Play at work

Charities have the appeal of a noble purpose.

Hospitals provide the venue to do the heroic work of saving lives.

Big banks have giant salaries to draw you in.

But what about the middle of the road, mundance companies that don’t have a noble cause (they are blatantly out for profit) and struggle to stand out salary wise?

How are they supposed to attract and keep staff?

They have to make people excited to do menial labour for average pay.

Now, if the work itself isn’t exciting then they can target the innate human desire for fun and connection.

The last half an hour every Friday should be dedicated to team bonding.

Or 15 minutes every day reserved for non work chat.

I have no doubt it would be tough to strike the perfect balance between work and play but great team chemistry can have a huge influence on employee satisfaction, productivity and be a strong reason for staying at a company.

What’s more, it’s free, it just costs time and let’s be honest we don’t spend 100% of the work day being productive.

Most importantly, life is short so you might as well enjoy yourself!

Finally, I think when someone leaves a job, they rarely miss the work and they often miss the people.

Now, these are all idealist notions and not tried or tested but if I ever get the chance to implement this, I shall report back with the results!