Essentials for Healthy, Productive Workplace Fun

Any business leader will agree that a successful program for their operation is one that makes their organization more efficient or effective. Enlightened business leaders constantly take the opportunity to enhance their existing programs for workplace fun. How can a program for workplace fun become more effective and efficient? Further, what would be the benefits of a more effective program for fun within your culture?

A healthy program for fun at work has essentials and foundations that ensure you will get the culture, leadership and investment to perform optimally. They are called the three Cs and they are as follows: Consistency, on Company Time and Culture Compliant.

Let’s take a closer look at why consistent fun that occurs on company time and is compliant to your culture and your people will maximize the impact of your fun programs.

Consistency

The traditional model for workplace fun generally involves two specific high-profile events. They give employees a chance to connect and share, celebrate and bond. They’re typically pure fun and have been around since the dawn of business. You probably already plan these events.

They are: the company picnic and the holiday party. You might spend months preparing for these celebrations, and they can be valuable for your team, no doubt. But any morale boost they produce is fleeting—maybe just a few days or a week, tops.

As opposed to planning two large events each year, you should focus on consistent delivery of engagement. Get out your calendar and a red pen, and select the dates for consistent fun. Monthly fun programs are an easy starting point and offer six times the amount of fun than just the holiday party and company picnic.

On Company Time

Studies conducted on employees and work-family balance show that employees value their time with family and friends much more today than ever before. Time is among the most highly valued commodities. Yet, company leaders hesitate to schedule fun events on company time. Doing so, they believe, impacts productivity and is merely a distraction. Thus, often, plans are made to usurp valuable downtime for employee engagement with events scheduled during evening hours or weekends.

Work is stressful enough, and the gift of engagement in fun activities helps employees blow off some steam and stress and reset their perspectives of their colleagues and daily tasks. That’s why fun should happen on company time, and should take less than 15 minutes.

Consider a 15 minute ice-breaker at 8:30 a.m. to set the tone for a productive day, followed by a brief team activity after lunch to reenergize the group for the rest of the day. And then, at 4 p.m., send people home for some downtime.

Culture Compliance

The last of the three Cs—Culture Compliance—may not seem difficult. After all, who doesn’t want to have fun? Compliant fun will integrate with your company’s culture and by-laws and encourage everyone to participate in some way.

First, make sure you have a good sense of the likes, dislikes, tolerances and intolerances of the folks who make up your organization. Too many “fun” programs are really aimed at only one or two people—oftentimes the select few who planned the event. Is that really fun, effective—or fair?

Second, fun needs to appeal to extroverts and introverts alike. Some employees will gladly do the limbo; others will prefer watching (and the sadists will volunteer to lower the pole). Everyone should feel comfortable enough to play along in the way that suits their tastes.

The key to success? Allow team members to define their own fun. Listen, and plan events that allow for a variety of participation levels.

Next time your leadership is reconsidering your fun programming—and you should, because it will change—make the fun consistent, on company time and compliant to culture. Then watch your culture change and your workplace fun programs become more effective.