Jest Practices: Best Practices for Humor within the Workplace

Most agree that humor within the workplace can have beneficial effects. Yet not all humor is a useful one humor. The challenge: how to interject appropriate humor and fun into our serious jobs without hurting others or seriously undermining the company. When used appropriately, humor perform for you.
Humor that Uploads Also Uplifts
Humor has the power to make people feel special. When you include people in fun it simultaneously improves morale, reduces stress and facilitates team building events. With the prevalence of telecommuting and workgroups scattered geographically, the process of furthering working relationships, bonding and building camaraderie is real. At one San Francisco Bay Area company a workgroup staged a more elaborate Remote Baby Shower. The expectant mother, who had been out-of-state, called in for any pre-arranged conference call with your ex workgroup. When she did...surprise! Everyone was developing a party in their honor. They uploaded digital photos of an decorated conference room and every other, and e-mailed sound files with well wishes. Everyone shared in the good cheer. This creative use of technology brought employees closer to each other, figuratively or even literally.
Humor That Brings People Together
Workplaces are brimming with opportunities to use humor for the benefit of all. Milestones are a natural spot to employ humor. Dress such as the recipient like a tribute during a surprise house party. Other celebrations to mark anniversaries, project completions or similar accomplishments are perfect possibilities to utilize humor. Even surviving certain projects is reason for celebration and fun.
Holidays are another natural time and energy to employ humor. Halloween can be a time for contests to find out who can best prank gone wrong ever decorate conference rooms; for other programs the anniversary of these founding is cause for celebration. Silly speeches, skits and spoofs abound.
And the Award Goes To...
Staging award ceremonies is often a great method to have fun, recognize the other and revel inside the shared work experience. Whether the categories mimic those purchased at the Oscars, Emmys or Tonys, or are derivative, esprit de corps rises in the event the team laughs at itself every other. Best Supporting Actor, Best Impersonation of an Inanimate Object, Best Special Effects, Most Likely to Secede, or Lifetime Achievement Award.
Humor Is The Winning Ticket
Pranks can alternately be uplifting or uprooting. A desktop publisher, on April Fools Day, adorned his co-workers cars' windshields with mock yellow parking tickets, complete with envelopes for remittance. Upon closer inspection, these true-to-life replicas of tickets had whimsical offenses of significance towards the recipients. The departmental joker's ticket cited him for "excessive utilization of farce" and the hard charging corporate counsel's infraction charged him having a "Failure to Yield." Of course the initiator from the gag was later cited for impersonating an officer. Everyone laughed on the spoof when they realized it turned out a joke. Judge Judy's signature with the bottom with the ticket gave it away.
Pole Position
A fast growing company did not have enough a workplace for full cubicles for its new hires. One unfortunate hire's assigned cubicle a giant pole in its midst. To her credit she never complained. Co-workers felt on her behalf. One night they hit the streets, collecting various fliers from telephone poles of their neighborhoods. The next day once the new hire reached her cubicle, the offending pole was now covered with notices about missing pets, renters seeking apartments, cheap movers for hire and also local GRE study groups. Not only did the worker know her co-workers felt her frustration, it bonded them as they pulled together to aid one with their own.
One Person's Humor is Another Person's Horror
When targeting humor consider targeting yourself. Everyone has some other idea of what's funny and what's not. Many a nicely intentioned prank or joke has backfired. One co-worker sent another a prank letter impersonating a nearby media figure. The recipient mistook it for real, interpreted it as being harassment and referred to as the FBI. Oops!
The Benefits of Self-Effacing Humor
When we poke fun at ourselves it really demonstrates our healthy outlook, showing we don't take ourselves so seriously. As a result, we're regarded as more approachable and down to earth. Don't poker fun at yourself excessively. Such humor loses its effectiveness with overuse.
Everyone from politicians to CEOs to Southwest Airlines flight attendants use self-deprecating humor - humor that makes fun of themselves - to obtain people laughing at, and thus with them. You can too.
While gallows humor can experience appropriate during layoffs and cutbacks, make an effort to employ humor that uplifts and taps universal themes for best results. Here's to laughter!