Here are a few persuasive points for creating happiness in the workplace.
Science has proven that the desk job is the new smoking.
Time for Some Fun
To be more productive, smart business owners will help their team happiness in the workplace with more laughter and more exercise to keep them creative, happy, and healthy. It will save on healthcare benefits since there will be less sickness, less stress, and therefore, employees will be at work more often.
Google Does It
Look at how Google is designed: a very successful business with extremely low turnover. The company’s whole business platform is based on being a fun place to work. Its created a colorful environment and incorporated games for their staff to play. Why? Because Google knows scientifically that happiness in the workplace is a medicine to help you be more productive.
Employees need to laugh. Businesses need to bring in somebody to do stand-up comedy; hire an entertainer who will launch a lunch-hour laugh-fest now and then. Why not?
People look at Mondays like a return to the dentist’s chair. Even for people who actually enjoy their jobs, going back to work can be a drag. So why not make it more fun for them and thus, more productive for you.
Part of Everyday Life
Making happiness in the workplace a part of your everyday life is the answer to any concern or problem. When life gets tough, laughter begins. We all have humor inside of us, and it’s healthy to use it in a variety of ways. When you really deconstruct some things in your life that may be issues or annoyances, you can creatively come at them with laughter, and your whole outlook changes.
Mentally and physically, the benefits of laughter are many. Laughter is a proven stress-reducer, lowering the level of stress hormones, such as cortisol and epinephrine (adrenaline). It also boosts the immune system.
It’s Science
Science has further shown that after a good laugh, muscles can be relaxed for up to 45 minutes. Laughter is a free stress-management strategy, and in today’s pressurized, problem-filled world, there’s a big premium on that. Laughter is often the best kind of therapy.
You’ve got to love this next great benefit of happiness in the workplace: it burns calories! Just about everybody wants to lose weight, right? Studies show that a good stream of laughter can burn 40 calories in 30 minutes.
Laugh it Off
Laughter makes us feel good. Instead of complaining about life’s frustrations, trying to laugh about them helps. Humor helps you keep a positive outlook through difficult situations. When something extremely frustrating or depressing occurs, try to take the longer view and envision that one day you’ll be able to look back on it and laugh. But why not laugh right now? You also feel stronger. This approach will also make you better equipped to deal with future negative events less stressfully.
Bringing People Together
Laughter brings people together and strengthens relationships. Laughter connects us with others. You can’t enjoy a laugh with other people unless you take the time to engage with them. It improves the quality of social interaction you have with your friends, coworkers, and acquaintances. The old saying is, ‘Laughter is contagious.’ If you bring more laughter into your life, you can help others around you to laugh more and reap the benefits of humor, which in turns helps them with their problems. It makes other people happy, because it’s very infectious, just like anger is.
Bosses Need Happiness Too
So, see how much good laughter does for all of us, and also for you, bosses? You see why it is incredibly important for a business to invest in laughter, because its employees will be healthier, happier, more productive, and have less turnover.
Where would you rather work? Some place cold and boring with no laughter, or go get a job at Google?
Lee Volpe (www.LeeVolpe.com) is the author of Black Sheep Tries Bleach: Humorous Stories to Ease Life’s Growing Pains. After a short career as an actress, Lee found her voice as a humorist, and has never looked back. Since 2011, she has been making a name for herself professionally as an honest, Laugh Out Loud (LOL) humor writer, dealing with daily life and relatable situations. Applauded for saying what most are thinking, Lee has the unique ability of finding wit in the way and amusement in the angle. Marcia Corbino of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune described Lee as “Erma Bombeck meets Sex and the City.”
