The Importance of Having Fun at Work
As we approach Christmas and the New Year, it is hard not to go down the memory lane and try to remember some of the most memorable events for our Employee Owners. Running a successful small business is all about being different and finding ways to hire and retain workers. Realizing compensation, while important, is not the most important thing to many workers.
Just this past Halloween we had an office party where two thirds of our staff attended; all in costumes to enjoy the event, the food, and especially a couple extra hours to get to know their fellow workers. Little contests, like guessing how many jellybeans were in a jar, seemed to bring smiles to the attendees’ faces.
Christmas and the New Year are busy times and trying to plan a Company Christmas party can be challenging beginning with picking a date. We have salespeople and service technicians that need to keep our customers happy and are often very busy during the week. While discussing a possible date, one of our newest Employee Owners suggested a Saturday! I didn’t think that would go over very well, however, after a quick survey of available Employee Owners, it was a unanimous YES.
Once the date was agreed upon, the announcement went out and now, with a little planning and a lot of work, we should have a memorable event including the very well one such as White Elephant Gift Exchange.
What is a White Elephant Gift Exchange, you ask…
A white elephant gift exchange, Yankee swap or Dirty Santa is a party game where amusing and impractical gifts are exchanged during festivities. The goal of a white elephant gift exchange is to entertain party-goers rather than to gain a genuinely valuable or highly sought-after item. [Wikipedia]
In other words – fun! which I have found is one of the key things to making a company where people are willing to and want to work.
Ed Wright
Author, entrepreneur, ultimate optimist who believes hard work - works!