Ask Michele: All work and no play can lead to very dull work

Humor in the workplace can help reduce stress and make mistakes more tolerable.

October 8, 2001

By MICHELE HIMMELBERG
The Orange County Register

Q: Our company merged with another last year and, after layoffs, we have fewer people doing the same amount of work. Most of us have had to adjust to new bosses, with less guidance and feedback. Some days it's almost depressing to come to work. I've tried to generate a little levity, but whenever I do this, my boss never laughs. Am I out of line, or are managers taught to have no sense of humor?

- Happy to have a job, sort of

A: Funny you should ask. Victor Broski and Kif Anderson were just talking about this topic, "Humor at Work," for Orange County members of the American Society of Training and Development. They agree with you wholeheartedly: A stressful work environment results in more frustration, tension, sick days and dull work.

A little humor, on the other hand, can make for a pleasant, more productive day.

While work will always be work, they say, it can be more enjoyable.

The trick is how to be playful without crossing that line of professionalism. I'm not sure how you added "a little levity" at your office, but hopefully it wasn't with pranks that made the boss look bad, or a joke that embarrassed a co-worker.

Better to pick on yourself if you're going down that kind of a humor highway. Better yet, tie the humor to something topical, Anderson said. Rather than griping about the computer system that always crashes at 4:49 p.m., make a joke about it. Everyone empathizes, and you help them blow off steam by laughing rather than by kicking the CPU.

Or try something silly to crack the tension of a long day. Keep a small toy at your desk for people to play with, like a Slinky, an Etch-a-Sketch or a squeeze ball. They can increase smiles and decrease stress.

Here's one of Broski's favorites: Put an empty fish bowl in a common area with a sign that reads, "Feeding time 2 p.m." Watch what happens. Post a cartoon on your bulletin board and change it frequently. This can mean a five-minute break with chuckles.

Look for low-cost or no-cost ways to motivate employees, such as starting a "fun award" that recognizes workers for a job well done. As you can see, you're not out of line in your desire for more humor.

As for your question about managers and humor, sometimes they just don't see the benefits. They might equate fun and toys with goofing off.

"Most people are afraid to be humorous," Anderson said. "They think you have to be serious or you won't be perceived as adept at what you do."

And yet, studies prove that employees value fun because it's a pleasant way to help them become more successful. In a study conducted by Interim Services (now Spherion), nearly three out of four employees said that promoting fun and closer workplace relationships would make their jobs more attractive and reduce turnover.

Today's managers and leaders already are "in a state of vertigo," warns Warren Bennis, professor of business administration at the University of Southern California. They need a diverse set of skills that includes not only intelligence and an ability to motivate, but flexibility, spontaneity and a team mindset that looks out for the needs of the individual. Bosses who can make quick, sound decisions in a fast-changing environment will be more successful if they can use humor to balance the intensity of today's workplace.

That doesn't mean reviving the workplace playgrounds of the dot-com heyday, where Foosball, jukeboxes and Friday barbecues helped workers escape the grind. In the long run, toys and diversions were nice, but they couldn't replace the security of a traditional workplace - such as going home at 6 p.m. trusting that the company still would be there the next day.

Employees have a basic need for structure and stability, which managers must provide. Once you have that, humor becomes the grease that keeps all the gears and balls rolling. "If you can get them to laugh, you can get them to follow you," Broski said. "Humor is a way of establishing leadership." But what if you're not a funny person or you can't tell jokes? No worries, he says.

Broski is an aficionado of fun, but he didn't start out that way. If you were like him - studious, serious and the last person his classmates would have voted to become a humorist - take heart. Humor is a "practiced behavior," he says.

Try this exercise, he says. Mistakes happen all the time. The next time you make one, or the next time you say something foolish, quickly confess and slap a $20 bill on the table with this challenge: "OK, that's for anyone who can top my blunder."

In that scenario, humor allows people to focus on how they felt instead of focusing on the mistake, Broski said. The person may have felt embarrassed, but then relieved. Vulnerable, yet determined to do better.

If you're still skeptical, Broski has a list of reasons why managers should allow people to have a sense of humor at work:

When word gets out that your company is a fun place to work, it attracts top-level employees.

It also helps you keep the great employees you've got. Humor reduces stress and burnout.

Laughter can lower blood pressure.

Humor diffuses anger, and it's immediate (unlike that 3-mile run at the end of the day).

Humor makes mistakes more tolerable.

Humor can bridge the gaps you might have in your workplace, from age to background to experience.

Humor opens lines of communication and can help resolve conflicts.

Laughter helps you deal with everyday challenges and disappointments.

Fun and humor have become a mini-industry in the human-resources field, spawning books and seminars and instructional guides. Dave Hemsath, who wrote "301 More Ways to have Fun at Work" (Berrett-Koehler, $15.95), says this is no passing fancy. "It is no longer enough to use fun to help organizations to achieve extraordinary results," Hemsath said. "Today, organizations must use fun as a strategic weapon to help people become extraordinary individuals."

So go ahead. Have some fun. Giggle and smile.

"If you can laugh at work," Broski says, "you know there's some way you can get through all this."