Humour in the workplace

We have all had a pretty stressful year. Work has become unsecure and unstable in every possible form. Volatile market conditions have created almost intolerable workplaces and managing stress is the number one health concern for our workforce.

Lack of funds has made it nearly impossible for companies to offer the cool benefits and staff functions and expense accounts they offered just a short year ago. Motivating employees is a tough job for employers when their staff feels as though they don’t belong anymore, and the workload is unbearable, and their friends are all gone off to somewhere else.

The one common thread that seems to work for everyone, employers and employees, to make everyone feel great about themselves and their workplace, is humour! A truly fun and naturally encouraged laugh is the best medicine for everything. Laughing gives you energy, releases stress, and makes you feel more attached to the people around you.

At our office, we have had a year of seriousness, a year of goals and cuts, and revamping, and learning, with our candidates and our clients and our internal staff. So, we decided to inject some fun into our Friday staff meetings. We have added to our regular agenda, a 10-15 minute fun Friday item. Every week a different employee has a turn to come up with something free, easy, and for pure fun to lighten up the work week. We have played games, told stories, and enjoyed popsicles, cupcakes, and skittles, for just a few minutes over lunch on Fridays.

This new piece aimed to help manage the stress and change at work has actually turned into something more fantastic than I had ever imagined. All the employees have had a chance to be creative, and show parts of their personalities normally kept under wraps during such tough times. It has brought teamwork and fun back into the work week, and has allowed everyone to get a bit closer to each other, and remember why they choose to work here.

The best part of all is the humour that is injected into the staff meetings. Fun Fridays are hilarious, exciting, creative, and free. Friday staff meetings are now filled with laughter, real laughter, from the belly! And it is helping us maintain a healthy and stress free work environment.