Fun at Work Day

National Fun at Work Day is this Saturday (they really have holidays for everything).  It’s ironic that National Fun at Work Day is over the weekend, but it’s the perfect time to think about the role that “fun” plays in the workplace.  Of course, you shouldn’t make “fun” your prime focus, but it’s something that can benefit both your organization and your employees.  For one, a fun workplace indicates how engaged the employees are.  It encourages presence, participation and teamwork.  By breaking down barriers, it promotes bonding and a positive culture while also spurring creativity and enthusiasm.  It also helps your organization retain top talent.  

While some people might think that fun interferes with productivity, when it’s done right it promotes a sense of teamwork, increasing long-term employee engagement.  A more tunnel-vision focus on “results” can discourage togetherness, hurt performance and lead to increased turnover.  

Unfortunately, there isn’t a “fun blueprint” that works for every single organization.  Yet even if there’s no universal approach, it’s still surprisingly simple.  Try involving food, games, contests or something that benefits to a charity.  Tie it in with your company culture, and do something that will encourage participation and teamwork.  You want to choose something that resonates with your organization’s culture, and make sure it gets necessary support both from your employees and senior leadership.  Ultimately, leaders are responsible for creating a company culture, and that includes fun at work.  That’s why they need to participate.  As Colin Powell once said, you want to “surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves”.  

This week/weekend, think about what National Fun at Work Day means to you and your company.  Yet that doesn’t mean you should only be thinking about it once a year; find ways that you can encourage fun at work year-round.  Make sure you get involved, otherwise your employees won’t want to themselves.

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