Lassen sich Arbeit und Spaß miteinander vereinbaren? Und sollten Unternehmen Spaß bei der Arbeit nicht sogar fördern, da das der Gesundheit der Beschäftigten und deren Leistung nützt? Denn schließlich verbringen Menschen einen Großteil ihres Lebens am Arbeitsplatz. Wir geben Argumente dafür und dagegen wieder.
People are recognizing the huge benefits of having fun at work. Controlling your team using Victorian principles no longer satisfies the goals of a business. It’s far better to improve the work culture. The fun we’re talking about is structured. It’s fun with a purpose, not silly fun.
Businesses’ main difficulties typically involve the people who work there. Fun can improve the organizational culture and staff well-being, leading to employees taking less time off because they like going to work. And it helps to recruit and keep staff.
The purpose of fun is that we enjoy doing what we do. Playing and having fun make people more productive because they are motivated to give more. They feel as if the company is investing in them, so they invest in return. Fun improves the atmosphere of the company — the feeling you get as you walk around.
Fun can come in many shapes and sizes, suited to the particular environment. Some have dress-down Fridays or celebrations. But you can’t force fun. If you try to put fun into an organization that doesn’t have the right underlying structure or culture, it doesn’t work. But it does make a difference.
The equipment and games Fun at Work supplies are low-cost, ready-made solutions designed for people of any age and ability. Some of the more modern companies we work with allow employees to play how and when they choose. Other companies keep their fun very structured: maybe five or ten minutes of play during breaks or lunchtime, then back to work.
Even this short burst of fun energizes people by taking them away from their screens and giving them a break from work. We encourage people to organize competitions and collaboration between departments and with management. This helps to remove hierarchical barriers and silos within organizations.
Employees today demand flexibility and enjoyment at work. If they’re not happy, they will move on to the next employer. The effect of fun and the boost in morale can be measured through staff engagement surveys and seen in productivity increases and profit and loss results.
And fun certainly matters during the Covid-19 crisis. If we can help workers get through their day with a little bit of happiness and a smile, it’s more worthwhile than ever.
It’s a privilege to have fun at work, not a right. Leadership should aim to create an atmosphere in which as many people as possible can enjoy that privilege. Employees have a right to meaningful work, to having a fair, transparent and humane work environment, and to receiving decent pay for their efforts. But they don’t have the right to go to work to have fun.
People should take pride in and derive satisfaction from their work product or output. Fun shouldn’t be the reason they go to work. Success can come from being effective and professional at what you do, however menial or routine. If you’re a nurse, many of your tasks are mundane; some of them are terrible. But maybe you are part of a great team and you enjoy taking care of people. You might not have fun, but you concentrate on what you get out of the job emotionally. People are sometimes too focused on the task itself making them happy, and not the result. Fun can distract us from generating that result.
A workplace should be as much fun as possible, but leadership should focus on an outcome for all the stakeholders, not just employees. You have shareholders and customers, the government and taxes. The role of leadership is to create something that everyone can be proud of and get satisfaction from.
In the Covid-19 crisis, some people might be doing the most important work of their lives: doctors, researchers and firms fighting the crisis. They must be exhausted, but also filled with purpose and pride. They don’t need fun to motivate them; purpose is the strongest motivator there is.
Some people confuse their workplace with a social environment. It’s easy to get distracted by reading articles about startups that have workplaces like playgrounds. The employee isn’t there to play, but to generate a certain output. There may be a table-tennis table at work, but no one would think to use it during work hours. It’s for people to enjoy during the lunch break or after work. Enjoying a joke with your colleagues or having fun with your team is an important part of social bonding. But instead of focusing on fun, an employee should ask, what am I here for? Why am I being paid? What outcomes am I expected to achieve? Work is about connecting people with their professionalism and purpose. Maybe some of us have lost sight of that.