Open Up The Break Out Rooms
For many, the nature of work has certainly seen a dramatic shift over the course of recent times. Work from home, zoom calls, and reduced contact with fellow employees all have become universal notions in the vocational world. As some of these changes become seemingly permanent fixtures and redefining what a day at work means, there lies one question: What is work life balance any more?
With work and home environments blending into one another, it has become troublesome to delineate between the two. It becomes all the more harder to “shut work out” after 5 pm! If there is any one factor most impacted by the pandemic fuelled work conditions, it is most definitely the sorely missed social aspect. Do video conferences really do human connection justice? Are breakout rooms on par with lunchroom gatherings? As purposeful and practical work can be for most, the workplace once provided a setting for like minded individuals to conglomerate and develop lifelong social connections. Some of the greatest memories relate to the office holiday party, team bonding events and so forth.
The upcoming National Fun at Work day will definitely reflect the brand new world of work - one dressed in PPE and done through a webcam. At first thought, it sounds like a reach. Has the concept of vocation become so alien that fun at work is not within the realm of possibility? Fun at work has been a deeply researched topic in recent literature, pointing towards a rich scope of information, although in a pre-COVID age. Nonetheless, using this pre-COVID definition could still be adaptable today. As the authors state, two essential elements of play at work include interactivity, and the goal of having fun. It’s surely reasonable that they could hold up in our new climate of work, and if anything, can unveil new exciting avenues to promote fun at work.
Fun at work could be split into two general categories: peer and manager initiated. In each, there are work-embedded and diversionary types of activity, both with different means to accomplish fun. Manager initiated types of play are, as the name suggests, led by the leader of the team, and serve to either incorporate aspects of fun into everyday work (work-embedded), or be separate celebratory functions to take employees’ minds off work (diversionary). Peer initiated types of play are led by employees of the organization, and serve to incorporate more personalized and unique ways to make work tasks fun and natural workplace social bonding that excludes the topic of work (diversionary).
Ultimately, each four of these categories take aim at different facets of pleasure for the worker. While the manager initiated types have an underlying air of seriousness, the peer initiated types are more intrinsic and casual. How does this all play out in the COVID workplace? An interesting thought would be the undoubtable importance of the manager’s role in navigating their employees through this pandemic. Would the manager initiated type be more efficient, as employees are more preoccupied with adapting their actual work and less in tune with the need to have fun? As managers are responsible for developing new approaches to getting work done, would it make the most sense to give the onus to them for simultaneously creating fun and unique notions to go along with the reshaped work? Creating opportunities for fun in today’s work climate certainly takes a lot more initiative and spark, than the natural conducive workplace environment. Employees may also be unfamiliar with the level of “goofing off” tolerable in the online world thus dampening opportunities for peer initiated diversionary activities. Perhaps this celebratory day can re-energize these employees and provide a safe chance to test the waters. After already having witnessed so many interesting and amusing adaptations in face of COVID-19, on National Fun at Work Day, it will be incredibly exciting to see the vast creativity employers show, to hone wellbeing and team morale in these uncertain times.
Sources:
Celestine, N. A., & Yeo, G. (2020). Having some fun with it: A theoretical review and typology of activity-based play-at-work. Journal of Organizational Behavior.
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