I’d like to offer my perspective as someone on the other side of the coin than you - the one who has actually asked the “culture question”. When interviewing for a potential job, the “culture question” can be extremely indicative of getting the feel for what type of work environment you may be getting yourself into.

The average American may spend 71,750 or more hours* of their life at work. That is nearly 3,000 straight days or 8 years! Now, from my perspective, there isn’t much I can do to change that (short of winning the lottery). But, what I can have an impact on is how enjoyable those 71,750 hours are. Do I enjoy what I am doing? Am I doing something that is making a difference in the world? Am I working with people that I respect and can trust? Am I having *fun*?

Ahh…now, there is that “fun” word. Let’s take a look at what I think of when I ask myself if I am having fun. I actually wholeheartedly agree that fun doesn’t need to be legislated. In fact, legislated fun can come across as trite and forced.

Can you imagine? “Everyone, it is now, 12:30. It is scheduled fun time. Please take out your yo-yos, slinkys, and hackey sacks. Please remember that fun time ends at 1:00 sharp. At that time, please return to your cube and lock away your toys until next Tuesday at 12:30.” What a boring world it would be.

Rather, the type of “fun” that would attract me to a company, is the organic fun that grows out of employees genuinely liking each other and liking what they do. I think that often, companies can be so scared of encouraging employees to enjoy themselves because they are afraid it will turn into a free-for-all circus. But, what kind of trust is that in your employees - the ones that you hired to do a job? If a company lets employees know of the expectations for quality work to be done, I can’t see why allowing them to make it an enjoyable experience along the way can do anything but boost office morale and create an environment where employees actually want to spend those 71,750 hours.

At the end of the day, of course, the true measure is not how much fun I had, but rather, did the work get done? And I would assume that if a companies leadership has given its employees the freedom to mold their work environment into a place they enjoy spending their time, companies will see higher productivity rates, lower turn over, and better teamwork.

*(8.2 hours per day (National average via Bureau of Labor Statistics) x 5 days a week x 50 weeks a year x 35 years)

Fun doesn’t have to be legislated or even encouraged. If more companies realized that simply by giving employees the freedom to do their job best, they’ll do the best job.

the essence of life itself requires what we have labeled “work”. it’s the process of actions that arrive at a result that benefits the continuation of life. how we view this process makes life fun, or not. i think that many people focus on the end result, the arrival, the accolades, the fruition, and think AHA!…then i will be happy. then work will be fun. this creates soul unrest and denies them the “happiness” that the journey provides. once i realized that there is no arrival, then the journey became a lovely ride.

i grew up with a saying so full of grace and meaning told to me by my grandmother. “there is as much honor in tilling a field as in writing a poem.” it was many years before i really understood what this meant on a soulful level. now i use these words on a daily basis to remind myself that merely hanging clothes on the line to dry is an important miracle of life. it’s as meaningful as the paintings i create in my studio. this keeps the fun and joy in my daily work.