Leslie Yerkes - 301 Ways to Have Fun at Work

Copyright 1997 by Dave Hemsath and Leslie Yerkes
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First Edition
Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-57675-019-3
PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-60509-269-0
IDPF ISBN 978-1-60994-306-6

2009-1

Design and production Dianne Platner. Copyediting Mary Lou Sumberg.

To fun-loving people everywhere.

Thanks to Jay Schuster who gave me the encouragement to write this book, even though he doesnt know he did it.

Thanks to Laura and Kristen who listen to my kooky ideas, and no thanks to Kristen for tick tocking me into doing this one.

Thanks to Berrett-Koehler for taking a chance with us, and a special thanks to Steve and Valerie. Writing this book has been an educational experience for me; I will never look at writing and publishing in the same way again.

Thanks to my wife, Gayle, and my boys, Michael and Derek, who have had to put up with my brutal travel schedule as well as most of my free time being spent on writing this book. You have been patient and supportive, mostly, and I appreciate it. And boys: you finally got your names in a book!

Thanks to my business partner, Patrick, and my coworkers, Lucy, Tom, and Dana. I know that youre laughing at me, not with me.

And a special thanks to Kristen who has been my coach and mentor. This book wouldnt exist if not for your help. Thanks for the ice chips.

To the team at Berrett-Koehler Publishers for your belief in fun as important, for your willingness to be unconventional in the process of birthing this book, and in recognition of your talent. Thanks for being visionaries.

To my partner in crime, Dave, for pursuing an idea and making fun of me even in my most insane moments. Thanks for being a catalyst.

To Megan for believing in the book and bringing your spirit of fun into our lives. Thanks for being an architect.

To my mother and father for your unconditional love and support, which sustains my spirit for fun. Thanks for being risk takers with me.

To all those fun-loving individuals in workplaces across the nation who generously shared their ideas with us and now with you, the readers. Thanks for being fun.

The secret to having fun in life is to surround yourself with fun people. My love and appreciation to all of my friends, family, and colleagues who make fun with and of me, keeping my life filled with laughter and joy, and particularly to Preston for his steadfast friendship. Thank you for being my teachers, for helping me learn how to lighten up! Why carry a heavy load through life when it isnt necessary?

INTRODUCTION

viii

Fun at workis it an oxymoron or the newest business management trend?

We believe that fun at work may be the single most important trait of a highly effective and successful organization; we see a direct link between fun at work and employee creativity, productivity, morale, satisfaction, and retention, as well as customer service and many other factors that determine business success.

We wanted to help people see that link, so we decided to conduct an international survey to collect real and relevant stories of what actual businesspeople are doing to create fun workplaces. The results have been phenomenal. We received responses from individuals at many levels of the corporate hierarchy, who work within companies of all sizes and in a wide variety of industries. The responses revealed that many successful companies have made fun an integral part of their corporate culture. Fun has become an organizational strategya strategic weapon to achieve extraordinary results in areas of corporate life ranging from training sessions to meetings to hiring practices.

ix

Humor consultant and bestselling author C. W. Metcalf wrote in HR Focus (February 1993) that humor is a vital, critical element for human survival, and we often forget about it, and set it aside. We are told that laughter, fun, and play are unadult, unintelligent, and nonprofessional. Nothing could be further from the truth. One of the first indicators of the onset of most mental illness is a loss of the sense of joy in being alive.

Fun and humor help individuals through crisis and change. Because they facilitate the release of tension, fun and humor increase employees ability to cope with stress on the job and to remain flexible, creative, and innovative under pressurecentral features of a strong, resilient corporate culture.

Organizations that integrate fun into work have lower levels of absenteeism, greater job satisfaction, increased productivity, and less downtime. As cited in HR Focus in February 1993:

• In the nine months that followed a workshop conducted by C. W. Metcalf at Digital Equipment Corporation in Colorado Springs, twenty middle managers increased their productivity by 15 percent and reduced their sick days by half.
• Employees from the Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver who viewed humorous training films and attended fun workshops showed a 25 percent decrease in downtime and a 60 percent increase in job satisfaction.