Whether it occurs as a result of down-time, team building activities, or humor stress relief in the workplace can result in greater productivity.
Humor as Stress Relief in the Workplace
While scheduling down time and team building training requires pre-planning, humor is something that can be introduced into potentially stressful workplace situations on a moment's notice. Sometimes having a good laugh on the job is a great way to control stress at work no matter what the situation. Since it's difficult to predict when stress levels are going to get out of control in the office, it's certainly a good idea to be prepared to utilize humor to defuse tense situations. It's essential that any attempts at workplace humor be appropriate for the environment. Don't resort to telling jokes that may be offensive to your co-workers or clients. Make sure that the humor you use cannot be perceived as discriminatory at any way. There's no need to crack jokes at the expense of others in any situation, and doing so in the workplace is a particularly bad idea.
Benefits of Humor on the Job
There are many benefits associated with humor; stress relief is one of the most important. There is a lot of truth to the old saying "laughter is the best medicine." This is certainly true when it comes to stress relief, whether at home or at work. Many people feel that humor doesn't have a place in the workplace, but that is not necessarily true. While laughter can't take the place of actual work, learning to incorporate humor into the workplace in an appropriate manner can have many positive outcomes.
Improved Productivity
When people are stressed out, it becomes very difficult for them to focus on the tasks they need to accomplish. How better to work through a stressful situation and get focused on productivity than to relax and enjoy a few minutes of laughter?
Job Satisfaction
Individuals who work in environments where humor is part of the corporate culture often report high levels of job satisfaction. This ties to productivity increases, as there is a direct relationship between productivity and work satisfaction.
Team Building
Humor plays an important role in organizational team building. Shared jokes and laughter can have a powerful impact on building a culture of teamwork among co-workers. Jokes among team members can play an important role in developing a strong employee culture built on mutually beneficial relationships.
Reduced Absenteeism
In addition to allowing people to defuse charged situations at work, humor can have a positive impact on workers' overall health and well being. Workers who stay stressed out are much more likely to experience frequent and more serious health problems than others. When appropriate laughter is a part of the workplace, employees are much less likely to miss time from work as a result of stress related sicknesses.
Resources for Humor: Stress Relief in the Workplace
If you want to introduce humor into your workplace, the following work stress resources can provide you with useful information, tips, and suggestions:
- 301 Ways to Have Fun at Work
- Comedy Comes Clean: A Hilarious Collection of Wholesome Jokes, Quotes, and One-Liners
- Humor at Work: The Guaranteed, Bottom-Line, Low Cost, High-Efficiency Guide to Success Through Humor
- Jokes at Work: Structural Semantic, Textlinguistic and Empirical Approaches towards a Joke Generator Model
- Laffirmations: 1001 Ways to Add Humor to Your Life and Work
- Making Humor Work: Take Your Job Seriously and Yourself Lightly
Finding the right ways to use humor stress relief in the workplace can turn an otherwise stressful job into an enjoyable career. If you can smile and be paid for it, what better job is there?
