This week I attended two Graduation Ceremonies at the university where I work. It is one of the few days in the year that feels unapologetically joyful, with smiling students and proud parents celebrating their achievements.
It’s a shame that not all days are like it. Some days are difficult, to say the least. The pressure of deadlines is constant, as is the apparently endless stream of reports to write and meetings to attend. Like many workplaces, universities are not exactly built around daily joy.
When I speak with people in other business sectors, they tell me about the difficulties posed by tax changes or the uncertainties caused by global politics. Then they add that they worry their children can’t find jobs or that the NHS is letting down their frail parents. There’s more doom and gloom about than fun and frolics these days. And the people in other sectors don’t have an annual joyous day, like graduation, to look forward to.
I was discussing this with a colleague when I said it reminded me of going to conferences. They are almost always serious affairs with not much fun attached to them. Other than visiting an interesting city, I said that there’s not a lot to look forward to at most conferences. My colleague challenged me, suggesting I do what a good academic should do: find some research.
It took me just a few moments to find a paper published this month which investigated the use of humour at scientific conferences. The Italian researchers noted that humour is considered unprofessional in scientific communication. However, their study of more than 500 presentations from 14 conferences reached a different conclusion. Speakers who used humour engaged the audience more, the researchers argued. They suggested that, far from being unprofessional, humour can make scientific communication more effective. After all, scientific experimentation itself can be fun and enjoyable, so why should communicating science be boring?
In her forthcoming book, The Playful Way, the author Piera Gelardi likens business seriousness to putting on a suit of clothes. She suggests we need to unzip our seriousness suit and let playfulness in. As the book says, “In that space—where we’re not afraid to look foolish, where we can laugh at ourselves and with each other—that’s where true brilliance emerges.”
This is supported by a recent article in the Harvard Business Review. It showed that when employees experience joy at work, their performance improves. Indeed, one part of the study found that employees who enjoyed their work achieved sales results 25% higher than those who did not. Clearly, joy and fun in the workplace have a real impact on the business, so much so that the Boston Consulting Group study suggests that “Leaders underestimate the value of employee joy”.
So, what can you do to make your workplace more fun and enjoyable? The first step is to empower people and give them much more autonomy. People are always much happier when they feel in control of their own destiny.
What about having a board in your reception area where each employee places an emoji next to their name as they walk in, revealing their mood on arrival at work? As they leave the office after work, they could write down one thing they were grateful for during their working day. These activities help people focus on the positives of their work.
Rather than a great big incentive scheme or an “employee of the month”, what about recognition of small things every day? You could have awards each day for the “best smile”, the “most helpful”, or the “best question”, for instance. Regular, small recognitions tend to be more useful in creating a joyful place to work than a formal “employee of the month” system.
Research increasingly suggests that joy at work is not a soft extra. It affects how people communicate, collaborate, and perform. That means leaders should stop treating fun as frivolous. Greater autonomy, regular recognition, flexibility, and a culture where people can laugh without feeling unprofessional all help create workplaces where people do better work. In gloomy times, that is not indulgence. It is good management.
