I had this boss whose idea of fun was to put us in a conference room, have pizza delivered, and make us solve complex Lego puzzles. I’m not joking. Everyone dreaded it. Except for Kevin the brown-noser. It’s an example of forced fun that happens in workplaces all over the country. Except it has the opposite reaction.
Here’s Five Fast Facts on Forced Fun:
- 🧸Puppets - One study shows that when employees choose to participate in a fun activity without management’s influence, it’s a positive experience that leads to actual team bonding. However, forced fun is really an instance of management (knowingly or unknowingly) exerting control that winds up being a waste of time.
- 😭Requirement - If your workplace’s “fun” events become a regular thing, they start to become mandatory. If you repeatedly choose not to participate, it makes you look like you don’t want to be part of the team. And the last thing a supervisor wants is an employee who isn’t committed to their team, right?
- 🏓Ping Pong? - We’ve all heard of the “hip” offices with ping pong tables and beer fridges and pinball machines. Turns out those are actually quite sinister: they’re designed to keep you in the building as long as possible. And if you don’t stay? Well, see above.
- 🙈Ignore Me, Please - Forced fun tends to appeal to the more extroverted employees. If you’re an introvert, being stuck in an escape room with people might be an absolute nightmare for you.
- 🤷Optional - The pandemic has actually led to a rise in employee-led optional activities (think Zoom happy hours) without management present. It turns out that kind of fun has a positive impact. Who knew? (That’s sarcasm.)
🔥Bottom line: Look, management is really trying. They are! They just don’t know any better. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Turns out what once worked doesn’t have a place in modern culture. But things are changing thanks to the pandemic. Maybe forced fun will disappear.
Does your workplace have forced fun?
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