"Too many people view their jobs as a five-day prison from which they are paroled every Friday," says Joel Goodman, founder of the Humour Project, a humour consulting group in Saratoga Springs, New York. Humour unlocks the office prison because it lets adults bring some of their childlike spirit to the job.
According to Howard Pollio, professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, an office with humour breaks is an office with satisfied and productive employees. Pollio conducted a study that proved humour can help workers excel at routine production tasks. Employees perform better when they have fun.
In large corporations with a hierarchy of power, there is often no outlet for stress. "Every company needs underground ways of poking fun at the organization," says Lynn N. Mark, a speaker on workplace humour for St. Mary's Health Centre in St. Louis.
Kodak's Rochester, New York branch discovered a way for its 20,000 employees to uncork their bottled-up resentments. Their 1,000-square-foot Humour Room features a toy store. Among the room's many stress-reducing gadgets, the main attraction is a boss doll with detachable arms and legs. Employees can take the doll apart as long as they put its arms and legs back in place.
Sandy Cohen, owner of a graphic print production business, created the Quote Board to document the bizarre phrases people say when under strict deadlines. "When you're under stress, you say stupid things," says Cohen. "Now we just look at each other and say, that's one for the Quote Board."