30 Benefits of Humor at Work

I’m incredibly passionate about humor in the workplace and not because it’s fun. As an engineer, the reason why I care about using humor is that it works. It’s effective with the one thing you can’t be efficient with, human beings.
So with that in mind, here are 30 benefits of humor at work, backed by research, case studies, and real-world examples.

Humor and Communication

1. Humor gets people to listen. “Consistent use of appropriate humor makes people want to read and hear what you say.”¹
2. Humor increases long-term memory retention. “Instructional messages that gain students’ attention and help them make sense of course content (clarity behaviors) enhance students’ ability to process the content resulting in greater retention and learning.”²
3. Humor increases persuasion. “Humor can be highly persuasive when presenting a message that people disagree with because the humor distracts them from immediately creating counter arguments, in part because they don’t feel like the message is being crammed down their throats.”³
4. Humor aids in learning. “The use of humor as a pedagogical tool has been shown to reduce classroom anxiety, create a more positive atmosphere, as well as facilitate the learning process.”⁴
5. Humor increases the likability of the speaker. “An appropriate use of humor will produce a favorable attitude toward the speaker.”⁵

Humor and Relationships

6. Humor connects us with others. “Positive sounds such as laughter or a triumphant ‘woo hoo!’ can trigger a response in the listener’s brain. The response is automatic and helps us interact socially by priming us to smile or laugh, and thereby connecting us with the other person.”⁶
7. Humor reduces status differentials. “Humor can help to reduce the social distance between managers and employees.”⁷
8. Humor diffuses conflict. “Humor has long been seen as the great equalizer—a means to facilitate conversation and bridge differences. As a matter of fact humor has been identified as a key factor in peace-building and international mediation.”⁸
9. Humor builds trust. “Social benefits of humor include group cohesiveness, reduction of status differentials, diffusion of conflict, team and trust building among diverse groups.”⁹
10. Humor encourages people to work together. “A growing body of research shows that when you share a laugh with someone, you’re mirroring not only one another’s body language, but also the hormonal and neuronal activity, prompting a mutual investment in each other’s well-being.”¹⁰

Humor and Problem Solving

11. Humor boosts overall brainpower. “A dose of humor releases the chemical serotonin in your brain, which improves focus, increases objectivity and improves overall brainpower.”¹¹
12. Humor improves decision-making. “Positive moods prompt more flexible decision-making and wider search behavior and greater analytic precision.”¹²
13. Humor increases the acceptance of new ideas. “Unconventional interactions can lower the barrier for people to posit novel things.”¹³
14. Humor triggers new connections. “Humor stimulates the right hemisphere of the brain, which, in turn, sets off divergent, creative thinking which allows individuals to see broader applications, novel connections, and otherwise elusive relationships.”⁹
15. Humor enhances ones ability to solve problems. “Studies have shown that simply watching comedy films can improve creative problem solving skills.”¹⁴

Humor and Productivity

16. Humor provides motivation. “The use of humor in organizations has been associated with improving morale among workers, creating a more positive organizational culture, … and increasing motivation.”¹⁵
17. Humor reduces absenteeism. “Humor is associated with enhanced work performance, satisfaction, workgroup cohesion, health, and coping effectiveness, as well as decreased burnout, stress, and work withdrawal.”¹⁶
    
18. Humor prevents long-term burnout. “Humor in the workplace has been shown to reduce absenteeism, increase company loyalty, prevent burnout and increase productivity.”¹⁷
19. Humor increases employee engagement. “Managers who lead with levity benefit from higher levels of employee engagement and overall success.”¹⁸
20. Humor improves productivity. “In one study of more than 2,500 employees, 81 percent said they believe a fun working environment would make them more productive.”¹⁹

Humor and Health

21. Humor improves bloodflow. “Watching 15 minutes of funny video can improve bloodflow to your heart by 50 percent.”²⁰
22. Humor strengthens the immune system. “Laughter may improve immune function by blocking production of stress hormones, such as cortisol, and by increasing the release of immunoenhancers, such as beta-endorphin.”²¹
23. Humor relaxes muscles. “Humor relaxes muscles, decreases blood pressure and improves our immune system.”²²
24. Humor burns calories. “Laughing 100 times can burn as many calories as 10-minutes on a stationary bicycle.”²³
25. Humor increases happiness. “Humor was one of the healthiest adaptations to being happy in life.”²⁴

Humor and Leadership

26. Humor enhances perceived leadership skills. “People who use humor, particularly in stressful or seemingly one-down positions, are viewed as being on top of things, being in charge and in control, whether they are in fact or not.”²⁵
27. Humor creates more opportunities. “Research has shown that managers displaying a good sense of humor are given more opportunities in organizations than those without a sense of humor.”⁹
28. Humor builds credibility. “Humor users are seen as more credible and as more competent.”²⁶
29. Humor increases size of paycheck. “The size of their bonuses correlated positively with their use of humor – ‘In other words, the funnier the executives were, the bigger the bonuses.'”²⁷
30. Humor increases profit. “Organization humor has been linked with successful leadership, with increases in profit and work compliance, with a successful business culture, with message and goal clarity in managerial presentations, with improvement in group problem- solving, and with reducing emotional stress due to threats and role conflict at work.”²⁸

Want to see the latest research on humor? Check out the humor benefits page. Want to implement humor at work? Check out our humor training.
SOURCES
¹ “Let the Good Times Roll Building a Fun Culture”, David Stauffer. Harvard Management Update No. U9910B.
² An Explanation of the Relationship between Instructor Humor and Student Learning,  Melissa B. Wanzer. Communication Education Vol. 59, January 2010.
³ Humor at Work: Putting Mimes to Good Use, Mike Kerr. Inspiring Workplaces Issue 521, January 2014.
⁴ Humor, Analogy, and Metaphor: H.A.M. it up in Teaching, Randy Garner. Radical Pedagogy, 2005.
⁵ Does Humor Use Enhance Speaker Ethos? Or Doesn’t It?, Cheri Ellis Campbell. Presented at Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, April 2012.
⁶ Positive Emotions Preferentially Engage an Auditory-Motor “Mirror” System, Jane E Warren. The Journal of Neuroscience, December 2006.
⁷ The power of emotional appeals in promoting organizational change programs, Shaul Fox. Academy of Management Executive Vol 15, 2001.
⁸ Letter from the President, Jill Knox. AATH Humor Connection, September 2013.
⁹ “Humor in the Workplace: A Communication Challenge”, Robert A. Vartebedian. Presented at Speech Communication Association, November 1993
¹⁰ “Why Humor Makes You More Creative”, Drake Baer. FastCompany, May 2013.
¹¹ “A Dash of Humor Ups Performance and Creativity at Work”, Robyn McMaster. Brain Based Biz, September 2008.
¹² “Secret’s of America’s Happiest Companies”, Lydia Dishman. FastCompany, January 2013.
¹³ “Why Hewlett-Packard is Hiring Dancers”, Cheryl Strauss Einhorn. CNN Money, April 2013.
⁹ “Humor in the Workplace: A Communication Challenge”, Robert A. Vartebedian. Presented at Speech Communication Association, November 1993
¹⁴ Positive affect facilitates creative problem solving, Alice M Isen. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1987.
¹⁵ A funny thing happened on the way to the bottom line, B.J. Avolio. Academy of Management Journal Vol 42, 1999.
¹⁶ A meta-analysis of positive humor in the workplace, Jessica Mesmer-Magnus. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 1986.
¹⁷ “All Work and No Play Isn’t Even Good for Work”, David Abramis. Psychology Today, March 1989.
¹⁸ The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up, Adrian Gostick. Wiley, April 2008.
¹⁹ Humor in the Workplace: Anecdotal Evidence Suggests Connection to Employee Performance, Lauren Breeze. Perspectives in Business, St Edwards University, 2004.
²⁰ “50 Ways to Beat the Reaper” by Denny Watkins. Men’s Health, October 2007.
²¹ The Effect of Mirthful Laughter on Stress and Natural Killer Cell Activity, Mary P. Bennett. Alternative Therapies Vol 9, No 2, 2003.
²² “Ha! Laughing is Good for You!”, Amy Toffelmire. Canoe.ca, April 2009.
²³ “Give Your Body a Boost with Laughter.”, R Morgan Griffin. WebMD, June 2012.
²⁴ Aging Well by George E Valliant. Little Brown, January 2002.
²⁵ “Getting Serious About Workplace Humor”, Martha Craumer. Harvard Business School, C0207D.
⁹ “Humor in the Workplace: A Communication Challenge”, Robert A. Vartebedian. Presented at Speech Communication Association, November 1993
²⁶ Positive and Negative Styles of Humor in Communication, Arnie Cann. Communication Quarterly. Vol 57, No 4, October 2009.
²⁷ “Laughing All the Way to the Bank”, Fabio Sala. Harvard Business Review, F0309A.
²⁸ Kitchen Antics: The Importance of Humor and Maintaining Professionalism at Work. Owen Hanley Lynch. Journal of Applied Communication Research, Vol 37, No 4, November 2009.