Lot a talk lately about the "fun" workplace and the personal brands that shape the culture. Dot Coms started making it cool to sleep at the office and play a little ping-pong after dinner at your desk. Hey, attorneys have been asking on day one at a new firm if they should sleep under their desk, but no ping-pong table in the Long Island office - think they might define fun differently?
Google and others have kept the trend going with offering a campus full of everything you want to do. This type of culture is getting the press with creative ways to integrate your life into your work environment. I am wondering what people really want to do with their life? Many people may not want to force fun and therefore feel uncomfortable if not participating in the lunch-time basketball game. Others may not have the joking personality and not understand if they are the butt of a joke or accepted in the culture. Does it matter if everyone feels comfortable doing what they please in such environments?
So with a culture full of the same type of people who enjoy the same things, do you really get fresh creativity or a fake sense of healthy balance? Does the definition of fun change with size of company, age of workforce, location, type of business and most important in my mind, cross discipline. Let's face it, generally the creative folks, engineers, accountants, sales people, execs, etc. are cut from a different cloth and all are needed to accomplish great things. A great company has people with shared values, but many exercise personal values differently.
How do you define fun as a value? Take the poll an go back to see what (at least the community reading this) thinks.
Comment Preview