4 Ways to Make Your Work Environment More Fun (and More Productive)

Tips to play hard and work harder

We've all heard the old adage--work hard so you can play hard. Despite it being time tested, I'm hear to tell you that it's outdated. Instead, we should be playing hard so we can work harder.

Let me explain.

There have been multiple studies about how game mentalities can make people happier and more productive at solving problems. While these studies are usually considered in someone's personal life, there is no reason that game tactics can't be implemented into the workplace.

So how do you make a workplace more fun, especially for the newer generations?

1. Make Progress Trackable

Something that video games have taking full advantage of is the human drive to see their own accomplishment. Games diligently track and show points to give their players that boost of seeing their progress, and the drive to keep moving their stats up.

As a manager, you can use this.

Be in constant contact with your employees to touch base with where they are, how they've been improving, and where they can go. Set goals with them, and give them the resources they need to see how close they are to achieving that goal.

There's a big difference between the thoughts: "I'm going to work hard today" and: "I'm going to do [x] at [task]." Working towards goals creates drive.

2. Introduce Competition

Anyone who has played Mario Kart knows: There's nothing like a little competition to lighten the mood, drive a team together, and get people to work harder than they would ordinarily.

There are three main types of competitions that can unify a team and boost productivity. These are:

• Take-oriented--Who can do the most of a specific task in a prescribed amount of time? This is the main concept behind most competitive games--making people compete against each other naturally makes them try harder.

Do note that this can be overdone. To be effective, it has to be friendly and organic.

• Social--Who can win at a non-work related task? A great example of this is team-wide fantasy football competitions. They bring a team together around something non-work related to build a team's trust and openness with each other, and make it generally more enjoyable to be in the office.

• Philanthropic--Who can donate/service the most within a prescribed amount of time? ​​This type of competition is another great teambuilding option because you can lump all of your team together and have them compete against other departments.

3. Mix Things Up

There's a reason that video games include new challenges, levels, and backdrops to change things up. People quickly grow bored of monotony, which is just as true in the workplace.

There is nothing wrong with offering your team new tasks--even harder tasks--to change up what they're doing. Let them grow, change, and develop. Let them trade responsibilities every now and then.

This tactic actually has two benefits. Yes, it gives your employees a change of scenery so that they don't get burnt out. However, it also allows them to grow and get a better picture of how your workplace operates, making them a more capable and valuable employee.

4. Give Rewards

Every good game offers rewards for completing tasks.

If you are thinking that a paycheck is an employees reward for working, I'm going to stop you there. That is the reason an employee might be on your team, but has little to nothing to do with job satisfaction. A paycheck is a result of working. Rewards are a result of doing well in the game (which helps increase productivity at work).

So what rewards are we looking at?

The great news is rewards can be totally simple, like bringing food. Studies have found that the key to happiness at work is free snacks.

At the end of the day, a reward really needs to meet the task, so be creative and find what would be most fulfilling to your team.