A few years ago I conducted a sleep experiment. During a week that happened to be clear of early meetings, I slept an extra hour each morning and tried to go to bed early. I didn’t notice much of a difference each day, however during a long drive the following weekend, my normal afternoon slump never struck. I drove all day without fighting the drowsiness that always plagues me at siesta time. I was so elated that I vowed to repeat the experiment, and found similar results during holiday vacations.

Those results aside, I still tend to discount the true value of sleep. It seems like a waste of time, when I could be productive instead. I look at “fun” on the job in the same way. It’s okay on the weekend or in the evening, but not when we’re supposed to be getting stuff done. But I admit I get proven wrong at least once a month – around the 15th, in the middle of the afternoon, our office breaks out buckets of ice cream and serenades whoever has a birthday that month. I always return to my desk energized and de-stressed, ready to return to my anti-social cocoon.

Moses knew how to throw a party. He unified the new nation by creating holidays that recalled their history and required abstinence from work. The book of Leviticus marks the founding of many holidays and feasts still observed by the Jewish people today, including the Feast of Tabernacles, which required a full day of rest at its beginning. On the second day they were to eat “choice fruit,” and then “rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.” More total rest filled the eighth and final day. What kind of effect do you think this celebration had on the people? Imagine the anticipation and frenzied preparations for this festival, the readiness to get back to work afterward.

Management author Tom Peters says, “Celebrate what you want to see more of.” What we celebrate – what we cheer about – communicates to employees what the organization values, and what it rewards. Celebrations tailored to our missions drive home why we exist and what we believe in. This builds culture.

Companies like IBM, Alcan, Eli Lilly, Texas Instruments and Cummins go to the heart of why people like to celebrate in the first place: time off from work. Rather than literally cutting everyone’s work volume, these companies spread the same work across more people, and throw out many non-essential tasks. The result is healthier work-life balance, less wasted time, more breathing room in the brain.

Cummins, which has 6,700 employees, cut unplanned phone calls that sapped energy and time from more important tasks. They also transferred a laborious report-generation process to a self-service online system. Customer teams protected themselves from overload by backing each other up on service calls. The executives at Alcan, a 55,000-employee aluminum manufacturer, learned how to set healthy examples and encourage employees to resist unreasonable workloads. The CEO of auto retailer CarMax begins some meetings with a jolting, yet humorous question: “What are we doing that is stupid, unnecessary or doesn't make sense?” In 2004, IBM surveyed 42,000 employees, and found that 4 in 10 believed 15% of their job duties were unnecessary, so the company developed a Web-based tool enabling managers to halt low-value work.

Kill the noise

After obliterating unnecessary work and meetings, a barrier remains that threatens to unravel our employees’ balance: noise. We may eliminate “task noise” from everyone’s job duties or processes, but overall work reduction loses its punch when the following types of noise fill in the gaps:
 
Social noise – Interruptions or idle conversations increase when people have more time and less stress. It’s great when they connect with each other, but continual pauses for breeze-shooting can derail otherwise smooth-flowing projects. I encourage people who need uninterrupted work time to get out of the office or commandeer a conference room.
 
Ambient noise – According to a study by Cornell University, low-level noise in open-style offices results in higher levels of stress and lower task motivation. What most office designers don’t realize is that the quieter it is, the more pronounced every sound becomes. Sound-masking systems that pump white noise into the office can effectively neutralize stray voices.
 
External noise – Non-work noisemakers blast the loudest. When I’m stressed, I sometimes struggle to engage the morning. The cloud usually lasts until I get some coffee or unexpected good news, whichever comes first! Some larger companies hire corporate connoisseurs to run errands for stressed-out employees who feel squeezed by their home to-do list. For personal issues, an organization called Marketplace Chaplains USA can deploy a team to your company to advise employees or comfort them and their families when tragedy strikes. When noise-reduction is applied to people’s personal lives, their productivity, loyalty, and appreciation increase.
 
Going easy on our staff does not mean going soft. It’s recognizing that they’re people with sensitivities that need attention. When we serve them and care for them, they find it easier to serve and care for the company. Celebration, workload reduction, and noise control inject enthusiasm, increase productivity and build culture.

For discussion…
How do you view fun on the job?
What kind of celebration do your people love the most? How can you do it more?
Do the noise levels in your office need to be adjusted?