Every now and then I like to remind us of the importance of putting humor to work for less stress and more success. Here are yet more studies and more reasons (I think we're up to 147 reasons now) to take humor at work seriously (well, not too seriously, that kind of defeats the whole point):
- Studies have found that people with a good sense of humor have greater influence over people in group decision-making scenarios.
- An Ipsos study found a statistically significant correlation between a manager's sense of humor and their employees' willingness to remain with an organization: Employees are more likely to remain in their job for another year if their boss has a good sense of humor!
- A Robert Half International survey found that 65% of employees said it was "very important' that managers have a healthy sense of humor.
- In a CareerBuilder survey, employers were asked if they had two equally qualified candidates, what factors would make them consider one over the other? The number one response: All things being equal, the candidate with the better sense of humor would land the job.
- A 2011 study reported in the International Journal for Humor Research found that the "office joker" plays an important role in improving office morale, unifying teams, and speaking uncomfortable truths to power.
Given that we're up to at least 147 awesome reasons to embrace humor at work (or at least not be so darned frightened of it), what is your workplace doing to create an environment that allows people to bring their natural, authentic humor beings into work each and every day? And just as important, what is your workplace doing that might be inadvertently stamping out any spirit of fun?
