25 Ways to Fun at Work

2135 Words9 Pages
Each company has its own unique cultural considerations which influence what will and will not work, so it's up to you to make your own best guess about how to go about lightening up your work environment. Whatever approach you adopt, remember to always sustain your usual standards for competence and professionalism, even when you're having fun. 25 Ways of Making Work Fun 1) Hire competent employees who already value fun and have a sense of humor. If you begin with employees who already have humor and fun as part of their personality and style, they will automatically bring these qualities to their job. They will already have the skills you want to nurture throughout the organization. A core of people with strong humor skills is one of the most important keys to helping other employees build up these skills. 2) Be sure humor and fun are modeled by top management. No plan to change the corporate culture can work unless it is supported and modeled by top levels of management. Most employees assume that humor and fun on the job will be viewed negatively; so they need clear evidence that this is not the case. If they fail to see evidence of a lighter attitude in top management, they will be very cautious about using their sense of humor on the job--no matter how many fun activities are set up by the company. They will assume that their chances of getting ahead are better if they’re always serious. Sean Greenwood, a full-time humor coordinator for Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream in the mid-1990s, noted that "If your management doesn’t support it, it’s tough to go out and have fun at work." A special meeting designed to emphasize this new organizational value generally handles any doubts employees have. This meeting should also offer guidelines for the limits of humor and fun; i.e., when and how much humor or fun is and is not appropriate. It may even be built into your

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