HEY LEADERS… HERE'S WHY YOU SHOULD PROMOTE FUN AT WORK

When you think of work do you think of fun?

You can!

Having fun looks different for different people. It even looks different for you in different stages of your life.

What’s consistent about fun is that everyone wants to have it. Fun is an important pillar of career satisfaction. I myself would rate that pillar as a 9 or 10 because I genuinely have fun working with my clients; I love what I do. 

And that’s what I want for you.

According to insights from behavioral science, people tend to choose their job based on salary and potential for promotion, thinking those things are what will make them most satisfied with their career. 

Unfortunately, the majority of Americans report not being satisfied and engaged in their work. Employees who do report being happy often mention factors such as office culture and the fun they have in their day-to-day activities. 

A major takeaway here isn't necessarily that you should quit your job now and go find something more fun. Instead, look for the fun moments in your work routine and create those moments if they don’t already exist. It’s remarkable what can happen when you look for something…you'll find it.

From a leadership standpoint, there are some absolute, tangible benefits of incorporating fun into the workday.

•  It boosts morale, builds loyalty, and helps retain your talent. The latter is especially important in this era we are currently living in. Employees who are having fun are more satisfied with their jobs.

• Having fun promotes creativity, collaboration, and builds trust in each other and each other's ideas. 

• Having fun increases employee engagement.

• When employees are having fun they are less stressed, and more productive. 

Having fun also fosters close relationships with colleagues. Some of my very best friends are people that I’ve met through work because we were having so much fun with the work we were doing. Having fun together brings teams closer.

And all of these things add up to a healthier bottom line.  Yes, having fun is good for business!

Lead By Example

Are you having fun at work? A lot of the time the areas that you are scoring high on in my Career Satisfaction Assessment are the areas in which you are having fun. 

When you feel like you are making a difference or have a healthy work-life balance, you can have fun. If you are having fun, don’t hide it! When you find joy in your work, share that with your employees. 

If you feel as if you aren’t having fun at work, maybe it’s time to step back and evaluate your position and the changes you can make. I recently spoke to a client who was very committed to her company but they went through a reorganization. They retained her but moved her to a different important part of the company. She soon realized it was not the work she wanted to be doing. 

We dug into the culture, what she needed at the company, and what kind of leader she wanted to be. What we found was that she wasn’t having fun and in that position, she wasn’t going to find it. She made a change and now has fun at her job every day because the job is more aligned with what she enjoys doing.

Make Space For It

Always keep an eye out for when your employees are having fun. Observe your team members during various activities or types of work. Also, help them recognize when they are having fun and finding joy in their work. 

Promote it and let your team know it is a good thing when they are having fun. Give them the space to “play” more and enjoy their conversations and interactions with each other.

Create It

Strategize ways you can inject more fun into the workday. Plan an outing to an escape room, decorate the workspace, create a shared vision board, observe holidays, birthdays, work anniversaries, etc. If you are still not in the office, consider virtual teaming building activities. These activities create a fun company culture, relieve stress, and employees will feel appreciated. 

As I said before, fun looks different for everyone so get their ideas and opinions. We don’t want it to turn into awkward, forced fun.  

If, as a leader, you feel that you are not the person most gifted at coming up with entertainment and promoting fun, someone on your team will be. Delegate the planning to them. It will build team spirit and your employees will appreciate that not only are you allowing fun, but actively planning for it, and making time for it. 

If you are in a season where your work just isn’t that much fun, but the other pillars on the assessment are high, that may be okay. As long as you have balance, you can figure out fun in other areas of your life. 

But I will say, don’t forget about fun. It’s worth thinking about. If you don’t have it right now, I hope it isn’t too long until you get it back because you deserve to have fun. 

If you haven’t yet, download my free Career Satisfaction Assessment to find out where your career falls on the fun scale, as well as my other Pillars of Satisfaction. 

To hear me talk more in-depth about the pillars of satisfaction, including Fun, join my group Fulfilling Career, Happy Life on Facebook.