I fancy myself a pretty funny person. In my house we don't tell dad jokes; the punny zingers are usually delivered by mom and are met with exaggerated eye rolls (and for an especially good one, exasperated sighs) by my 12 and 14-year-old sons. I often use humor to lighten a tense mood, ensure others are having fun and make a difficult situation more enjoyable.
That's why I was jumping for joy when a manufacturing client approached me recently and said, "We'd like your help to make our workplace more fun." This manufacturer had been so focused on getting employees in the door that they had lost focus on keeping people once they arrived. With staffing under control, this employer was ready to turn their attention to retention.
We spent a few working sessions riffing on ideas and came up with a pretty good list. I thought I'd share this list with SBJ readers in the hopes it inspires some fun in your workplace:
What's more fun than winning? Find ways to celebrate successes, even if they are small. Even if times have been tough, a lighter mood can get people out of a negativity funk and more focused on possibilities, creativity and innovation.
Remember your mission. The most committed, engaged employees are the ones who feel a sense of meaning and accomplishment at work. The bricklayer who views himself as building a cathedral will feel more fulfilled than the bricklayer who sees himself as merely putting bricks in mortar. Remember, your employees don't care much about your profitability spreadsheet; instead, talk to them about how they make a difference for your customers or the community in order to tap into their feeling of accomplishment.
Give more awards and recognition. Celebrate employees who demonstrate company values and spirit. Celebrate birthdays, work anniversaries, product launches, project completions and other milestones. Bring back employee-of-the-month and put all the nominees in an end-of-year drawing for a trip or special prize. Give out high-five awards, pins, certificates or other pieces of flair (remember the movie Office Space?) for certain braggable behaviors. In fact, one company I recently worked with used FLAIR as an acronym: Fantastic Leadership Achieving Inspirational Results.
Get competitive. Is there a metric your business is working to achieve, such as days without an accident, five-star reviews or most customers served? Make it a contest. Or come up with something just for fun such as a themed photo contest, chili cook-off, desk decorating contest or costume contest.
Participate in community giving. Volunteer days are a great way to give back to the community while bringing employees together to do something enjoyable. I am on the board of Habitat for Humanity of Sangamon County, and a construction build day makes for great team building. Our community is full of organizations that could benefit from your team's time and talent such as United Way of Central Illinois, the Central Illinois Food Bank and Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach; find an organization that aligns with your values. Themed dress-code days (think: Football Friday where everyone wears their favorite team jersey or colors) can be used to raise money for local community organizations.
Have fun with food. With 365 national food days, you can celebrate hot pastrami sandwich day, popcorn day, jellybean day or even clam chowder day. Book a food truck to stop by your office, or just go to lunch or happy hour together. Remote employees? No problem. My husband once received six pints of ice cream that had been express delivered (with dry ice) to our house. How fun is it to get ice cream in the mail?
Lighten up. Create some levity with funny observations and casual conversation. Take turns playing DJ, and let employees select the music. Just steer clear of humor or songs that would create an HR issue or violate company harassment policies. (HR investigations for harassment are decidedly not fun). Stock the breakroom with games or activities people can enjoy together.
Having fun at work lowers stress and will make difficult assignments more tolerable. It also increases job satisfaction; those having fun at work will think twice before quitting to go work somewhere boring. A little fun can even boost creativity and innovation. So stop taking yourself so seriously all the time; go clock in and have a good time.