Studies have repeatedly shown that humour fosters trust between leaders and workers, as well as increased job satisfaction. A recent article in Fortune magazine, examines what humour looks like and how companies can adopt it as an important part of corporate culture. Please read on for the highlights.
– Laughter has a wide range of benefits in the workplace. It relieves stress and boredom, and boosts engagement and wellbeing. It also triggers creativity, collaboration, analytic precision and productivity. One contributor to the article claims that comedy is power, arguing that when you make people laugh, you make them listen.
– The more communication and interpersonal relationships rely on technology, the harder it is to bring our sense of humour to work. But it’s not all bad. Seeing our colleagues’ kids fighting in the background of video calls and ridiculously unlikely Zoom backgrounds have done much to re-introduce humour to the workplace.
– Leaders with a sense of humour are considered 27% more motivating and worthy of admiration. Their employees are 15% more engaged and their teams are more than twice as likely to solve a creativity challenge.
– Adding a lighthearted line at the end of a sales pitch increases customers’ willingness to pay by 18%.
– Companies that consider humour as a key part of their culture say employees are 16% more likely to feel engaged and stay at their jobs.
Of course, humour has many faces. It’s not limited to tired jokes and pranks involving banana skins. Some leaders sing to bring humour to their workplace. Others tell (often self-deprecating) personal anecdotes. But there’s a whole raft of leaders and managers out there whose style of humour is less obvious and loud. Wherever on the spectrum people’s sense of humour lies, the article highlights the importance of being authentic, inclusive.. and smiling!
Please get in touch to add your voice to the conversation, or to make suggestions for future topics. If filling vacancies tops your agenda this week, please let us know. We have a vast pool of talented, active job seekers on our books, and we will quickly connect you to candidates whose humour, values, experience and skills match all your requirements. Please get in touch!
