Workers Just Want to Have Fun

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Getting to our jobs, whatever that means these days, is so much more enjoyable when you know your day will be filled with smiles and laughter. While work is mostly a serious undertaking, it ideally includes lots of room for humor and joy.

I’m writing this from a chalet on a ski hill, and I’m observing an avalanche of laughter and play (watching our granddaughters carving powder, big time). Most people, aside from the resort workers, are here for a bit of leisure. There is a palpable connection between visitors’ joy on the slopes with those facilitating a great experience. Fun loving ski patrols, instructors, lift operators and all services folks have so much influence on guests’ enjoyment.

It reminds me that it is hard to expect customers to be happier than the people providing the service. Think about flying on a plane with a happy cabin crew versus a grumpy one. There is a felt difference.

I had a reason to call a funeral home the other day. The director shared happy stories of my father, and Dad’s been gone a decade. Even solemn moments have capacity for joy.

Fun and happiness as part of a thriving culture is a great business investment. It’s proven that customers share more of their wallets with happy service providers.

I’ve noticed that delight is in heavy competition with sadness, tiredness and even simmering anger around today’s workplace. Maybe some lingering effects of the pandemic, and the rage algorithm promotion on social media platforms also grease this negativity. I’m wondering if we’ve slowly seen an unconscious erosion of fun in our daily work lives?

To some extent, work will always be work. On the other hand, research (see Doshi & McGregor’s book, Primed to Perform) reinforces the contribution and benefit of play when it’s integrated into our professional lives. It’s kind of like having a smooth run down a ski slope, the free flow is gratifying.

Who says we can’t have more fun in our work lives? And as with most behavior, the organization’s leadership can model this daily. I’ve seen the positive impact on a work community when people see the top team laughing and playing together. It advances confidence that overall things will be okay (not perfect). That reassurance is a foundation for a smile, even a little laughter.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of being tired. Unbridled positivity isn’t healthy either. However, when we spend so much of our lives working, the benefits of having a few more laughs and moments of joy seems to invite a little more conscious intentionality. To some extent, it’s a mindset.

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now, Have Fun,

Lorne

One Millennial View: It is a mindset. The last places we should really experience a hush-hush, keep your voice/heads down atmosphere are the classrooms we’ve already graduated from.

In case you’re interested, here’s my (perhaps extreme) rule of thumb for a workplace: If there is no music playing in the lobby AND bathrooms, no one should work there. Dead quiet hallways? Get out as fast as possible. Silence is a default setting for leaders who lack the creativity to productively liven up a professional space, with tasks so mundane they elicit no reaction. Leave 'em in a hurry.

- Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

Workers Just Want to Have Fun

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