Importance of Bringing Humour to The Workplace.Creating a Positive and Productive Environment
Humour can have a positive impact on the work environment. It reduces stress and improves team collaboration, communication, and trust. It also increases productivity, generates ideas, and brings people closer together. But is it really necessary? Well, according to the famous stand-up comedian Bill Burr, many workplaces need to lighten up. His humorous quote “Working in an office is like being in prison; without bars, so you can see them” rings true for many companies.
Today’s workplace is very different from the one a decade or two ago. People are no longer confined to cubicles and offices. They work from home, in cafes and even at airports. Thanks to technology, we can even connect with people all over the world in real-time. With all these changes, work has become much less formal than before. People are friendlier and more informal, which is great news for introverts who need a quiet space to thrive. However, the fun atmosphere isn’t always deliberate; it just naturally comes as a result of modern technologies and changing work culture.
Even though we may not love going to work every day, most of us find great personal satisfaction in doing something challenging and productive daily. For many people, working also provides an opportunity for personal growth and learning new skills that may be beneficial down the road when searching for future employment opportunities or applying for new jobs.
In this blog post, I shall try to analyse the importance of bringing humour to the workplace as well as some steps you can take to introduce laughter into your working environment.
What is Humor and Why Is It Important?
Theoretically, humour/laughter is a reaction to an eccentric or lighthearted event. We can choose to laugh at a circumstance rather than cry as a coping mechanism. Or, like in the case of the workplace, we can decide to have a good time and make everyone around us smile/laugh. The idea is to be able to laugh at ourselves and not take ourselves too seriously. At its essence, humour is a type of peer pressure. It's a method of communication that avoids physical conflict or verbal arguments, two things that can undermine team morale and productivity. You can lower your guard and reveal your genuine, light-hearted side when you laugh with someone. Humour is an excellent tool for creating positive vibes, bonding with co-workers, and bringing joy to the workplace.
I don't understand why a sense of humour or being Funny in the corporate world is considered to be bad. All those tedious, monotonous meetings are so boring, and if we brought some humour into them, people would look forward to them. Humour does not refer to just buffoonery or jokes thrown in here and there, rather it denotes keeping the mood light and not making life more difficult by eliminating employees' laughter and smiles. Many organisations, if not all of them, is not known for bringing humour to the workplace. Covid / post-Covid has been contributing to some attitudinal changes lately, first by experimenting with WFH and hybrid working and then by focusing on employee health. Companies have realised the importance of employee wellness and are promoting it because it makes good financial sense! Keeping a stress-free work environment goes a long way in ensuring employees/ wellness. It is beneficial to employees as well as to organisations! Companies that offer free items should take advantage of this by providing free laughter as well. Imagine employees giggling and high-fiving at work instead of sulking, shouting, and manipulating. Like any other initiative, this initiative should also be driven from the top down. I recommend developing a psychometric test to determine the competency of humour for both, employee and employer. Anyways, a short survey tool can always be made and used.
Advantages of Humor at the Workplace
As mentioned above, humour is a very positive and constructive way of communicating. It allows us to express ourselves and communicate in a way that can be fun, impulsive, and creative. Instead of bombarding co-workers with facts and statistics or projecting an overly serious tone, a light-hearted approach can help put everyone in a more relaxed and happy mood. And when everyone feels relaxed and happy, it’s easier to collaborate and come up with creative ideas. Humour also can break down barriers and create a sense of camaraderie. When you can laugh together, you can empathize with one another and create a stronger team dynamic.
It is not hard to realise the advantages of humour in the workplace, the issue is that we all know about its advantages but still do not encourage it... Because we follow and indulge in the divide and conquer policy amongst employees, we bring in a competitive spirit and reward employees based on revenue earned or saved – this is important but not at the cost of neglecting team spirit and morale...I feel that it should be mandatory to read Dilbert and understand the funny part of the Corporate world and relate Dilbert and its characters with those found at the workplace. It is better to read and laugh at such characters rather than to meet and suffer at the hands/minds of such... Employees, including top/senior management, should also watch “The Office” and “Horrible Bosses” on OTT and it might be advisable to encourage employees to watch Mr Bean in addition to stand-up comedians like Amit Tandon, Kapil Sharma etc. Also, a few News Channels are quite funny, so they may be watched but just for the sake of humour rather than to gain knowledge on politics or current affairs.
Step 1: Be Transparent About Company Values and Mission
Before you can introduce humour into your workplace, you need to be transparent about your company values and mission. If you don’t have any values or mission statements, now would be the time to create them. Once you know what you stand for and what the company’s main goals are, you can use those values to inform your decision-making and ensure everything you do aligns with your values. For example, if one of your values is to “deliver joy to our customers”, you can use that value as a basis for introducing humour in your workplace. Bring in a mascot, create funny posters, or get a giant inflatable Toy / Mascot outside your office. All of these things will “deliver joy” to your customers and co-workers. Once you have transparent company values, it’ll be a lot easier to introduce humour into the workplace.
Step 2: Bring Fun to work
The best way to introduce humour/fun/happiness in your workplace is to actually have fun. You can do this by scheduling fun activities at office events or organizing off-site activities outside the office. For example, Start with having Fun Fridays – a day without any meetings, getting together in Cafeteria / common area and having company-sponsored snacks and soft drinks – I leave the choice of alcoholic drinks as per company values/culture and demography as well :) Have potlucks and events at all festivals to cater to diversity. You can bring in a magician for an office event or a team-building event. You could also plan an off-site activity that includes fun games, like an escape room or a music / Talent spotting session. The list is endless... Further, change old policies and imbibe new/progressive ones, especially in Performance management. Make Learning sessions Fun... I remember my Hotel days, especially the Marriott experience where all training sessions were with a theme and all were so fun to attend. Having fun at office events is an excellent way to bring humour to the workplace and create a sense of camaraderie. And when team members are closer and more bonded, it’s easier to collaborate and come up with new ideas.
Have weekly department meetings to get more ideas from the team members. Collate the ideas from all departments and make a Fun Committee that would conduct such events and suggest changes... Management / HR should provide all support within defined guidelines. One can also have a Company Culture Board where people can post their thoughts, frustrations, and joys. Make work Fun and enjoyable and one would have better Retention and Happy Employees who in turn would create Happy Customers as well...
Various Case Studies *
Top Management goes by numbers and data, therefore to make my point, I must quote from reliable studies/research done by SHRM and ATD (Association of Talent Development) in the US.
Source – SHRM site & Devin C. Hughes - who is a San Diego-based author, speaker, consultant and executive coach and an internationally recognized expert in the science of happiness, organizational/culture change and leadership development.
Their overall finding was that” Humour can keep Employees Engaged at work”.
As per the study in the USA, Close to a trillion dollars are lost in low productivity and increased costs. The national employee engagement rate there currently hovers around 30 percent. Each year, U.S. companies lose an estimated:
$300 billion due to stressed workers,
$500 billion due to disengaged employees
$11 billion due to employee turnover.
Being happy at work is important. Studies suggest that if you're not happy at work, you're less productive, more likely to take sick days, and likely to become a poor problem solver. Still, some people maintain being happy at work isn't important—that happiness is just one possible by-product of a good working environment and not worth being its own goal. I think, however, this comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of how happiness can benefit us.
Too often we feel that if we are laughing during work, people may think we are "slacking off." Professor Sophie Scott from University College London, however, says, "Laughter is a subconscious signal that we're in a state of relaxation and safety." Studies show that humour in the workplace can boost employee productivity and even enhance performance. A Wharton study found that laughter promotes creativity and greater analytical precision. So, not only are your employees inspired to perform, they perform better. Laughter is also one of the best stress management tools. As the Mayo Clinic reports, more giggles are just what the doctor ordered because laughter increases the release of feel-good chemicals, reduces tension and helps us connect with others.
Humour beats stress. Chronic stress can cause muscle tension, high blood pressure and decreased immunity. Humour can counteract these negative effects. Studies have shown that laughter can relax muscles, decrease blood pressure and improve our immune system. Humour engages employees. Disengaged employees cost companies billions of Rupees/dollars in lost productivity through absenteeism/sickness. Managers who use humour benefit from high levels of employee engagement and work performance, not just for their direct reports but for themselves. Humour reduces status differentials. Humour can also help to reduce the social distance between managers and employees
Humour reduces turnover. The estimated cost to replace an employee range from 50 to 150 percent of that person's annual salary and affects the entire department. Employees who work in a humorous organization report higher workplace satisfaction scores and say they are less likely to leave their roles.
If you decide you want to add more laughter and smiles to your work environment, the next thing to consider is how you use humour without offending or getting in trouble. The answer is to keep your jokes within these rules:
Stay away from religion and politics.
Don't make sexual references—ever.
Do not make fun of any clients, competitors or individuals.
Never be malicious with your material
I have my own theories to bring happiness and fun at work which also revolves around Work-Life balance ... plus I have one more on the ways to make employees physically and mentally healthy... This involves imbibing Army ways of doing things to keep everyone physically fit, mentally healthy and Funny.... but let us save this topic/discussion for some other day.
Conclusion
When done correctly, humour can positively impact team collaboration, communication, and trust. It can also increase productivity and bring people closer together. And when used properly, humour can be an excellent tool for creating positive vibes, bonding with co-workers, and bringing joy to the workplace. As we read in this long blog post/article, the best way to introduce humour in your workplace is to be transparent about company values and mission, have fun activities at office events, hold weekly morning meetings for collaboration and communication, and have a company culture board where people can post their thoughts, frustrations, and joys. We also covered the SHRM / ATD study and quotes from many reputed firms about the benefits of Fun at the workplace / having Happy employees. Ultimately, Happy Employees are Engaged and Productive Employees.
PS :-
- Your views and suggestions are welcome but with a caveat... all opinions and suggestions contrary to the topic would be liable for disciplinary action and Management (that is Me) would be at liberty of taking strict action, including but not limited to sending that person to a Stand-up comedy show / comedy movie/ buying all publications of Dilbert etc (all at their own expense) or making him / her laugh for 30 minutes daily for rest of his / her tenure in the company....:)
- Hire me as a HR Head or a Consultant to create a Fun and Productive place... This was serious and not funny as the first point...
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