Mystic Madness

I always say that a good work environment is a fun work environment. You need to be able to enjoy yourself at work, to loosen up, to have fun in order to be more efficient. If you succumb too much to stress and routine you will get nowhere and your work will suffer. So what you need to do is to come up with some fun ideas at work and make your boss implement them with the only argument he or she will listen too, the fact that this investment will prove be lucrative, because it will provide a better work environment, which will boost employee morale and motivation, which will finally improve efficiency and productivity, which will in turn bring a higher profit, and thus the circle is completed. If you know how to make this argument, even in tough economic times you might get away with a new foosball table in the common room or something similar. All you need to do is come up with the fun ideas. Of course you shouldn’t go overboard and you should try to stick to a budget that might not aggravate your bosses too much. Good luck, and to spur you on, here are a couple of ideas which I found to be very fun at the workplace:

1.    Foosball. One of the great fun ideas at work is to have a foosball table in the common room. It might sound like more of a guy thing, but actually it’s fun for everybody. It’s not that expensive to buy, so maybe your boss won’t have such a hard time getting his head around it. The only down side is that you can only play maximum four at a time, but if you were to have two foosball tables, than organizing a championship and getting everybody competitive and excited wouldn’t be so hard.

2.    Thematic office parties. Everybody loves to dress up, and best of all it doesn’t cost the company anything, because all they have to do is provide the venue. It’s one of the great fun ideas at work, because everybody would like to dress up and pretend like they are somebody else for example, in the case of a costume party. Your job as an organizer is to come up with a great and original theme that everybody will love.

3.    Have pets at work. You can talk your boss into letting you have an office pet, such as a parakeet or a rabbit or a guinea pig. Everybody loves a small creature, so it wouldn’t be that hard into talking your boss into it, which makes it a one of the great fun ideas at work. Sharing the responsibility and always being able to look at an innocent cute creature will do wonders for employee morale and cohesion, which will give you yet another argument for convincing your boss.

4.    Casual Friday. This is a fun idea at work that has become almost common place for al corporations. Still, it is not always present in small businesses and I think every employee should try to make a plea to their bosses in order to get it, because it has been proven as a great method to reduce employee stress.

5.    Impersonate a colleague day. You should try to make this rule once a month that everybody has to pick a name out of a bag and then impersonate that person for the rest of the day. It’s a great way to loosen up, to reduce stress, and to stop people taking themselves too seriously. I believe this is an idea with a lot of potential, especially in a young or open minded environment, where everybody can take a joke.

6.    Balloon day. Who doesn’t like balloons? So why not make a day specially dedicated for them. Get balloons everywhere in the workplace because everybody associates them with a good time. So, even if there is no special occasion, fill the office with balloons and everyone will have a good time.

7.    Employees bake off. Eating healthy is the key to having a good state of mind. So, a good place to start is to eliminate junk food from the work place. Getting your bosses to give money for a fully equipped kitchen where every employee can cook their own meals won’t be an easy task, but I believe it will be worth it.

These are just some fun ideas at work that I have seen put in practice, with a pretty big success, but of course the key is to find something that suits the mechanics of your team. If you think you have any suggestions or some great ideas, please feel free to leave them in the comments section bellow. Now remember, the only way you can be efficient at your work, is to enjoy it and have fun once in a while.  

Big corporations form now the biggest part of most western businesses. The fact that they employ so many people from different countries might lead to a perceivable difference in how the office interrelations occur, due to different cultures and ways of life. This is where corporate etiquette steps in. No matter where the corporation decides to expand its business, there are certain rules of conduct that the people hired need to respect. These rules make for a more organized structure; every branch of the corporation needs to follow the same rules, so that communication between the different parts can be streamlined. If everybody knows that every branch is organized in the same way than there can be no breakdowns in communication because somebody doesn’t know who to talk to. Of course corporate etiquette is all about the rules that make up a professional working environment. What cloths to wear, how to speak with your superiors, and with your clients, and what should be your general attitude in the workplace. The penalties for not respecting corporate etiquette can vary, but if this kind of attitude persists, than you might find yourself fired. So let’s see what some general rules regarding corporate etiquette are.   

1.    Be polite. The most important rule you need to follow as part of corporate etiquette is to be polite to both your coworkers and your clients. In relation to the clients you represent the corporation, so it is essential that you are polite, because otherwise consequences can be severe. When it comes to the relationship with your coworkers, it makes sense that a workplace where everybody is polite is much more productive environment, and that is why corporation put a big price on this aspect.

2.    Dress accordingly. Every corporation has a dress code as part of corporate etiquette. This makes for a much more professional work environment. Coming at work dressed in your pajamas for example will never be condoned because it will be a distraction for all the other employees. This rule as every other rule of corporate etiquette is designed to keep every employee focused on their work.

3.    Don’t bring your problems at work. This is an important point that not everybody seems to respect. You need to remember that, for example, no client will care if you have personal problems, as you yourself will not have patience with somebody who will babble endlessly about his or her problems when trying to conduct business. It is highly unprofessional, and you need to be able to maintain a certain attitude at work in order to give your best performance. In other words, you need to leave your personal problems in the background and focus on the work you need to do.

4.    Respect hierarchy. Another very important factor of corporate etiquette is hierarchy. You need to always report to your direct boss first about any problems you may have. Do not circumvent anybody, and try to go higher up in the hierarchy with your idea or problem, because most of the time it would be seen as insubordination and you might get sacked. Having respect for the hierarchy is again a measure necessary to keep the company running smoothly.

5.    Keep a close track on your correspondence. Interoffice correspondence is very important because it is the way different departments are linked to each other. Therefore, a part of corporate etiquette puts accent on the fact that you always need to check your correspondence and give your answers in a timely fashion, so that nobody is waiting around for somebody else’s response, and every procedure runs smoothly.

6.    Informal meetings. I believe that corporate etiquette refers also to that fact that once in a while, team leaders and managers need to organize informal meetings as well between members of the similar hierarchy, so that interpersonal relationships can be formed more easily, and therefore, new solutions to difficult problems can be found.

7.    Respect the assistant. Assistants usually have the most important role in keeping managers on their schedules, and making sure everything gets done when it’s supposed to. This is why everybody in the company should respect the assistance and never go over their head, like storming into a managers’ office without the approval of the assistance. Assistance prioritize and they alone can decide if your problem is or isn’t important enough for the manager you are trying to see.

Corporate etiquette is what keeps a corporation running smoothly. If everybody would respect corporate etiquette, than every process and procedure would become much more efficient. Corporate etiquette is the key towards a professional working environment that can provide the best results. I hope this article has made an introduction in this field, and I await your suggestions in the comment section.