Fun things to do at the workplace and great ideas for employees to de-stress help build a positive and profitable ambiance and also helps to enhance employee performances.

It energizes the workplace, keeps the workforce motivated and raring to go, creates positive vibes and fosters team bonding.  Humour and fun are good things to have around.  Creative workers are known not only for their out-of-the-box thinking and innovative ideas but also because of the time that they spend away from work, recharging their batteries.

Here’s what a fun work culture can do

• Develops a positive culture
  
  
• Improves employee productivity and performance
  
  
• Keeps the workforce happy, satisfied, cheerful and motivated
  
  
• Helps in building strong teams 
  
  
• Avoids a dull, serious and gloomy ambiance
  
  
• All work and no play definitely makes Jack and Jill uninteresting
  
  
• Employees can look forward to coming into work every day in a positive manner
  
  
• Problem-solving ideas come through fun and creative ways
  
  
• Helps in employee loyalty and retention
  
  
• Difficult and conflict issues are solved through friendly and fun activities
  
  
• A feel-good factor is created
  
  
• Breaks down barriers
  
  
• Goes a long way in reducing stress

Dale Carnegie says that people succeed when they are having fun in what they are doing.  Here are some ideas to think about.

Cultivate the right attitude

A fun attitude should percolate down from the management and HR to each and every employee in the organization.  Employees should be able to look forward to creative and fun ways of working with their colleagues and their customers, with a spring in their step and a twinkle in their eyes.

Keep the ideas coming

Meetings and off-sites should be used to create a bank of ideas for fun activities and creative solutions that the organization can fall back on when conducting these activities.  Encourage the creative juices of employees to keep flowing and no idea should be shot down as too big, small or silly.  

Personalize the workplace

Encourage employees to put up fun photos, posters, place a small plant, burn an aromatic oil (if appropriate), listen to music without disturbing co-workers and having amusing screen savers.

A gaming arena

Having a Foosball Table, a Snooker and a Billiards Table, A Table Tennis Table, a Basketball Hoop, a Darts Board and other appropriate sports activities in an area where employees can take a break away from work and de-stress would be a great idea to provide some much-needed relief.  

Other Benefits

Providing a snack bar, a vending machine for coffee, tea and soft drinks, a humor board for jokes, funny pictures etc., a water cooler, a library of books, CDs, and DVDs and a gym are some of the other benefits that employees can enjoy.

Celebrating birthdays every month, conducting games and puzzles, having a Secret Santa revelry, celebrating festivals, Friday afternoon drinks, running a hobbies club, encouraging plays, fashion shows and other talent, organizing fun awards, picnics, lunches and dinners, having off-sites, cooking together in a simulated kitchen, having food and ice cream trucks serve the employees are some fun activities that organizations can look into.  

Team-building or fun activities are a way of providing high-impact learning, increased team skills and communications and improving employee morale. Employees benefit through experiencing a sense of accomplishment in working as a group to complete a challenging task and learning ways to improve communication skills. Team building allows employees to return to the office reinvigorated and with a new set of problem-solving skills.

Teams that have fun together become more productive, creative, flexible and motivated.  It works out to be a win-win situation for both the employees and the management.