiasm amongst staff, integrate new people into your team, and to develop a positive team culture. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Tech companies have become pioneers in the “fun at work” field, as they’ve found there are plenty of benefits in having a strong company culture. In fact, you’ll probably end up pretty miserable. More Likely To Have Fun At Work. Instead of working on Fun at Work Day make it a time for everyone to come in and have fun. Not sure what type of celebration appeals to your employees? Each year, the Great Place to Work Institute asks tens of thousands of employees to rate their experience of workplace factors, including, “This is a fun place to work.” On Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, produced by the Great Place to Work Institute, employees in companies that are denoted as “great” responded overwhelmingly -- an average of 81 percent -- that they are working in a “fun” environment. Decorate the Place. One corollary to developing strong bonds of trust is that people are able to also have a great deal of fun at work," Lyman says. Organizations that nourish creativity and playfulness in employees have less difficulty … Coming up with weekly or monthly challenges that employees can participate in is a fun motivator. My suggestion is to determine when you work best (morning, afternoon) and then do the tough work … Thank you!You are now a Monster member—and you'll receive more content in your inbox soon. - V: 2020.26.0.27-818 -. Sweeten the pot with an award for the winner(s), and people will really enjoy coming to work. It’s a good thing that researchers don’t automatically prescribe to this notion. Aside from being, well, fun, it turns out that having more fun at work creates very positive bottom-line business results. Some of the benefits of playing on the job include: – Higher recruitment and retention rates. Stress can contribute to lower productivity—but it doesn’t just affect your performance at work. At the “good” companies -- those that apply for inclusion but do not make the top 100 -- only 62 employees out of 100 say they are having fun. And, all companies should be wondering how to have more fun. Why it is important to have fun at work . Take the first job that’s right for you. Spruce up that drab cubicle with some pictures of family and friends. 2 Shares If your office is the quiet, calm, buttoned-up type of place, then you're not getting the most out of your job-- and your work output isn't the best it could be. At the end of the day it’s all about ONE Thing– the company culture that you want to create, and more importantly, that people want to work in. You should know what the supervisor’s initial reaction was to his workers’ hitting the 150 percent production goal by 3 p.m. Rather than connecting the dots and seeing the link between the promise of fun and working harder, he instead commented, “Imagine what you guys could have accomplished if you hadn’t taken two hours off to screw around!” Getting the work done. Not only is this creating a more relaxing environment, but it also encourages interaction between colleagues, which is proven to boost happiness. Is the stress already starting to build? You can also see the exact same thing happen within a work group. If the management team has been a stick in the mud about having fun at work it’s time to turn things around. Having fun at work might be just as important as having fun in your personal life. It’s also proven to improve teamwork, build trusting relationships and increase employee retention. By 3 p.m., they’d surpassed 150 percent. That’s a compelling statistic: Employees at the best companies are also having the best time. Lyman explained to us that as a company moves on its journey from being lousy to good to great, they must first address basic issues such as physical safety and even friendliness. If it’s your BIG goal to make your office thrive with an engaging culture where people love to come to work, then we’re here to help. It’s hard to believe that a warm and fuzzy subject such as fun could impact an organization’s success. Why Fun At Work is Important Fun At Work Sells. All rights reserved. Liz Peintner. That, in a waffle cone, is the power of the Levity Effect at work. Just taking a walk together in the middle of the day, having an impromptu office party, or enjoying a sweet treat together can be enough to bring coworkers together and make the workday more fun. Kirt persisted, “Well, then, what if we exceed our quota by 50 percent?” Figuring he had nothing to lose, the manager finally gave in. Reducing stress increases productivity. 15 January, 2017 by Georgia Bobley. Studies over the last two decades have revealed when workplaces make fun a factor it creates happier employees that feel more satisfied. Retaining your starting lineup. Fun at Work. There are a lot of equipment and machines in an office but employees are not among them. Stressed-out employees are distracted employees. Having Fun at Work is Important and Here is How to Start I am sure we have all heard the expression “happy wife, happy life.” We all know that your spouse’s overall happiness is essential for a healthy emotional bond. That gap in experience is, surprisingly, one of the largest in the survey. A fun culture stems from the energy and the vibe of your workplace, and it’s up to the manager to set the tone for their team. 1.2X more likely to say that they have the opportunity to do what they do best every day. No matter how cool your co-workers are, or how nice your cubicle is, if you don’t have the right job, you’re not going to have fun. Work-related stress is on the rise, with a 2018 survey by the Korn Ferry Institute citing a 20% increase in overall employee stress levels over three decades. As understandable as it is to do that – don’t do it. Wow. Austin Web Design. Job candidates (especially millennials) don’t typically leave a job interview jumping for joy when the organization is filled with uninspired employees who speak to one another in a 6-inch whisper. 11. The Case for Levity The airplanes were launched, laughter rang out and people frolicked (funny word, frolicked). “In fact, it’s a triple whammy," Kerr explains. " Paint over … What’s better than attracting new talent? A ProduKtive™ Product. As humans, we are social creatures that need a little fun to cope with the daily stressors that we face. Do you get a little rush of happiness at the thought of the fun you’re about to have? Nearly every... Fun At Work breeds loyalty. Quite simple, when you work with friends, you have more fun at work. It’s important to your stress level and your happiness quotient that you have at least one activity that you do regularly just for fun. However, this idea can also be applied to your small business employees. It is a low cost, easy way to build morale. That last scenario is unfortunately not the norm at most companies, and it’s probably hurting employee performance. What’s the first thought that crosses your mind as you shut the car door behind you and make your way to the office? Here’s one example. Jul 3, 2019 10:00 AM. HR/Benefits Why Workspace is So Critical to Employee's Success An average person spends one-third of their life at work. And it is also true that if you are in business for yourself or work in a small business, fun may not be a priority either. Why You Need to Have Fun to Be Successful. Too often business owners and managers think that all work and no play is the best way to maximize productivity. Yammer is one such service that could be used to set up a social network where employees can post funny things they find online. This is especially tough for people coming right out of school – you’ve got a mountain of debt, bills to pay, and dreams to chase, so you jump at the first offer that comes your way. Nonetheless, fun matters a lot, and not just because it’s nice. Why fun matters The evidence that fun boosts productivity is compelling. It’s amazing how a little friendly competition lightens the mood. It also energizes people — and these two factors combined can result in an increase in productivity. This tale is no big deal, right? The Path to ‘Great’ness As Rhett Power points out in his Inc. article “ 10 Reasons Why It Is Important to Create a Happy Workplace,” fun reduces stress. This will provide temporary relief to work related stress for a while and thus allow employees to enjoy themselves. Having fun at work is proven to have substantial effects on workplace productivity. And in the long run, all of this can have a positive impact on your organization’s bottom line — and on your career. Discover how to form your first power habit with the 66-Day Challenge Calendar, The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results By Gary Keller and Jay Papasan (Hard Cover), Copyright © 2002-2021 Rellek Publishing Partners, Ltd. 3. Workplace stress... Increase in … Sign up to get job alerts relevant to your skills and experience. The concept of having fun at work as opposed to taking everything very seriously is a relatively new one in today’s world. If your employees are having the fun sucked out of them at work, then you shouldn’t be surprised if they don’t give you their best. The research also shows that managers who have taught themselves to be funnier are more effective communicators and better salespeople, have more engaged employees, earn a lot more than their peers and are much thinner. I have to work at it. Go a step further toward improving motivation by letting them choose the events. Reasons why fun in the workplace is essential: Allowing fun in the work place makes (and keeps) employees happy. As we met with Amy Lyman, chair of the board and cofounder of the Institute, she explained that fun and success go hand in hand. Having engaging workspaces for … Create milestones that the whole company can celebrate together. Workplace fun has been linked to: Enhanced motivation Increased productivity Reduced stress Higher job satisfaction Improved task performance Now, a skeptic will ask, “Are successful companies just more fun to be in, since they are winning and profitable, or does fun create success?” It’s the old, “which came first, the chicken or the egg” question. Sign up for our ONE Thing Community and enter into a support network of people just like you, and transform the areas of your life that matter most! By the third week, when they had earned a trip offsite for ice cream cones, the manager finally got it. Some managers may look at this as wasting a day of work, but in the end the boost in productivity levels will more than make up for it. Having Fun Is Important At Work Having fun might not be something that most of us associate with the workplace, however, fun can definitely make work much more enjoyable and it’s easier than you think to incorporate it into the working day. The next week they negotiated for a volleyball game on the factory floor as a reward and again hit record production levels. While this tale illustrates the benefits of levity at work, it also underscores the dire need to enlighten management. The standard … If people are having fun, they’re going to work harder, stay longer, maintain their composure in a crisis and take better care of the organization. I firmly believe that positive and fun team cultures create success! OK, maybe not the last one. That, in a waffle cone, is the power of the Levity Effect at work. It would be rare to be one of Fortune’s "100 Best Companies to Work For" and not score well on the fun question. Why Fun is Important Simply put, fun sells. An excited Kirt Womack of the Thiokol factory in Utah sprinted into his manager’s office on the first day of spring and asked if the folks on the factory floor could do something fun -- say, head outside and fly paper airplanes -- if they met their quota two hours early. Simply put, fun sells. They are meant to help employees collaborate on projects, but they can also provide a fun outlet. Managers and team leaders win because they have a more engaged and productive workforce. There are a few providers that give you the tools to set up your own internal social networks. Hobbies and other fun activities provide a fun way to sharpen skills, express your creativity, or just blow off steam. 4. At a recent all-team meeting, each of us went around the room and rated the organization on a scale of 1-10 on how we’re doing at incorporating fun as a core value. Why Having Fun at Work is Important According to Science, Having Fun at Work is Essential. In the dark and grey days of the past, people who dared to have fun at work were thought of as time-wasters or nogoodniks sitting around on their keisters and goofing off (people talked funny back in the day). You would see a correlation between fun and reduced turnover, better recruiting, greater camaraderie…all those positive things you see happen in great workplaces. Most of us would be a bit nervous about writing, “I’m great fun” on our CVs, or reporting to our boss how much fun we’re having in the office. Anytime an employee needs a little comedic relief they can hop on to see the latest posts. Use your imagination and make play a common and useful occurrence in your workplace. Plan out a whole day of team building games, movies and pet projects. Take casual Friday beyond getting to wear jeans to work. An increasing body of research demonstrates that when leaders lighten up and create a fun workplace, there is a significant increase in the level of employee trust, creativity and communication -- leading to lower turnover, higher morale and a stronger bottom line. support@the1thing.com. For example, encourage birthday celebrations and minor pranks. Humor offers a … It makes people want to perform well at work and be a contributing member of their team. Happy employees are healthier and more productive – so don’t overlook the importance of having fun. Reconciling Humor with Respect. Your whole career will thank you for i… Humor is a potent stress buster. Later that day, at 1:30, the manager checked on things and found that his employees had reached 110 percent of their quota. Incorporate an added sweetener like a company provided, in-office lunch break or a beverage hour at 4pm. "If you are interested in increasing the opportunities for fun across an organization, and people genuinely engage and have fun, then that is an indication to me of a strong workplace culture that people will want to commit to. And happy employees are all around better at their jobs. "In other words, when companies make the leap from good to great, they must start addressing sophisticated trust issues. Yet, here are the Top 7 Benefits I hear about why having fun at work is so crucial these days: 1. You pull up to your regular parking space at work. I can’t overstate the importance of this enough. In addition, fun makes people more creative because it … Fun and work sometimes are at opposite poles in some people’s minds, but they don’t have to be. 2. Motivated purely by the opportunity to have a little fun at work, the aviation workers increased their performance dramatically. ", Excerpted from The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up, © 2021 Monster Worldwide Fun is an important part of life, and work makes up around half of our waking life. Data from the organization’s 1 million-person research database reveals that “Great” companies consistently earn significantly higher marks for “fun.” Just Kidding? It enhances communication and builds social bonds that help people through the tough times. The five ideas below are a good jumping off point for creating a culture that incorporates fun. But the remarkable case for levity at work is growing, with the most convincing numbers culled from more than a decade of research by the Great Place to Work Institute. Sure, except for the fact that a 50 percent increase isn’t exactly insignificant. And we’re doing a pretty good job at it. You can have fun before the work gets done, you can have fun after the work gets done or you can have fun while the work is getting done but I don’t care how authentic your leader is, the fun is going to stop pretty darn quick if the work isn’t getting done. The manager wrinkled his brow and vetoed the idea. On the fun question, the gap is 29 percent. Is there a little lump of dread growing in your stomach? An increasing body of research demonstrates that when leaders lighten up and create a fun workplace, there is a significant increase in the level of employee trust, creativity and communication -- leading to lower turnover, higher morale and a stronger bottom line. Fostering a fun work environment can make your employees less stressed, more productive, more creative, and more engaged. “It’s absolutely a question companies should be asking themselves, because it is something that happens in great workplaces,” she said. 3 reasons why goofing off at work is a good thing. They’ve come up with all sorts of crazy ideas to make their offices better; slides, pool tables, sports facilities, even nap stations. Why It's Important to Have Fun at Work. This can … Have lunch catered and keep snacks on hand – well-fed people are happy people. But it should be. And while having fun perks like unlimited vacation is not a bad way to stimulate a fun culture, it doesn’t always need to cost you. According to research published in the book “301 Ways to Have Fun at Work,” there is a direct link between the extend to which employees have fun and: Work productively; Deliver good customer service; Exercise their creativity; Provide innovation within their job role; In fact, companies that adopt a fun-orientated culture have: Just make sure to set parameters and stress that any offensive material is unacceptable. Now, for those of you like me who believe that fun at work is important here’s something else that’s really important. Having fun at work has a very different meaning today than it used to. Better yet, start an initiative to set aside a small percentage of the profits for employee parties and events. “In fact, it would be very unusual for a company to be among the ‘100 Best’ and not score well on the fun question.” The standard “we work hard and play hard” motto isn’t enough. Three reasons having fun at work could be good for your business. Having open discussions about whether or not we are having fun at work is a path towards wholeness at work. Workplace fun has been linked to: Having fun is one way of effectively managing and improving employees’ emotions. Everett (2011) concludes that since we will spend more than 90,000 hours of our lives at work, we might as well have fun there. In fact, employees who strongly agree with that statement are extremely likely -- a rock-solid 0.61 correlation -- to also reply positively to the statement, “Taking everything into account, I would say this is a great place to work.” By continuing, you agree to Monster's privacy policy, terms of use and use of cookies. Correlations to fun on the 57-question survey are all “very high, very positive,” Lyman added. Fun company cultures are the best way to keep your employees and attract new ones. But to compare, the leverage increase from the good companies up to the best on the friendliness question is just 11.25 percent. Fun in the workplace is good for the bottom line. Each week, they continued to request fun rewards and turned in astounding production numbers. Wagner, V. (2013, December 18). Employees will work harder knowing that they’ll be rewarded for their efforts and acknowledged for their contributions. 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