They have finally done all this research and figured out that people who have fun in office are people more likely to perform better. Now, we know why so many of us are doing badly at work ... it is because we are not having fun.
Now, I am all for having fun at work but the problem in this recently released body of work is that it fails to indicate how the boss is going to take this new approach to the work place.
Here are a some scenarios.
Scenario 1:
Why is Jenkins smiling?
He is a happy man, Sir.
We have happy people here, what are we running, a comedy factory?
It is the new work ethos, Sir, happy people doing happy things in a happy place, hap, hap happy all the way.
So, who is working?
That’s the point, Sir, if we are happy, we work better.
How long have you been in the company?
Ten years, Sir.
Do you want to see the eleventh?
Yes Sir.
Then get that smile off his face ... and yours.
Scenario 2:
Boss enters office, sees everyone being all bouncy and buoyant, walking around beaming headlights in the fog instead of that pained, martyred, miserable look usually seen in offices and identified as a sign of efficiency.
What’s going on?
Having fun, Sir, we are all having fun, it is so nice to work in an office where we can have fun.
Whose idea is this?
The Personnel Manager’s orders, Sir.
Send him in.
Ah, just the man I wish to see, why is my staff having a good time, fun they call it, I think.
It’s the new corporate identity, Chairman, they are enjoying themselves in the workplace.
I see, do continue, this is very interesting.
Well see, they discovered that fun pays off.
And who are they?
Research scientists in America, it is the big revelation of the decade.
Ah hah, let me just get this straight, I am paying money to these people so they can be happy.
Well, yes Sir, that’s about the aim of it.
Have you completely lost your marbles, they are not supposed to be happy and smiling, I am running an office here, people are supposed to hate coming to work, I do not pay good money for them to smile, you know why they are smiling, they are smiling because they are making a fool out of me.
That’s not true, Sir, they look forward to coming to work, there is a skip in the step and a song in the heart when they rise and shine ...
Don’t be ridiculous, no one is that pleased to come to work, I forbid happiness from the offices, it is anti-productivity, so, go on then, get everyone back to normal ... and stop bouncing about.
Scenario 3:
Can I come in, Sir?
Of course, roll on in, old boy, are you happy.
That’s what I need to talk to you about, Sir, this happiness thing, Sir, it is making everyone thoroughly miserable. We were much happier when we hated coming to work, Sir, we need the Sunday morning blues and suspecting each other and drawing the long knives and snitching on one another and hating the place, we loved that and this cheerful as a lark thing is getting us all down, can you please stop it.
Don’t you want to work in a happy environment ...
No, Sir.
...where we are all friends and are nice to each other ...
Definitely not, Sir.
... and there is this sunny side up approach to things?
Not the least, Sir, please we beg you, can we return to the old days, please, please, pretty please, we are tired of liking you, imagine Sir, you are the boss, you are not supposed to be fun, it isn’t fair.
See what I mean, this fun thing, whichever way you hack it, my friend, it won’t work. Don’t try it.
