At this point in the series, you may be thinking, “There is absolutely no way I can do even half of these things. I don’t have the time. Or the nerve. Or the creativity.”
That’s OK. I want to challenge you to try at least a few of these ideas, some of which take only a couple minutes and don’t require courage.
The idea of bringing joy to the workplace is to increase productivity and reduce stress. We don’t want to make it more difficult to get our work done.
As I mentioned earlier, I like to stock up once a year on decorations and cards. This drastically reduces your preparation time for some of these ideas. Maybe during some down time, you can find a couple of clever poems online and save them for certain coworkers.
When it comes to birthdays, watch out for the rare person who gets depressed on their birthday. Bringing in black balloons and Depends undergarments might make most people laugh when they turn 50, but some people won’t appreciate the humor and might get upset. If someone is dreading a birthday, keep things simple and low-key with a card, if anything.
You still might think you won’t have time to try out these suggestions. Start out with one or two and see what happens. You might get hooked on bringing joy to others like I am and discover that you have more time than you think! You’ll find out it’s beyond worth it to show everyone how much you care about them.
Before we move on, let’s talk about what extraordinary things you can do to bring joy to the workplace if you own a company or are in upper management. Let’s look at some examples from our friends at Salesforce.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff adopted the Hawaiian belief of Ohana when he created his company in 1999. If you’ve never seen the Disney movie Lilo and Stitch, you may not be familiar with this concept. Ohana focuses on all components of a family being intertwined and bound with one another. And this culture extends to everyone, from interns all the way up to Mr. Benioff himself.
A multinational steel manufacturing corporation also treats their employees to some joyful experiences. My best friend Stacey works at the Burns Harbor, Ind., location. I’ve loved hearing her stories about their quarterly crossword puzzle challenges, Easter Egg Hunts, and department softball games.
On Health and Safety Day, employees receive chair massages and paraffin wax treatments. Every Friday is jeans day in her department. Stacey has enjoyed team building days where she goes to the beach with her department and getting to leave early on occasion on Fridays. Pizza, donuts, and ice cream socials round out the fun.
The City of Noblesville does an employee appreciation week every year thanks to generous local sponsors. This usually involves an ice cream social, chair massages, and an employee picnic to end the week. The human resources department spends many hours to make all of this happen and I know it’s still deeply appreciated to this day.
There are hundreds more stories of how companies both big and small are going above and beyond to bring joy to both their employees and customers. I’ll share more customer stories later.
What I want to stress is that if you are the head of a company or one of its leaders, I encourage you to learn about the unique ways you can show employees how much you care. They don’t always have to take much money or effort but can give you the kind of success you never imagine.
Amy Shankland is a writer and fundraising professional living in Noblesville with her husband John, two sons, two dogs, and a cat. You can reach her via email at amys@greenavenue.info.