Within the current economic climate, it is highly likely that the atmosphere at your workplace is not as enjoyable as it may have been in the past. Financial pressures and market uncertainty have created a need to focus on the bottom line that is, in turn, translating into increased pressures on employees to deliver. All of this means tighter budgets, more difficult trading conditions and even the possibly of redundancies, none of which are likely to make the workplace a more enjoyable place.

Yet there is ample evidence to suggest that devoting part of your time to making the workplace more fun and less directly stressful can have a positive effect on your company. Recent research conducted at California State University showed that people who have fun at work are more creative, more productive, work better with others and call in sick less often.

An office environment that is less tense and more enjoyable to work within is bound to increase morale and stimulate a better professional performance from both you and your colleagues, which in turn may well reduce the commercial pressures. Below are a few tips to make your workplace a more fun place to be.

Everyone’s responsible
Even though it is often a manager’s task to facilitate or agree to fun activities, the responsibility of creating an enjoyable atmosphere lies with everyone. In addition, some of the nicest elements of your working day may come from smaller, more personal encounters with colleagues. It all begins with a smile, and the belief that sometimes the smallest details can make a big difference, even in the most challenging of economic outlooks.

Create a creative space around you
Whatever type of workspace you have, it can be both inspiring and stress reducing to engage in a little creative personalisation of the area around you, particularly when you consider how much of your working life you spend there. A few of your favourite items, photos or mementos, perhaps even a small plant or flowers: these are all things that can stimulate you through the day and make your experience of the work that you do all the more enjoyable.

Branch out
Keeping stimulated and motivated within your role can sometimes be a challenge, particularly if the business outlook is itself challenging, and it is at times like this that you should consider diversifying the elements of your role. Offer to take on any projects that capture your interest, provided it does not have a detrimental effect on your core output, and you may find the fresh stimulus rewarding. In the current climate, this is also the type of action that will send a positive signal to your employers that you want to be part of the solution.

Exercise breaks
Medical advice suggests that individuals should take a break of at least ten minutes per hour’s work in order to maintain an optimum degree of focus and productivity. With this in mind, why not orchestrate a break for the whole team if possible? Everyone can stretch out, relieve a bit of tension together, and feel more alert and connected to each other as a result.

A working philosophy
There is a long standing debate about whether people really work to live or live to work, and for most people, the truth is somewhere in between. Whatever your role, and no matter how serious the economic outlook may be, your employment constitutes a large degree of the person that you are. It can inform many aspects of your self-esteem, relationships with the people around you and general sense of well being. For these reasons alone, it is important that you take steps to try and enjoy, and get as much out of, each working day as possible.

Creative suggestions for a more enjoyable workplace
The following is a list of small, but perfectly formed, actions that could make a positive difference to your immediate working environment and day. Pick out a couple and try them, you might be pleasantly surprised at the effects they have.

• Take 60 seconds to think about your favourite moment at work.
• Volunteer to do a colleague’s most hated task.
• Have a dress down half day, in which everyone has to change outfit.
• Invite a new colleague out to lunch.
• Get everyone to write a spontaneous thank you note to their favourite client, customer, or business.
• Eat perfectly ripened grapes.
• Come up with a truly leftfield idea for selling your company’s products or services to clients - even (some would say especially) if you have never done it before.
• Buy doughnuts for everyone.
• Look round the office and work out who has made the most effort with what they’re wearing – then tell them that you think they look great.
• Smile at everyone.
• Bake cupcakes.
• Make everyone gather for a group photo.
• Make a point of complimenting everyone that you interact with.
• Ask a random colleague how they are feeling, and really listen to their response.
• Stretch at your desk for five minutes – and encourage others to do the same.
• Give a copy of your favourite book to the colleague that annoys you the most.
• Celebrate everybody’s birthday, making sure that there is a personal touch to their gift.
• Dress up like it’s a party for the day.
• Have a child paint the office a picture.
• Take time out to really celebrate any contract wins or completion of projects.
• Switch jobs with someone in your department for an hour.
• Write a letter to the most famous person in your industry asking for one piece of advice.
• Do a one minute relaxation exercise that makes you look weird (like yoga nostril breathing), but you don’t care because you’re relieving stress.
• Make a cup of tea or coffee for your entire team.
• Wear all white.
• Give everyone a small plant for their desks.
• Let someone borrow your favourite pen.
• Find out what makes the colleague opposite you laugh out loud