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Picture happy employees frolicking through their stylish start-up halls and then transitioning seamlessly into a productive work sprint.
This doesn’t have to be a fantasy.
Many people think “fun” is something that belongs only in recess, vacations, weekends, and childhood.
But fun is a fantastically expansive word. Merriam-Webster defines it as “what provides amusement or enjoyment.” Fun is subjective and fulfilling, and when employees may pursue their idea of it, it’s also beneficial to work.
Having fun at work is essential to employee motivation, creativity, and team-building. It can and should be part of every workday. Even teams that are hybrid or remote can benefit from having fun at work.
| Online Ways To Have Fun At Work With Your Team | |
| 1 | Coworker Feud – You and your coworkers must work together to see which team will take home the most points. Survey says you’ll have a blast! |
| 2 | Automated 5-Minute Weekly Trivia – Create a free account and customize weekly 5-minute trivia for your team to bond straight to their inbox or Slack. This is a great way to have fun at work and save everyone another Zoom meeting. You can also challenge other departments within your company to finally crown the undisputed champion of trivia. |
| 3 | Clue Murder Mystery – Examine clues, review case files, and channel your inner detectives as you and your coworker’s race against the clock to solve the mystery. |
| 4 | Ruins: Forbidden Treasure – Stranded in the jungle, you and your coworkers must conquer this virtual escape room set in the ancient temple ruins that may hold contain more than just old stones! |
You don’t have to take our word for it. Everyone’s favorite singing governess, the one and only Marry Poppins, has long recognized the beautiful harmony between work and fun:
“You see, in every job that must be done there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and snap! The job’s a game.”
Keep reading to find a range of different ways to bring a magical “element of fun” into your work.
27 Ways To Have Fun At Work
1) Celebrate every employee’s birthday and milestone
Take advantage of every cause for celebration to blend the elements of employee recognition with good old office fun. You don’t need to plan extravagant parties to celebrate in style. Something as simple as a happy hour, an ice cream social, or a curated employee milestone box is all you need to inspire smiles.
Why we love it: Celebrations like these make team members feel more like family members. It creates an invaluable atmosphere of caring and support.
How to get started:
- Get ready for the next birthday with these office party ideas
- Find ways you can have impactful work anniversary celebrations (we recommend setting up an employee milestones program like this one)
“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” – Oprah Winfrey
2) Encourage public recognition
If fun is “what provides amusement or enjoyment,” then this idea covers both points. The feeling of making someone’s day provides the givers with rewarding amusement and enjoyment, and the recipients certainly get enjoyment, plus a boost of self-esteem and motivation.
Why we love it: With the help of employee recognition software, you can easily create tons of feel-good recognition vibes.
How to get started:
- Use Nectar or Kazoo to dole out recognition points
- Browse these employee recognition ideas for inspiration
“There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.” – Mother Teresa
3) Eat lunch anywhere but at your desk
Team lunches represent the ultimate in work-appropriate fun. Bring your team together for a simple lunch that provides a double dose of nourishment from both laughter and delicious food.
Why we love it: Eating is an absolute must-do for everyone. Using it as a foundation for fun is a realistic and sustainable way to keep the good times rolling month after month.
How to get started:
- Declare one day a month team lunch or team snack day
- Remind everybody to pack well or set up a Lunch Party with Confetti
- Gather, eat, and laugh
“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words, like ‘What about lunch?” – A. A. Milne
4) Host a murder mystery
Get away from every day and join your teammates in a high-stakes crime-busting adventure that is equal parts fun, stimulating, and unforgettable.
Suitable for both in-person and virtual team-building events, a murder mystery can breathe new life into your team.
Why we love it: It takes a team to solve a mystery, so it’s perfect for boosting collaboration, camaraderie, remote work culture, and other important aspects of team building.
How to get started: Murder Mystery Party
“Curiosity, easily frightened, takes refuge in puzzles, murder mysteries, and spectator sports.” – Mason Cooley
5) Start every meeting with a little fun
The meeting is a modern workplace constant. Infuse each meeting with a little fun to build a culture everyone wants to be a part of. Even just 5 minutes of jokes or games can be exactly what someone needs to have a much better day.
Why we love it: Participation is pretty much guaranteed. People are already planning on attending the meeting, so you don’t have to convince them to set aside even more time for a separate event. Plus, your brainstorms will benefit from the good vibes.
How to get started:
- Check out these icebreaker games:
- Iceshaker
- Workday Update
- Water Cooler Trivia
- Save your favorite icebreaker jokes
- Start your meeting off with an engaging icebreaker question
- Plan a 5-minute team-building game
“It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes.” – Thomas Aquinas
6) Office “Shark Tank”
Channel the innovation-inspiring television series Shark Tank. Invite anyone and everyone who thinks they have the next big idea (either within your company or in the whole wide world) to come together for a festive pitch session.
Why we love it: You’ll feel the energy of ideas flowing through the room. Not only is it exciting to hear everyone’s brilliant ideas, but it’s also a chance to collaborate on some viable possibilities for products and initiatives.
How to get started:
- Plan a DIY or sign up for a hosted Shark Tank event
- Send an event announcement, including parameters for presentations
- Remind those who’ve never watched the show to check it out
- Show up on the big day—snacks and prizes in tow—to celebrate your colleagues’ brilliance
While living in the city: Shark Tank is a fun show but who comes up with solutions to these problems literally no one has?
While living in suburbia: ahh yes I shall add that to my Shark Tank Google Sheet ideas list, let’s see, scroll down a bit, there w
7) Invite pets to play
Having pets in the workplace isn’t just adorable. According to some studies, bringing pets to work can also boost morale and decrease absenteeism for both pet parents and their coworkers.
Why we love it: Furry balls of pure fun, animals can instantly create a carefree atmosphere, reminding you that life’s little pleasures deserve as much attention as your next deadline.
How to get started: Return to Work: Creating a Pet Policy for the Office
“My little dog—a heartbeat at my feet.” – Edith Wharton
8) Enjoy daily brain teasers
A little brain teaser, a prompt about a coworker, a riddle, or a question about an obscure bit of history can make an average day an intriguing day. Enjoy little ask-and-answer questions every day to create a workspace buzzing with brainwaves and good times.
Why we love it: A not-too-challenging challenge will kick-start curiosity and add a pleasant coffee-like buzz to an average workday
How to get started:
- Brainstorm some fun questions
- Post a different question each day on the whiteboard, Slack channels, etc.
- Give shout-outs and small prizes to the people who seem to know everything
- Check out our list of would you rather questions
9) Set up a laughter gym
Laughter is free, exhilarating, and unbelievably fuss-free. We carry with us the essential “tools” for laughter 24/7. With just a little encouragement, via Laughter on Call’s laughter gym for example, what started as a little joke can turn into an unforgettable afternoon of belly laughs.
Why we love it: Science suggests laughter can cut down stress, bring people together, and elevate mood. Plus, it’s also contagious. Get a few people laughing and the joy will domino through your happy workplace.
How to get started: Laughter on Call
“Laughter connects you with people. It’s almost impossible to maintain any kind of distance or any sense of social hierarchy when you’re just howling with laughter. Laughter is a force for democracy.” – John Cleese
10) Plan a great escape
Make work more fun by having fun working together to outsmart the mysteries of an expertly designed escape room. These rooms include plenty of problem-solving with a gamification angle that turns a standard process of deductive reasoning into an unforgettable adventure.
Why we love it: It leaves you with tons of memories and maybe even some collaboration and problem-solving skills that will come in handy during the next group project.
How to get started: Team Building Hub
“We feel free when we escape – even if it be but from the frying pan to the fire.” – Eric Hoffer
11) Get happy during “Happy Hour”
The unofficial grandmother of all fun work events, the “happy hour” first poured its way into workers’ hearts during Prohibition. Since then, capping off a day’s work by toasting has developed into a workplace culture mainstay that remains every bit as fun as it was in its youth.
Why we love it: It’s versatile and crowd-pleasing. You can pull off a happy hour as easily over Zoom as you can at a swanky pub.
How to get started:
- Taste the best beers of your city with City Brew Tours
- Perfect the remote happy hour with a Happy Hour Box
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer.” – Abraham Lincoln
12) Lift spirits with good music
Few things are more uplifting than listening to your favorite music. One of those things is sharing your favorite music with others. Add even more fun to your good times around the ping-pong tables by creating a group playlist everyone can add to.
Why we love it: It proves that fun at the office isn’t about fancy or expensive perks; it’s simply about sharing experiences with team members you admire.
How to get started: Spotify Collaborative playlists
“Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.” – Confucius
13) Give everyone an insider’s only nickname
This idea goes above and beyond a simple activity; it’s a state of mind that puts a healthy emphasis on fun. Nicknames, especially clever ones, can solidify a person’s sense of identity and belong to a team.
Why we love it: It rekindles something, a childlike spark perhaps, that many people didn’t even realize they were missing.
How to get started:
- Plan an activity or book one through the Go Game
- As you play, be on the lookout for remarkable skills or quirks
- When you find someone’s perfect identifying feature, turn it into a nickname
“I love nicknames. It makes me feel loved. It makes me feel less alone in this world.” – Ellen Page
14) Have feel-good fun with wellness activities
Wellness activities offer more than just fun. They offer a chance to recenter, rejuvenate, and reconnect. Wellness events are multitasking activities, doling out fun along with other rewards.
Why we love it: You can create your definition of wellness to suit your team’s preferences. Someone on your team can lead a yoga or meditation class. You can play a game of Nerf tag. You can even take a little class to pick up some new skills. The only rule is that everyone leaves feeling good.
How to get started: Remote Team Wellness
“We were all work and no play before Remote Team Wellness. Now we really get along as a team a lot better.” – Remote Team Wellness customer
15) Dress for happiness and success
Clothes affect your mood. Researchers even named the effect “clothed cognition.” Wear something that makes you feel happy, calm, powerful, or capable, and those feelings might just come out in your actions, thoughts, and words. If a bold pattern can brighten up a break room and a splash of yellow can channel fun workplace vibes, then there’s no reason a pop of self-expression can’t make over your mood. That is why many companies are contributing to a positive work culture by providing employees with high-quality clothing in the form of a custom company swag box.
Why we love it: Most people already want to look good, so if they can feel good while they’re at it, then that’s a major win.
How to get started:
- Pick a few outfits you love that also fall within your company’s dress code of course
- Work with a company swag vendor like Carol to create your masterpieces
- Journal about the differences you feel in your mood throughout the days when you wear these outfits
- Repeat
“You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it.” – Edith Head
16) Go on a scavenger hunt
The love of a good mystery and a good chase might be universal. People of all ages and with all interests will delight at the chance to chase down hidden objects, interpret clues, and best of all, do it all with co-workers who can turn the adventure into a cherished memory.
Why we love it: Whether you choose an in-person or virtual scavenger hunt, you will experience the same thrills, the same exciting feeling of transportation, and the same sense of bonding you get from solving problems and working through puzzles as a team.
How to get started: Let’s Roam
17) Spin a wheel of prizes
A wheel of prizes combines the fun of a game show with your employee recognition efforts. Ask employees to recognize each other when they do something creative, kind, thoughtful, strategic—or embody any other attribute aligned with your company values. Each recognition equals a chance to spin the wheel.
Why we love it: The event (spinning the wheel) itself is quick and easy, but it will fill employees with a constant sense of anticipation and a constant desire to recognize one another. It’s also the perfect way to add a sense of ceremony to your next retreat or holiday party.
How to get started:
- Create a virtual or physical wheel of prizes
- Create your contestant pool. (This could be a simple survey or a physical hat of names written on paper.)
- Stock up on excellent prizes, like an assortment of care packages
- Pull a few names and spin that wheel once a month
18) Liven up meetings with a game of “Shout Out”
Sometimes, the most effective way to start laughing is to try not laughing, especially during sometimes stuffy scenarios like meetings. Add a challenging sense of fun to company meetings by daring coworkers (selected at random) to say a pre-selected (preferably ridiculous) word or phrase without cracking up.
For example, you might challenge your office mate to say, as your team lead asks for new business during your next status meeting, something like, “There’s always money in the banana stand.”
Why we love it: It’s all about busting expectations and breaking out of the everyday. No matter how people react, you and everyone else who’s in on the joke will probably get a laugh. (And if others don’t start laughing, then they’ll at least be surprised enough to pay closer attention throughout the rest of the meeting.)
How to get started:
- Do a quick temperature scan to make sure this activity is appropriate for the particular meeting or your company culture. (Especially since the person you challenge would be the one to get in trouble.)
- Select a name from a hat
- Assign the word/phrase
- Watch and laugh
- Optional: Sneak a stealth video of the moment on your cell
“He who laughs last didn’t get it.” – Helen Giangregorio
19) Have game-time Friday
You don’t need to wait for your next virtual game night to have some light-hearted fun. Set aside an hour every Friday afternoon for game time. You can play video games, board games, mind games—anything goes as long as you and your coworkers have fun playing.
Why we love it: An hour of blissful game-time fun will quickly become something everyone looks forward to all week. It might just become a tradition people cite as one of their favorite aspects of your company culture.
How to get started:
- Add a recurring event to the company calendar (Participation is, of course, optional)
- Pick or crowdsource some virtual or in-person game options
- Play, have fun, and repeat
20) Take trivia time outs
We all know you are probably telling your coworkers that you are great at trivia…
Break up the work days with 5-minute bursts of trivia fun. Questions can easily be sent via email or Slack, and they can multitask as team-building activities if you theme quizzes around your team or your company culture.
Why we love it: Everybody needs to take some breaks throughout the day. This trivia activity provides the perfect break and introduces an opportunity for onsite and remote employees to bond or compete.
How to get started:
- Use Water Cooler Trivia to easily automate your weekly trivia activities
- Use Quiz Breaker to make quizzes about your team
“My team’s been using Water Cooler Trivia for more than two years now. While we were in the office, it was really fun to discuss the results each week and celebrate the winners. Now that we are all remote, the fact that the quiz results still give us something to talk about each week over Slack that isn’t work-related is super appreciated.” – Water Cooler Trivia customer
21) Play knockout basketball
A pickup game of hoops will be fun whether you have skills or not. (Just check out this clip from The Office for a preview of what might await you.) Even those who decide to hang out on the sidelines will find plenty to enjoy about this activity.
Why we love it: Exercise, competition, and hilarity wrapped into one activity? Where do we sign up?
How to get started:
- Find basketball knockout rules here
- Learn how to plan and organize a full basketball tournament here
22) Get outside
We live in a world where the average office worker gets in only around 7,500 steps per day—fewer than the recommended minimum of around 10,000. Get outside with your team to get exercise, and fresh air, and to share wonderful conversations.
Why we love it: Sunshine is sunshine. Sunlight can relieve stress and even improve your mood. Chances are, you’ll feel the effects of those uplifting rays the minute you pry your eyes from the computer and get outside.
How to get started: Just rally a few coworkers and take a walk around the block. See where you go from there.
“Walking is a man’s best medicine.” – Hippocrates
23) Encourage conversations
Spontaneous workplace conversations have the potential to lead to as many fond memories as carefully planned events. Support unforgettable interactions between coworkers by demonstrating you see value in breaks and do not expect anyone to be chained to their desk all day.
Why we love it: Your employees’ personalities probably have more fun potential than a room full of dart boards. You can bring out this fun simply by supporting a casual culture of conversation.
How to get started: Just pick a new conversation starter each week to post on your bulletin board or Slack channel. You could even try having an “offline hour” every Friday afternoon to inspire coworkers to call or visit each other instead of sending messages.
“The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.” – William Hazlitt
24) Create a Slack lounge
It’s important for employees, especially remote employees, to have a safe space to talk about absolutely anything not related to work. Like a virtual water cooler, a dedicated small-talk Slack channel can become home to questions, discussions, jokes, pop-culture commentary, reviews of the latest shows, and so much more.
Why we love it: It creates connections that go beyond shared work projects and company gossip. This space gives everyone an outlet to share and discuss their beyond-work interests.
How to get started: Just create a Slack channel, post your rules (no work talk, please), and start the conversation. The channel should run itself after that.
25) Embrace karaoke
People love singing. Even the ones who tell you they “can’t sing” surely belt out a tune or two in the privacy of their cars and showers. There’s just something cathartic about channeling our inner rock stars during “stylized” renditions of favorite songs.
Why we love it: It reveals new dimensions in people you work with every day. As you observe everyone’s song choice and performance style, you might feel you know them just a little bit better.
How to get started: Check out these 5 Rules for Karaoke, posted on LinkedIn by a karaoke enthusiast who shared these beautiful thoughts on the equalizing magic of karaoke:
“The reason a night of karaoke can be so successful is the second anyone picks up a microphone, they are putting themselves up for all to see. And in this moment, everyone is equal. Even the best singers can hit a wrong note or sing the verse when it’s time for the chorus.
And by that token, even the person who hates to sing can make the room come to life when we all discover their off-key version of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” is by far, the best we have ever heard. When you allow your co-workers to know you aren’t perfect, but you are willing to go with the team on this, that can mean everything.”
26) YOLO Groupon day
Much like the Treat Yo’ Self Day made famous by Parks and Recreation, the YOLO Day gives employees permission to just go ahead and do something they’ve always wanted to try, something they’ve always talked themselves out of before.
Why we love it: It fulfills employees’ long-held desires and gives them new experiences that may help them through their long-term journey of happiness and growth.
How to get started: Pick a date for your annual YOLO Day and when that day comes, bust out some goodie boxes from Carol and let everyone pick something they want to do from Groupon.
“Treat yo’self.” – Tom Haverford
27) Call in the food trucks
A parking lot full of food trucks is like a cafeteria but way cooler. Everyone can get exactly what they want from tons of different places and still socialize while they do it.
Why we love it: It’s more exciting and accommodates more flavor preferences than a delivery order or a trip to a restaurant.
How to get started: Find out what food trucks are available in your area.
“Where food trucks are concerned, nothing’s better than having a whole flock of them at one location. Competition not only improves the quality of the food, it prompts these rolling lunch wagons to lower prices and offer specials, too.” – Robert Sietsema
Why Is Having Fun At Work Important?
Having fun at work is important because it has the power to make any kind of work feel like a calling instead of an obligation. Having fun doesn’t cost much, sometimes nothing, and yet it can boost job satisfaction. Companies on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to work for the list—including CHG Healthcare Services and Sheetz, Inc—understand this, and their team members list “fun” as something they love about work.
What Are The Benefits Of Having Fun At Work?
The benefits of having fun at work are, as the research shows, higher engagement, motivation, and camaraderie and also bolstered company cultures and bottom lines.
- Increased participation, employee engagement, and even retention
- Elevated motivation to take charge. (Yes, fun activities carry some surprising perks.)
- Solidified company culture
- Skyrocketing camaraderie (Socializing in a fun work environment helps employees feel connected to multiple teams instead of just a team.)
- A healthier bottom line
