Making work fun
Mikey1
28 Posts
Can you suggest some simple and inexpensive ways to make the workplace more fun and to reward employees?
Mikey1
28 Posts
Comments
Have a lunch potluck where your team members can bring in their families.
Send employees birthday cards.
Allow employees to work flexible hours.
Make community connections to offer discounts to employees.
Have a casual day at work.
Have breakfast meetings rather than dinner meetings.
Give employees paid time off for community services.
Cut down on the number of meetings and keep them short.
Allow people to bring pets to work one day.
All previous suggestions are good and can really make a difference. It also helps to create an atmosphere, by the formal and informal leadership, which promotes a sense of well being and "fun". This is possible by personal contact, the ability to laugh at the things that are funny without demeaning others and through general behavior that says all employees are truly important. A round to offices to say good morning can make a big difference, especially if the names of employees are remembered!
I don't know how many employees are in each of your assembly lines, but this could be a potential headache unless handled properly. Regardless of whether you're avoiding stations with objectionable material, it could still drive an employee crazy if he or she is a diehard country fan and is being forced to endure rap or hard rock for an 8-hour shift. People can get pretty picky (and prickly) when it comes to what they want to listen to...
I'd hate to suggest a solution that's too cumbersome, but you might want to think about either one of 2 solutions: 1) finding out what type of music those on one particular line enjoy and if you find the music "type" to be split into 2 or 3 types, rotate the radio stations daily to accommodate each group. (Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll all like the same music = nothng to worry about) OR 2) allowing each person on the assembly line their "turn" per day or half day (hourly might get a little ridiculous) to put on the station of their choice. With radio/music, you can't please everyone all of the time, but you should do more than just leave the raido there to possibly turn into something that further divides employees/creates resentment.
I wouldn't go to this guy for recommendations ...
Does Your Workplace Need a 'Funsultant'?
Notlikely, if you read "Are We Having Fun Yet? The Infantilization of
Corporate America" by Matt Labash, who rues the fact that fun as a core
corporate value did not evaporate when the tech bubble burst.
"If you thought the fun stopped there, you're sadly mistaken,"
Labash writes. "Like a diseased appendix bursting and spreading
infectious bacteria throughout the abdomen, fun is insinuating itself
everywhere, into even the un-hippest workplaces."
Writing in the Weekly Standard, Labash takes good-natured
swipes at organizations that seem to have gone over the top in their
belief that a fun workplace is a productive workplace.
Take, for instance, workplace rubber chickens, Frisbee tosses,
mustache-growing contests, pet psychics, and interoffice memos
alligator-clipped to toy cars. Or perks that include on-campus indoor
soccer fields, air hockey, ping pong, billiards, company pools and hot
tubs. And those are all at just one company -- Aquascape, a
pond-builder supply company in St. Charles, Illinois.
http://hr.blr.com/hrstrangebuttrue.aspx?id=77094 ;
You can always go the candy/food route:
Tootsie
You can always go the candy/food route:
Tootsie rolls - thanks for the "roll" you play
Peppermint Patties or mint tins - thanks for your commit"mint"
Nestles crunch bars - we can always count on you in a "crunch"
Reese's pieces - thanks for helping us pick up the "pieces"
There's hundreds out there like this.
Hope this helps!
Our company provides a basket of fruit delivered every Monday morning to the lunchroom. We used to have a candy basket, with treats but changed it to fruit since one of the company's values is to promote a healthy, safe work environment. Within our department though, we all contribute to bringing in a little something sweet.
Recently we administered a staff survey and provided granola bars and advised staff to enjoy one while taking a break to participate in the survey.
I am not sure what type of industry you work in (i.e. service or mfg) but when I was in manufacturing, we had monthly housekeeping awards and quality improvement suggestion rewards to name a few.
Teams with the cleanest team room received pizza for the team. We made a big deal by inviting the Plant Manager and Dept. Head, taking pictures and posting on our company wide TV monitors and newsletter.
Quality improvement awards were tracked and voted on by the Director of Quality and a printed Quality Award Certificate for Outstanding Suggestion was given to the winner (monthly). We made this certificate ourselves so no expense except for paper and ink. Again, pictures were taken with D of Quality and Plant Manager and posted on TV monitors and newsletter.
I found that people like recognition first and then food or some other non-expensive item second (such as pencils, cups, hats or T-shirts).
You can Celebrate along with your employee when them or their children/significant other, etc, have accomplished somehting. Have a bulletin board assigned to bragging about your employees and their personal accomplishments.
This would give the employee a sense of "ownership" and would most likely look forward to coming into the office or place of employment to see his or her name of the board with pride. Even more so if it is a child or other important person in their lives.
We have two all staff meetings a year. At one of those meetings each workgroup presents a skit representing their organizational function. For example, our accounting department presented a fashion show using calculators and spreadsheet printouts as dresses, etc. It was hilarious. We post birthdays and anniversaries, distribute cards, buy a cake, and sing happy birthday once a month for a 15 minute celebration. In September we hold an in-house picnic recognizing and celebrating the staff’s hard work. This is a small catered affair …hamburgers and hotdogs. We do casual day every Friday and occasionally we make the dress a theme… company t-shirt day, rock and roll Friday, etc. We do “brown bag” lunch meetings and show a video on a topic selected by staff: stress management, communication, etc.
Here are some things that I have implemented in the workplace:
Pot Luck Luncheon
Basketball tournaments ($500 buys you to hoops and a few balls)
Ping Pong table in the lunch room (we bought it used for $50 and they LOVE it)
Adopt a cause and participate in a fund raising event like walking for the cure
Conduct a cubicle or door decorating contest for a holiday theme or a business related theme
HI everyone. I'm new here. While reviewing the board and I came across this post I decided to reply. I tend to cringe at the word "fun" when it relates to the workplace. Don't get me wrong; I stongly support motivating employees, creating a healthy work environment, etc. It's just that having "fun" at work tends to create more problems than it's worth.
HR should be more than creating activities. It should be a job that is used find solutions to create an environment where our employees can come to work and feel productive because the environment permits it. "Fun" should be something to aspire to after hours.
In the day to day office functions I find employees get so involved in their own positions & duties they forget to value other employees and their contributions to the company. Recently, we have done several team building projects/events that bring us together to work as a group and for a common goal. Having a common goal and keeping that in mind is the key. First and most successful was our Fundraising Campaign for the United Way. We increased last years contribution by 125% and this was because our team, and I can know say team, worked together for a common goal and had a great time with it. I worked hard as a manager to encourage all employees to participate, not by demanding, but by motivating and creating a sense of accomplishment for each milestone we acheived. Second, and previous to the fundraiser we have a working lunch with BDazzle Brain Teaser 9 Pc. Puzzles (9 pieces sounds easy...just try it) you can puchase them on Amazon or QVC. Third, we had a series of summer pot luck luncheons. Forth, and very expensive...we had a well known speaker Fran Battisti speak, he is out of NY and well received.
Hope this helps
I am interested in team building activities. I like kldrake's suggestions. I am looking for more as well, if anyone can help.
A surprisingly fun thing we did was to intall a huge dry-erase board in our lunchroom. About once a week a topic will be posted (by anyone who thinks of one) and people post anonymous answers. The first one we did was "tell something about yourself that no one else knows" and we revealed the answers ("I was an extra in Caddyshack"; "I ate a vegemite sandwich every day for six months"; etc.) at a staff meeting.
Some other topics:
We have had a blast with this and we have gotten to know each other a bit better.
In many ways, our employers dictate how happy we are at work. A fun workplace could instigate treasure hunts, morning teas, dinners to celebrate project milestones etc. While this may be true in some instances, it’s not a very nice way of living and thinking.
Some Examples:
Angela Wiley of the Blonder Company reports that the order department plays bingo at least once a week. It’s not regular bingo, however, it’s called Blonder Bingo. The card consists of customer account numbers, shipping routes, and other company terminology. During Blonder Bingo days, the order department customer hold time improves by 20% and the abandonment rate by 50%.
Eileen Douse of Human Dynamics has created “the wacky hour” to re-energize employees and stir their creative juices. At 3 p.m. everyday, the staff spins wildly in their office chairs for 30 seconds. Even this short break of “foolishness” revives them when the afternoon doldrums begin.<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O />
Rebecca Rogers at University Hospitals in Augusta, Georgia, developed an activity called “Communal Captions.” To wile away spare time at the copy machine, she posts photos from newspapers and magazines and invites staff members to write funny captions below them. Not only do the writers enjoy themselves, but so do the less creative folks who simply read them.
Our company keeps a grill on the loading dock and we have company sponsored cookouts during lunch on the 1st of every month.
Hello MIkey,
Making the workplace fun can be a challenge, but here are some of my favorites:
Have a Luau
Make bag of candies and send to your employees ( find the ones that say " You are a star performer","Awesome", etc.)
Send birthday cards
If you work at a site- see if you can split the cost among divisions and have a pizza, ice cream or soda and chips party
I enjoy giving cards to my employees during the month- with a gift card to the mall, etc.
I hope these help and good luck.
Angie
HR Manager