I am incredibly passionate about humour in the workplace, and not because it’s just fun. I care about humour because humour work benefits are real! Involving humour in your workplace culture helps you be more effective with your fellow human beings and increase happiness at work

So with that in mind, here are my Benefits of using Humour at Work. I organized these humour work benefits into the 6 core aspects of work – Execution, Thinking, Communication, Connection, Leadership and Health.

Humour and Execution

1. Humour improves productivity. “In one study of more than 2,500 employees, 81 percent said they believe a fun working environment would make them more productive.”
2. Humour reduces stress. “People with a sense of humour report less stress and anxiety than those with a low sense of humour, despite experiencing the same number of problems at work.”
3. Humour prevents burnout. “Humour has also been identified as a communication tool that, when used effectively, can prevent burnout and create a resilience to stress.” li>
4. Humour provides motivation. “The use of humour in organizations has been associated with improving morale among workers, creating a more positive organizational culture, … and increasing motivation.”
5. Humour increases size of paycheck. “The size of their bonuses correlated positively with their use of humour – ‘In other words, the funnier the executives were, the bigger the bonuses.’”

Humour and Thinking

1. Humour boosts overall brainpower. “A dose of humour releases the chemical serotonin in your brain, which improves focus, increases objectivity and improves overall brainpower.”
2. Humour improves decision-making. “Positive moods prompt more flexible decision-making and wider search behavior and greater analytic precision.”
3. Humour increases the acceptance of new ideas. “Unconventional interactions can lower the barrier for people to posit novel things.”
4. Humour triggers new connections. “Humour in the design and problem solving classroom can promote divergent thinking.”
5. Humour enhances ones ability to solve problems. “Studies have shown that simply watching comedy films can improve creative problem solving skills.”

Humour and Communication

1. Humour gets people to listen. “Consistent use of appropriate humour makes people want to read and hear what you say.”
2. Humour improves memory retention. “Instructional messages that gain students’ attention and help them make sense of course content (clarity behaviors) enhance students’ ability to process the content resulting in greater retention and learning.”
3. Humour boosts persuasion. “Humour can be highly persuasive when presenting a message that people disagree with because the humour distracts them from immediately creating counter arguments, in part because they don’t feel like the message is being crammed down their throats
4. Humour assists in learning. “The use of humour as a pedagogical tool has been shown to reduce classroom anxiety, create a more positive atmosphere, as well as facilitate the learning process
5. Humour increases likability. “Innocent humour increases likeability and interpersonal attraction.” li>

Humour and Connection

1. Humour connects us with others. “Positive sounds such as laughter or a triumphant ‘woo hoo!’ can trigger a response in the listener’s brain. The response is automatic and helps us interact socially by priming us to smile or laugh, and thereby connecting us with the other person
2. Humour fosters rapport. “Humour is valued as a social asset and, exercised judiciously, confers upon its encoder the animated interest and welcoming approval of others. Sharing humour fosters rapport and intimacy and promotes friendship by showing common sentiment and reducing tensions
3. Humour reduces status differentials. “Humour can help to reduce the social distance between managers and employees
4. Humour builds trust. “Negotiators who start an online transaction with a humourous experience will have more interpersonal trust, greater joint gains, and more satisfaction with the process and their partner
5. Humour encourages collaboration. “A growing body of research shows that when you share a laugh with someone, you’re mirroring not only one another’s body language, but also the hormonal and neuronal activity, prompting a mutual investment in each other’s well-being

Humour and Leadership

1. Humour enhances perceived leadership skills. “People who use humour, particularly in stressful or seemingly one-down positions, are viewed as being on top of things, being in charge and in control, whether they are in fact or not
2. Humour diffuses conflict. “Humour has long been seen as the great equalizer—a means to facilitate conversation and bridge differences. As a matter of fact humour has been identified as a key factor in peace-building and international mediation
3. Humour creates more opportunities. “Research has shown that managers displaying a good sense of humour are given more opportunities in organizations than those without a sense of humour
4. Humour builds credibility. “Humour users are seen as more credible and as more competent
5. Humour improves ratings. “Supervisor use of humour is associated with enhanced subordinate work performance, satisfaction, perception of supervisor performance, satisfaction with supervisor, and workgroup cohesion, as well as reduced work withdrawal.” li>

Humour and Health

1. Humour increases ability to cope. “By finding humour in stressful or potentially threatening situations, people can replace negative with positive affect, thereby giving them an increased ability to cope with negative states of affairs
2. Humour strengthens the immune system. “Laughter may improve immune function by blocking production of stress hormones, such as cortisol, and by increasing the release of immunoenhancers, such as beta-endorphin
3. Humour relaxes muscles. “Humour relaxes muscles, decreases blood pressure and improves our immune system.”
4. Humour burns calories. “Laughing 100 times can burn as many calories as 10-minutes on a stationary bicycle
5. Humour increases happiness. “Humour was one of the healthiest adaptations to being happy in life.”

Humour can be used in every aspect of work to benefit everyone!