The Virtues and Dangers of Humor at the Office
17 December 2011
Read by 1627 persons
Work is serious! This is a long-held idea...But serious doesn't necessarily mean boring. Working in a good mood improves employee morale, health, and productivity. Two-thirds of French employees consider laughter the most effective way to combat workplace stress, according to a recent Monster poll. Humor therefore has its place in the workplace. Provided it is used correctly...
Humor: A Professional Quality
Recruiters are increasingly including a sense of humor among their hiring criteria. Synonymous with humility, detachment, and maturity, humor defuses difficult situations and allows one to take a step back from the challenges. A highly valuable quality in management, for example, allowing certain difficult topics to be discussed. While companies today seek candidates with a sense of humor, employees also favor this type of profile, capable of fostering harmonious relations at work. A colleague with a sense of humor is always popular. "Their wit," explains Yasmina Hardi, work psychologist and communication and management coach, "encourages others to put things into perspective. They offer a different way of understanding things that allows for a different approach."
Humor is therefore undeniably a sought-after asset that can be used to advantage in a job search.
Humor at Work is Good for Your Health
The main quality of humor is that it makes you laugh or at least smile. The benefits of laughter on social interactions have been known for a long time. Today, numerous studies also highlight its physiological benefits. And it's proven: humor improves cognitive functions and prevents cardiovascular risks. When we laugh, our brain produces dopamine discharges, a neurotransmitter involved in the pleasure mechanism. An anti-stress valve, antidepressant, and natural relaxant, humor has particularly interesting and useful virtues that it would be a shame to deprive oneself of in an often anxiety-inducing professional context...
Different Codes of Humor
But to be beneficial, "humor must be benevolent," specifies Yasmina Hardi. "The person using it must do so for positive purposes and first ensure that the environment will be receptive to it." In short, we (almost) all have a sense of humor, but a different code of humor! And this code essentially depends on our culture. What makes people laugh in France, or what makes the French laugh, doesn't necessarily make people laugh in Japan. But the code of humor is not only correlated to the individual's culture, it also depends on the company culture. "At first, you have to take the time to observe, to find your bearings. There are still companies where joking is frowned upon, where laughter remains synonymous with carelessness. The personality of the manager or boss obviously weighs heavily on the acceptance of humor in the office. In short, you have to adapt to the company's practices."
A good understanding of the general atmosphere, no stigmatization, or irony to avoid hurtful jokes, combined with a clever balance to never cross the line into heaviness...remain the best recipes for effective humor. In other words, humor that brings people together, strengthens team spirit, and helps resolve difficulties.
Monster.fr
Posted on December 17, 2011.
Humor: A Professional Quality
Recruiters are increasingly including a sense of humor among their hiring criteria. Synonymous with humility, detachment, and maturity, humor defuses difficult situations and allows one to take a step back from the challenges. A highly valuable quality in management, for example, allowing certain difficult topics to be discussed. While companies today seek candidates with a sense of humor, employees also favor this type of profile, capable of fostering harmonious relations at work. A colleague with a sense of humor is always popular. "Their wit," explains Yasmina Hardi, work psychologist and communication and management coach, "encourages others to put things into perspective. They offer a different way of understanding things that allows for a different approach."
Humor is therefore undeniably a sought-after asset that can be used to advantage in a job search.
Humor at Work is Good for Your Health
The main quality of humor is that it makes you laugh or at least smile. The benefits of laughter on social interactions have been known for a long time. Today, numerous studies also highlight its physiological benefits. And it's proven: humor improves cognitive functions and prevents cardiovascular risks. When we laugh, our brain produces dopamine discharges, a neurotransmitter involved in the pleasure mechanism. An anti-stress valve, antidepressant, and natural relaxant, humor has particularly interesting and useful virtues that it would be a shame to deprive oneself of in an often anxiety-inducing professional context...
Different Codes of Humor
But to be beneficial, "humor must be benevolent," specifies Yasmina Hardi. "The person using it must do so for positive purposes and first ensure that the environment will be receptive to it." In short, we (almost) all have a sense of humor, but a different code of humor! And this code essentially depends on our culture. What makes people laugh in France, or what makes the French laugh, doesn't necessarily make people laugh in Japan. But the code of humor is not only correlated to the individual's culture, it also depends on the company culture. "At first, you have to take the time to observe, to find your bearings. There are still companies where joking is frowned upon, where laughter remains synonymous with carelessness. The personality of the manager or boss obviously weighs heavily on the acceptance of humor in the office. In short, you have to adapt to the company's practices."
A good understanding of the general atmosphere, no stigmatization, or irony to avoid hurtful jokes, combined with a clever balance to never cross the line into heaviness...remain the best recipes for effective humor. In other words, humor that brings people together, strengthens team spirit, and helps resolve difficulties.
Monster.fr
Posted on December 17, 2011.
