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    The Missing Driver of Employee Engagement & Recruiting

    Given the fact that the number one reason people quit is the combination of job stress, work load and a lack of work life balance, what better antidote for curing this costly turnover than fun?

    Five employees jumping in the air to illustrate they are having fun in the workplace.

    Only 17% of companies feel they have a compelling and engaging employment brand

    One of the central messages in my recent keynote presentations focuses on what is consistently missing from most companies’ employee engagement strategies and solutions for attracting fantastic new talent: FUN.

    This woeful absence and missed opportunity is beginning to get noticed and corrected by more and more organizations. Hence, the major rise of gamification in the workplace, and the widespread incorporation of modern perks (e.g., Ping-Pong tables and beer carts) into the employment value proposition.

    While these types of fun benefits used to be limited to tech start-ups, companies in all industries are following suit. Why? Because it’s good for business.

    Having fun in the workplace helps engage current employees as well as attract top talent.

    The best organizations have fun at work

    Interestingly, you will not find fun as one of the drivers of employee engagement on survey vendors’ Key Driver Analysis (a formal statistical analysis that identifies the drivers of engagement in order of importance). The reason that fun as a driver of employee engagement is missing is because none of these vendors are asking about it in their employee engagement surveys. Leaving this driver out of the employee engagement strategy is a critical mistake because it’s one of the most impactful means of creating world-class engagement and attracting top talent. Nearly every high-engagement organization makes a proactive effort to leverage fun. I saw this success time and time and time again over 30 years of offering management consulting advice to hundreds of best-in-class organizations.

    Recommendations to get to fun at work

    So what can Human Resources do to create more fun in the workplace? First off, carefully look at corporate policies which may be confining and restricting fun and laughter in the workplace. Remove or relax those policies. Specific fun activities that I successfully implemented at the last company I founded include:

    • Take a break to play Marshmallow Dodgeball ‘ it gets the blood and laughter flowing and no one gets hurt! And only $1.87 for a 16 ounce bag.
    • Bring the entire team or a department to an early afternoon movie. Buy popcorn and candy for everyone.
    • Encourage employees to make a workplace video to Pharrell William’s Because I’m Happy song.
    • Create Personal Fact Sheets for each team member and post them in the break room ‘ these sheets enable team members to become closer by knowing more personal information about their coworkers, including their: hometown, favorite TV shows, secret little-known trivia facts, accomplishments and what most engages them at work.
    • Buy ice cream for every team member and take a walk.
    • Shut down three hours early on a Friday afternoon and encourage teams who don’t often interact to mix it up and play Charades, Pictionary, Apples to Apples, and the like.

    The reality is we spend way too much time at work toiling away without laughing enough or having much fun. Given the fact that the number one reason people quit is the combination of job stress, work load and a lack of work life balance, what better antidote for curing this costly turnover than fun? Especially if it helps take action on your employee wellbeing strategy. What better magnet for being able to hire the best talent than showing them a culture that promotes fun! I urge you to not forget about fun as one of the key drivers of employee engagement.