Should Work Be Fun?

Studies have proved that people who are happy are more productive. But does this mean companies should engineer fun at the office? Does your office need a little “fungineering”? So many tech companies brag about how much fun it is to work for them. So there’s a lot of pressure to be fun! fun! fun! And that can kind of undermine the point, and just make things more stressful, annoying and slightly pathetic. If you have to try too hard … well it’s just not going to work.

Like most lessons in dealing with talented people the right move is usually to get out of the way. That means, go ahead and allow them to be loud and have fun (offer really swank headphones to people if they complain about the noise). Let them have chili cookoffs, cupcake wars; let them buy $50-a-dozen donuts from those $50-a-dozen donut places. Promote these events, and even draw some cash to support them (especially the donuts), but if they’re not organically happening among your staff, please don’t force it. Your job is to make sure they’re provided with work they find fulfilling not with ensuring there aren’t duplicate bruschetta dishes at the potluck.

People feel and show happiness in different ways, and you want to allow for as wide of an expression as possible. If someone likes to express happiness by blowing off fireworks in the cafeteria … well that’s no good. But within reason, allow people to be who they are. That’s a lot easier and more fun than forcing them to be something they’re not.

About NextGen

NextGen is the brainchild of longtime telecom professionals with nearly 50 years of experience and millions of dollars in Telecom Recruiting Services. We focus on establishing long term relationships with our clients and candidates so we can recruit the best and the brightest in the telecom industry. This ‘quality over quantity’ approach is at the heart of everything we do and has resulted in successful job placements at Fortune 1000 firms worldwide.

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