301 Ways to Have Fun At Work

Book description

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.

Table of contents

  1. COVER PAGE
  2. TITLE PAGE
  3. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  4. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  5. INTRODUCTION
  6. HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
  7. WORK ENVIRONMENT GIGGLE WHILE YOU WORK
    1. DAVE’S (HEMSATH) TOP TEN LIST
    2. FUN FOCUS PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE: OUTRAGEOUS IS OUR MIDDLE NAME
  8. COMMUNICATION FUNNY YOU SHOULD SAY THAT
    1. DAVE’S (HEMSATH) TOP TEN LIST
    2. FUN FOCUS GIRLS (AND BOYS) JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN AT THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME
  9. TRAINING LEARNING THE FUN-DAMENTALS
    1. FUN FOCUS LEARNING IS FUN AT THE STORE OF KNOWLEDGE
  10. MEETINGS HAVING FUN—WISH YOU WERE HERE
    1. DAVE’S (HEMSATH) TOP TEN LIST
    2. FUN FOCUS MEETING MAGIC AND THE FORUM CONFERENCE CENTER
  11. RECOGNITION SAY IT WITH FUN
    1. DAVE’S (HEMSATH) TOP TEN LIST
    2. FUN FOCUS HIGH-FLYING FUN AT MANCO
  12. TEAM BUILDING HOW TO CREATE FUN-ATICS
    1. DAVE’S (HEMSATH) TOP TEN LIST
    2. FUN FOCUS BREWING FUN AT REDHOOK ALE BREWERY
  13. SIMPLE ACTS OF FUN
    1. DAVE’S (HEMSATH) TOP TEN LIST
    2. FUN FOCUS FUN IS THE NAME OF THE GAME AT SHOWTIME NETWORKS
  14. IT’S A FUN WORLD AFTER ALL A TWELVE-STEP METHOD TO FUN
    1. 1 START WITH YOURSELF
    2. 2 INSPIRE FUN IN OTHERS
    3. 3 CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT THAT ENCOURAGES FUN
    4. 4 CELEBRATE THE BENEFITS OF FUN
    5. 5 ELIMINATE BOUNDARIES AND OBSTACLES THAT INHIBIT FUN
    6. 6 LOOK FOR THE HUMOR IN YOUR SITUATION
    7. 7 FOLLOW YOUR INTUITION —BE SPONTANEOUS
    8. 8 DON’T POSTPONE YOUR FUN
    9. 9 MAKE FUN INCLUSIVE
    10. 10 SMILE! AND LAUGH A LOT
    11. 11 BECOME KNOWN AS “FUN LOVING”
    12. 12 PUT FUN INTO ACTION
  15. SUGGESTED READINGS
  16. INDEX
    1. COMPANIES FEATURED
  17. ABOUT THE AUTHORS
    1. DAVE HEMSATH
    2. BUSINESS OUTREACH BOOKS
    3. LESLIE YERKES

Product information

  • Title: 301 Ways to Have Fun At Work
  • Author(s): Dave Hemsath, Leslie Yerkes
  • Release date: January 1997
  • Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
  • ISBN: 9781605092690