I work in a serviced office and the great thing about it is the fact that even though I work alone I can always pop into one of my neighbours in their serviced offices and have a cup of tea and a bit of a joke.
It’s been well-documented that humour and laughter can reduce stress and provide many other benefits. Few areas of life are more stressful than the workplace. So, not surprisingly, it’s been found that office humour can be a good stress reliever, reducing work stress, boosting morale, bringing people closer, and perhaps even warding off burnout. Unfortunately, it can also alienate people and create a more hostile work environment, even sparking lawsuits, all of which creates more stress in the end.
According to recent research from Professor Christopher LeGrow from Marshall University, workplace humour can help people de-stress, but it can often be offensive. In fact, around 70% of people polled reported that workplace jokes they’d heard centred around making fun of co-workers based on factors like age, sexual orientation and even weight. Additionally, 40% admitted that they themselves had made fun of a co-worker’s age or weight. Other popular workplace joke topics included jokes based on accents, personal hygiene, and work behaviour (like poor attendance, asking the wrong questions, or working too closely with the boss).
While there wasn’t a big difference between what men and women found offensive in office humour, women were more likely to be offended at remarks targeting their physical characteristics, such as weight, scars or cleavage.
Often, office jokes intended to be humorous weren’t received that way, according to LeGrow. When workers are offended or threatened by jokes, it’s time for the company to step in and curtail the situation, as it then becomes a liability and a problem for morale and productivity.
So what’s behind this delicate balance of offensive versus funny office humour, and how can workers enjoy the stress-relieving benefits of humour and laughter without the damaging effects of offensive jokes? It seems that it’s not humour itself that’s the problem, but the use of humour to convey messages that are in and of themselves offensive.
