The workplace needs laughter.. well all places need laughter actually. Every chuckle or laugh snort brings with it huge list of benefits. Our last post goes over a few of them (take a look here) Laughter relieves stress, cures boredom, boosts engagement and well-being, and ignites creativity and collaboration. This way of living through a work day sets you up for a very productive 8+ hours.

Unfortunately, adults are the one smiling and laughing the least these days. We need to do something about this!

Babies laugh, on average, 400 times a day; people over 35, only 15. A recent study of Gallup data for the U.S. found that we laugh significantly less on weekdays than we do on weekends.

How do we get our co-worker friends to laugh more during the work day? Show The Office episodes in the break room? Do an employee Roast? Start every meeting or conference with a new joke? Costumes? What do we do?!?!

The problem is that humor is subjective and we all find different things humorous, but studies have shown that there are a few rules you can stick by to make sure your attempts at humor are successful:

It’s not whether or not you’re funny, it’s what kind of funny you are. Be honest and authentic.

If you can’t be “ha-ha” funny, at least be “aha!” funny. Cleverness is sometimes good enough.

Don’t be afraid to chuckle at yourself. It signals everything is okay.

Laughter is disarming. Poke fun at the stuff everyone’s worried about.

Some of the more memorable meetings start with some witty banter—jokes about the latest in-office technology upgrade, a funny story about a consumer/patient/client interaction, some gentle ribbing over a in-office competition. The best bosses know how and when to be funny and elicit the same fun behavior from their employees. Find a way to enjoy life like Michael Scott, minus his management style.

Have a good joke to share with us during Summer of Smiles? Comment below or find us on Facebook and share something with us.