Fun at the Office = Better Productive Employees

Imagine this scenario: You go to work, everyone’s doom and gloom, and completely focused on their screen. Nobody does lunches together, nobody bothers to organise a get-together.

And now, imagine this other scenario – your office is abuzz with activity, some of them not work related with people chatting with one another asking about the weekend, team lunches are a common thing while short 10-minute breaks at the Games Room (yes, there is a Games Room!) are encouraged.

Naturally, you’d prefer to work at the second office but it doesn’t really sound like people are actually working? What if we told you the opposite? That the staff at the second office are more productive than the ones at the first office.

It’s true – and studies back it up! The study published in the Journal of Vocational Behaviour discovered a link between fun work environments and productivity whereby fun work environments can also create a better learning environment and is able to improve employee resilience and optimism, while leads to better attention to tasks. Meanwhile, a happy work environment can help reduce stress, and when this happens, productivity increases as happy employees aren’t bogged down with stress and worry that causes them to lose focus.

Other reasons why a fun office is a more productive office:

• Happy is contagious. You feel good when you have a good time with your friends. Same goes for the office. When you are having fun doing work with your colleagues, it hardly feels like work anymore. And in fact, you are more than willing to be doing that work because you’re doing it in the company of people you like.

• Happy employees have the right attitude. When you work in an office that doesn’t encourage positive interactions with one another, you’re bound to spiral down the negativity lane, feeling stifled and unappreciated. Those who work in a fun office, on the other hand, have a positive attitude and are more willing to go the extra mile.

• Fun inspires creativity. Employees who have fun together are more inspired to think out of the box and be more innovative. They are also more likely to work together as a team to bounce of ideas with one another.

• More loyal. When you love your company thanks to its positive energy, you’re more likely to stay and be a loyal employee. And loyal employees are definitely more productive and can do a lot of amazing things when given the right opportunity.

So how do you create fun in the office that’s still within office boundaries? Here are some suggestions.

#1 Go out together
Whether it is lunch or a bi-weekly hike, going out together as a team is a great way to get everyone having fun and forming relationships outside of work that can inspire better team work and collaboration when back in the office setting. Or you can even organise team-building activities like treasure hunts and Charade Fridays. Everyone #WFH? No problem – organise a Friday morning breakfast get-together over a Zoom call!

#2 Start clubs
It can be a I Love My Dog club or even a book club but this will encourage everyone to see their colleagues more than just the person they work with but someone with the same interest. That creates a bond and that bond will help you work better together as a team.

#3 Dedicate a breakroom
If your office doesn’t already have one, perhaps talk to the boss to organise this. It’s been proven again and again that to be more productive, you need to take occasional breaks.

#4 Celebrate wins and milestones
Go for pizzas when your team has completed a project or call in the cakes for birthdays – it feels good to be acknowledged and rewarded, and will encourage you to do better.

#5 Decorate your table
You can have the boring blue board in front of you… or you can have photos of your pet, your family and your friends. Zest up your table to make it more inviting and inspiring. Coming in every morning to see the things that matter most to you will undoubtedly give you more positive energy and the right mindset to go, go, go.

Is your office a fun office? Tell us how!

Picture by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash