How Humor Makes You Successful At Work

How Humor Makes You Successful At Work

MAURICE GARLAND 3 weeks ago

Want some great career advice? Being the class clown in the workplace may land you a promotion.

Studies have shown that humor in the workplace has plenty of perks. Think about it. Has workplace boredom and depression ever led to an increase in productivity? People are generally more willing to work with and work for people who are known for having a good sense of humor. Plus, humor helps strengthen personal relationships, which can lead to more clients, more accounts, and more money for the company. Here are just a few ways that humor can make life in a cubicle much, much happier. 

Stress Relief: When co-workers feel comfortable laughing about the situations they find themselves in (crazy clients, ridiculous deadlines, day-long meetings, etc…) they may feel less of a need to drink themselves silly at Happy Hour to relieve stress. Creating a workplace environment that can be serious as well as lighthearted can even make people forget that they don’t like their jobs.

Group Communication: Cubicle walls and social media create both physical and imaginary barriers between co-workers. And these walls sometimes create an environment where actual human contact only occurs out of absolute necessity. Office humor, in the form of e-mails, Instagram posts, etc…, often get people to talk to each other and share in the joke at the proverbial water cooler. Of course, you have to be aware of people’s backgrounds and sensitivities, so make sure that the jokes aren’t offensive.

Creativity and Productivity: People are typically more creative when they’re happy, so injecting humor into the workplace increases the odds of having a productive staff. In fact, according to Forbes Magazine, happy employees were found to be 31% more productive. 

Situation Assessment: The fact is that people aren’t thinking about arguing when they’re busy laughing. Whether it’s a problem between co-workers or a hurdle that the entire team has to jump over, humor usually eases tensions and allows clearer heads to prevail.