301 Ways to Have Fun At Work

Dave Hemsath, Leslie Yerkes, Daniel McQuillen

• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Year: 1997
• Print ISBN: 9781576750193
• eBook ISBN: 9781609943066
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

The most successful organizations add a healthy dose of play into their daily or weekly routines. In fact, research has shown that when people actually enjoy their jobs they're more creative, more productive, and more committed to doing their jobs well. Companies like the Colorado Health Sciences Center and Southwest Airlines attest to the positive effect of fun at work. Both trace increased job satisfaction and decreased employee downtime to concerted efforts to make fun a part of their corporate identity. With 301 Ways to Have Fun at Work , Dave Hemsath and Leslie Yerkes offer a complete resource anyone can use to create a dynamic workplace that encourages and inspires fun-and-games camaraderie among employees. It combines thorough research with practical hands-on tools, and features hundreds of ideas real companies have used to lighten up the workplace. The authors surveyed over 1,500 individuals from organizations around the world and received enthusiastic responses that yielded a broad range of ways to spice up the work day. The suggestions in 301 Ways to Have Fun at Work include humorous training films, dress-up and dress-down days, silly job titles, awards for people who go "above and beyond the call of duty" when a coworker is on vacation, "ritual dances" at the completion of a project, a fashion show when it's time to choose a new uniform-even foam dart fights after meetings. Hemsath and Yerkes offer ideas for instilling an element of fun into various business functions-from office environment, to meetings, training, communication, hiring, recognition, team building, and "simple acts of fun." In addition to the fun ideas in these chapters, a series of side bars, called "fun facts," "fun quotes," and "fun resources" offer humorous and interesting facts and statements about the effects of fun on workplace performance and job satisfaction, and direct readers to useful sources for products and services to enhance workplace "funativity." Hemsath and Yerkes show that creating a fun atmosphere in the workplace increases productivity and morale and has a positive effect on the bottom line. Most importantly, they give readers the tools to have more fun at work, no matter where they work, or what position they're in.

233

INDEX

Adams, Scott, 27, 175

affirmations, posting, 196

art display, 14, 40

quilt making, 82, 89

rainbow mosaic, 84-85

wall of fame, 139-140

See also drawing attendance, 130

awards and certificates banner, 140-141

ceremonies, 142, 145

for mistakes, 174

for vacation coverage, 131

gift certificates, 20, 137

health spa certificates, 144

humorous, 116-117, 146

mock, 15

“well-day” cards, 130

See also gifts; recognition; rewards behaviorism, 130

Big Book of Business Games, 77

birthdays, 68, 136, 145, 149

books humorous, 27, 47, 134, 189, 205

on-tape, 212

resource (top ten list), 172

brainstorming, 167-168

buddy system, 92-93

Canfield, Jack, 134

cartoons, 29, 152, 187, 189

See also Dilbert children in the workplace, 20-21, 191-192, 193

Cleese, John, 108

Clicking, 26

communication, 44-45

humorous, 46, 47, 48-49, 63-64

on paycheck stubs, 138-139

show-and-tell, 105

storytelling, 189-190

Creative Whacks, 64

creativity, 76, 88-89, 104, 175

customer service improvements in, 19-20, 30-31, 61

improving morale, 27-28

DeBono, Edward, 117-118

Dilbert, 5, 27, 61, 103, 187, 189

drawing, 13, 88-89

blank chart paper for, 29

contests, 141, 193

See also art dress casual, 15, 28, 40, 188, 197

costumes, 28, 29, 186, 212

hats, 16, 117-118, 119, 148

lapel pins, 18

polka-dot...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
• WORK ENVIRONMENT GIGGLE WHILE YOU WORK
• COMMUNICATION FUNNY YOU SHOULD SAY THAT
• TRAINING LEARNING THE FUN-DAMENTALS
• MEETINGS HAVING FUN—WISH YOU WERE HERE
• RECOGNITION SAY IT WITH FUN
• TEAM BUILDING HOW TO CREATE FUN-ATICS
• SIMPLE ACTS OF FUN
• IT’S A FUN WORLD AFTER ALL A TWELVE-STEP METHOD TO FUN
• SUGGESTED READINGS
• INDEX
• ABOUT THE AUTHORS