It feels good to laugh at work.
While working, of course.
We usually laugh a lot at work.
We do our jobs every single day. Come to the office and try to kick off all those tasks that scream at us from Asana. But at the end of the day, we are humans.
And humans love to laugh.
And I think laughter loves humans as well. Otherwise, why would it make us feel so much better?
For painting a better picture, in our office (which is mostly open space, as you may recall from our last articles), we have these periods of time when everybody is working, headphones are plugged in and the only thing you can hear are clicks and keyboards being used. And that is really good, don’t get us wrong. Those are moments of productivity and getting things done.
However, the best moments are the breakthroughs. Someone sees something funny or says a totally random thing or starts doing something or telling a story. And in those moments, everybody starts laughing or at least taking a break from what they were doing just to enjoy the presence of others.
In those moments the vibe from the office changes: everything is relaxed, cozier, we talk to each other as friends, not only as co-workers. We share funny stories and, therefore, we tend to bond even more. Even if sometimes things tend to seem stupid, they still are really funny.
We have the luck of having people around who know how to take a joke and how to tell one. And we tend to take pride in that. (Modesty left aside)
And all of these are actually backed by research. A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response, and it can increase your heart rate and blood pressure. The result? A good, relaxed feeling.
Research also shows that lower stress benefits employees and reduces absenteeism, the freedom to laugh seems not just good, but necessary at work. A group of researchers even found that after watching a comedy clip, employees were 10% more productive than their counterparts.
Now, of course, too much can’t be good. It all the time depends on the type of jokes. If they are personal and tend to be offensive or if they cross the line of respect, they are not good. Laughing is for us to do together, and not on the suffering of another person.
Harvard Medical School professor Carl Marci notes that “Laughter is a social signal among humans. It’s like a punctuation mark.”
And sometimes in the midst of a stressful day, it’s helpful to be the exclamation point.
