Making Time for Fun at Work Isn’t Optional—It’s Essential

When people hear the word “fun” at work, they sometimes roll their eyes. They think it means being silly, goofing off, or wasting time. But fun is not fluff. Fun is strategic. And if we want workplaces where people are engaged, creative, and performing at their best, we have to intentionally make space for it.

I opened my CHART workshop at this summer’s Hospitality Training Conference with a Tower Challenge. Each table got a bag of random supplies and the task of building the tallest tower they could—and naming it. Within minutes, people were laughing, competing, collaborating, and yes, having fun. That’s the point: fun fosters connection, lowers barriers, and sparks creativity.

The benefits go far beyond a good laugh. Fun at work leads to:

• Higher employee engagement and motivation.
• Better communication and collaboration.
• Reduced stress and improved well-being.
• More creativity and innovation.
• Stronger team culture and retention.
• Even improved learning and performance.

As Dale Carnegie said, “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”

To explain why this matters, I use what I call the Productivity Pyramid. At the base is well-being and positive culture—if people feel good, they do good. Next comes engagement and collaboration. Then motivation and creativity. And at the top? Peak performance. Companies like Google and Southwest Airlines have long understood this: when you build fun into your culture, people stay, and they thrive.

But let’s be honest—fun at work doesn’t just happen. It has barriers. In the workshop, participants identified the biggest ones: distance with remote workers, lack of resources, time constraints, the perception that fun = not serious, and even a shortage of ideas. Together, we came up with strategies to break those barriers down: scheduling fun like any other priority, empowering “fun champions” to lead the charge, creating inclusive options for remote teams, and even using AI to generate new ideas.

Then we built our own Fun Menus with appetizers (quick, easy activities), main courses (bigger team events), and desserts (special experiences). Appetizers included things like “joke of the day” or high-fives. Main courses ranged from team outings to water balloon fights. Desserts included recognition awards and secret coworker gift exchanges. The point wasn’t the specific ideas—it was the practice of thinking intentionally about how to inject joy into daily work.

Here’s the truth: fun matters because it works. It leads to higher productivity, stronger collaboration, lower turnover, more innovation, and even better brand representation. Your employees are your brand ambassadors, and if they’re having fun, guests and customers will feel it too.

I closed the session with “fun-tastic action cards,” encouraging everyone to commit to one idea, set a date, and make it happen. Because fun isn’t something you wait for. It’s a choice. And it starts with each of us.

Fun isn’t the future of work. Fun is work. And it’s time we start treating it as essential.

This article is based on my Breakout Session at CHART’s 108^th Hospitality Training Conference in Redondo Beach, CA, August 2025.