How Important is it to Have Fun at Work?

[SetupaCompany]

I'm working with a couple of different clients at the moment who both are in the same industry doing similar things yet their offices couldn't be more different.

In one, the silence is almost audible. Everyone is 100% focused on their work and there is very little talking and even less laughing and smiling.

In the other, talking is a regular part of the daily office life and employees are not afraid to have a laugh and joke as they work.

So the question is, which is the right approach for management to take and how important is it for employees to have fun at work?

On the one hand you may argue that people come to work to work and not have fun and so a quiet office with focused employees is the right way to do things. Allowing too much talking encourages poor discipline and laziness and can distract other workers.

However, if you take the opposite view then you could argue that employee morale is more important and will result in better long-term results and lower staff turnover as people will enjoy coming to work and perhaps even be more likely to work longer hours.

Personally I lean more towards allowing your employees to have fund, I think it is important the office is a fun place for people to come to and that will encourage more creativity and increased loyalty. However, it is also a fine line between having a happy and still efficient office to going on a downward spiral where your employees take advantage of the situation.

 

[vvaannmmaann]

I work from home with my wife. No fun here I can assure you.

 

[ZipserSir]

In one, the silence is almost audible. Everyone is 100% focused on their work and there is very little talking and even less laughing and smiling.

How do you know that these people aren't focused on filling in their football pools or preparing an application for their next job?

These kind of observations can be very misleading.

A better form of judgement might be to ask how is each of these offices performing against the targets they have been set.

 

[SetupaCompany]

How do you know that these people aren't focused on filling in their football pools or preparing an application for their next job?

this is actually nearer the mark - 'look like they are 100% focused on their work' would have been a more accurate remark as I know at least some of the staff are indeed looking for other jobs.

 

[Young Recruit]

I'm working with a couple of different clients at the moment who both are in the same industry doing similar things yet their offices couldn't be more different.

In one, the silence is almost audible. Everyone is 100% focused on their work and there is very little talking and even less laughing and smiling.

In the other, talking is a regular part of the daily office life and employees are not afraid to have a laugh and joke as they work.

So the question is, which is the right approach for management to take and how important is it for employees to have fun at work?

On the one hand you may argue that people come to work to work and not have fun and so a quiet office with focused employees is the right way to do things. Allowing too much talking encourages poor discipline and laziness and can distract other workers.

However, if you take the opposite view then you could argue that employee morale is more important and will result in better long-term results and lower staff turnover as people will enjoy coming to work and perhaps even be more likely to work longer hours.

Personally I lean more towards allowing your employees to have fund, I think it is important the office is a fun place for people to come to and that will encourage more creativity and increased loyalty. However, it is also a fine line between having a happy and still efficient office to going on a downward spiral where your employees take advantage of the situation.

The right approach to take is the one that best helps an organisation to reach its goals.

You can either motivate people by using a stick or you can try and get them to work through choice!

How long is a piece of string? It completely depends on the organisation, its goals, its industry and its management.

JA.

 

[ftm42]

I have to agree with vvaannmmaann

- having spent the last 18 months starting up 'my' business with my husband, whilst he was 'out-of-work', it's been v stressful! I'm now setting up another different business, that [at the moment] doesn't involve him! Phew!

Love him, just can't work with him, as we're too different - he's meticulous to a frustrating fault; while I'm so spontaenous I'm likely to combust at any time!

 

[deadgoodundies]

As you said there is a fine line between focused work and letting the staff have fun and enjoy being there.
In our company everyone has a bit of a laugh, jokes are played on each other, everyone takes the mickey out of everyone BUT they know that when I say there has been enough then I want them quiet and focused just on the task in hand.
It did get to one point where there was too much talking going on and I was too busy at the time to keep monitoring them and productivity and accuracy dropped so I now have a old hotel reception bell on my desk so that if there is too much talking i just hit the bell and all is quiet.

Plus I have one of these to hand, let me tell you there is nothing like shooting a pregnant staff member in the ass with a rubber band to brighten up your day....... and before anyone says anything - she was the one who bought if for me (although if I do it anymore I think she might give birth at anytime). The staff do shoot back of course but it helps to have the better weapon.

Also it's worth keeping staff happy outside of office hours as well (really helps with moral and trust). We often treat staff to nights out at the theatre, comedy shows, meals out etc.

 

[Jeff FV]

An interesting post - I read it through my teacher's eyes (my day job is a maths teacher).

Many (particularly the 'layman' or Joe Public) judge the quality of a lesson by volume (in its context of sound) - a silent class and the lesson must be good, noisy equals bad. But its not necessarily so. Animated, engaged and involved pupils learn. The key is to be able to distinguish between purposeful noise and activity and that which is not.

Back in the day (a frighteningly long time ago now!) when I did my PGCE (Teacher training) I had to track a pupil for a day and go to all the lessons they went to. A very illuminating experience. The 'silent' lessons could (but not always) be very boring; whilst they may have been effective in isolation, lots in a row and they lost their impact. I suspect the same can be said of an office environment.

Remember, we work to pay the bills, but its our colleagues, the environment we work in and recognition that make us want to come in to work, rather than having to come into work.

J

 

[degadar]

We have always devided the office in half. Downstairs we have a pool table, table tennis. Canteen, two dogs and an Internet cafe with awesome 100meg Internet for staff to play on.

Upstairs we have a loud bustling office with all the desks inches apart and music playing in the background. It works well for us like this.

 

I just want to feel positive about the place I work in.. It's nice to want to to be in the place where you spend a good proportion of your week.. and I want the people who work with me to feel the same as much as possible..

For me it's all to do with the atmosphere and environment..

I worked in a very quiet office.. due to changes in the organisation it was a 5,500 sq ft office that only had 8 people working in it for a few months while the lease on a new site was organised.. but those 8 people got on well and it was quiet but friendly and supportive environment.

I moved to second office where there was about 200 people and a quiet but hugely tense atmosphere. I never liked working there .. I particularly didn't like being warned for being too jolly.. there were people in that office who were afraid to speak out about anything because they were afraid of being told off or labelled as troublemakers.

I don't think it's about quiet or loud, busy or calm, fun or intense .. it's about doing what you need to do to give the people who work with you the best environment possible, to get done the things they need to do but to make them (and you) feel like you want to be there and you are happy to come in every day.. Fun doesn't have to be disruptive .. quiet and intense don't have to be intimidating and stressful.

The prospect of working in an office like the second actually scares me. It affected me .. I'm not sure I'd go as far as saying I got depressed but I think it might have been a close run thing.. I hope never to feel like that again...

 

[Mike_Scott]

I work from home with my wife. No fun here I can assure you.

ha! who makes the most brews?

 

[Moneyman]

For the rest of the home workers...checking out websites while typing one handed can be considered great fun. not very social though.

 

[Billmccallum]

Fun and games have a place at work, but as and when needed....

In days gone by, we had poker games during quiet spells, but when a big job came in the team worked evenings and weekends to get it done.

 

[JacobCook715]

Very important, i wouldn't work somewhere if i didn't have an interest