Why a Fun Company Culture is Good for Your Business

Would you say the company you work for/the business you run has a 'fun company culture'? If your answer is yes, i'd like to find out if the views in this article match yours.

Personally I agree and think it's a massive positive for the company as a whole. Our whole lives we’ve been taught “work hard, play hard”, and I think this should be the case at work as well. Fun company cultures are the best way to keep your employees and attract new ones because it makes people say "I want to be a part of that", and I think this reflects well for the business in all areas. Your employees aren’t average and your company shouldn’t be either.

"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing." - Dale Carnegie

Does having a fun company culture cost the business? No. While having fun perks such as unlimited holidays is not a bad way to create a fun culture, it doesn't have to be at a cost to the business.

For me, a fun culture stems from the energy and the vibe of your workplace, and it’s up to the manager to set the tone for the team. Research shows that we will spend around 91,250 hours at work during our lifetime, which begs the question to some people, why am I not enjoying where I work? People don’t just work to earn a paycheck.

This recent article from Harvard Business Review explains that "one of the most striking results we’ve found is that, across all income levels, the top predictor of workplace satisfaction is not pay: It is the culture and values of the organisation, followed closely by the quality of senior leadership and the career opportunities at the company." A happy and appreciated workforce will result in them always doing more than what is expected. People are interested in enjoying their day to day, not just profiting from it.

"I don't think of work as work and play as play, it's all living." - Richard Branson

2 Reasons Why Having a Fun Company Culture is Good For Business

• Helps drive engagement for your employees - Engaged employees are more productive. Fact. Adding enjoyment and engagement back into the workplace contributes to innovation and new ideas and can help you make progress toward achieving your company’s goals.
• It helps attract new talent - When an employee loves where they work, they naturally become ambassadors for the company and help to organically promote the business, helping to attract new talent and promote the enterprise from the inside out.

Business Examples of Fun Company Cultures

• SquareSpace - 100% coverage of health insurance premiums, flexible vacations, attractive office space, catered meals, stocked kitchens, monthly celebrations, relaxation spaces and periodic guest lecturers
• Twitter - Free meals delivered to the office, offer midday yoga classes, holding meetings on rooftops to keep it interesting
• NextJump - built a free on-site gym for their employees but only 5-10% of the company used it, so they created a fitness challenge that offered winning employee $1,000
• Warby Parker - They make sure that there’s always an event coming up, so employees have something to look forward to and managers send random employees out to have lunch together so they can get to know everyone on their team

Not every company can offer big fun perks like these, and that’s fine. But a big part of having a fun company culture is just in the attitude that managers bring to the team. The approach taken with how employees are treated and what level of ownership and trust they are given is also a key part of company culture.

This article, which discusses Richard Branson’s fun-tinted view on work and life, says it best:

"Experiment in your workplace, get creative, laugh out loud and encourage everyone to have some fun. You don’t have to be Zappos, Google, Facebook or Virgin to build fun into your culture. Well-placed humour in an office environment puts others at ease. It raises the energy, encourages innovation and undoubtedly improves productivity."

Fun Culture Ideas for Your Business

• Treat culture as the company’s immune system
• Organise office challenges and team bonding sessions
• Encourage eating lunch as a team
•  Get some stand out perks
• Get out of the office
• “Dress up” Fridays
• Recognise and celebrate milestones and results
• Create a fun office space
• Weekly office massages
• “Feel Good Fridays”
• “Ideas and beers”
• Starter packs for new employees
• Redesign your office
• Bring your pet to work day

...And that's just to name a few, if you have any other ideas, please feel free to mention them below.