Strictly speaking, the words ‘work’ and ‘fun’ have no business being in the same sentence. But with an average of sixty-three hours a week spent in the workplace, its no wonder several forward-thinking employees have started to introduce perks to make the work-place more conducive.
Google is famed for its uber fun head office with perks like free meals, a gym and relaxations centres as just some of the fun packages available. But while we can’t all can’t brandish a Google ID card, we can certainly make the most of our work places.
The work place may be a place of business, but it’s important that we feel as comfortable or possibly even more comfortable at work than we do at home because we spend far more time there.
More importantly, a happy worker is a more productive worker and what else is the bane of every employer and employee than figuring out ways to be more productive?
Now that we’ve established the importance of a happy, fun workplace, here are ways you can have more fun at work.
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Set realistic goals for yourself: Before you roll your eyes at the seemingly ‘serious suggestion’, hear us out. Nothing is a better motivating factor than a sense of accomplishment. It makes you feel good about yourself and spurs you on to do more. This is what setting realistic goals does for the mind, with every goal accomplished, your self-confidence grows and before long you begin to look forward to the next achievement with glee.
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Be positive: Everyone loves to bitch about their ‘evil boss’ or incompetent colleague but after the momentary goodness felt from venting, you’re still left to deal with said evil boss or colleague. So rather than dwell on all that negative energy, think laws of attraction and learn to see the good in everyone and every situation. It’s not the easiest thing in the world, but it gets easier with practice.
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Introduce a gaming system: A game a day (or at least every other day), keeps boredom away. Most organisations have a lunch break, so why not take advantage of that and set up a group game with your colleagues or team members. It could be a phone game, sport game or good ol’ board game and to make things even more fun, set up a reward system. So, the winner gets lunch courtesy the rest of the team for instance. Not only can this serve as a great stress reliever, it also promotes team bonding.
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Have a group chat: This is a great way to break the tension in the middle of the day. It could stem from an interesting story you just read, throw it open to the office and share your varied opinions on it. But remember to keep things clean as you’re within an official environment. Also steer away from religious, political and tribal topics as they have the tendency to become personal and go quickly downhill from there.
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Decorate your work space: Research has proven that we can be affected positively or negatively by our immediate space. With this in mind, why not spice things up by decorating your corner with things that make you happy. Rather than just have a plain ol’d desk, primp it up with family photo(s), fun containers and if you have the luxury of space nice, vibrant paintings.
