Biz (off)beat: Workplace humor pays off … seriously

Business leaders, listen up and you could save money, and maybe even get a raise to boot.

Try using more humor in the workplace, advise management researchers Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher, authors of “The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up” (Wiley, $22.95).

Self-deprecating humor often works best and business productivity should increase, Gostick said.

“This is true especially in these times,” Gostick said. “With the economy in the dumps, there’s a huge need at work for such humor.”

He cited studies that found that:

> There’s a 90 percent chance workers will stay on the job longer if their bosses use humor in the office. That drops to 70 percent where the ethic is all work and no play.

> At the 100 companies rated as the best places to work, more than 80 percent of employees said they had fun on the job.

> Most workers who feel that their companies promote humor are more effective than those who don’t.

> Executives who use humor earn more money than those who are “all business.”

“Great organizations worry about having fun at work,” he said.

“Average organizations think work is about being serious all the time. A boss who tells these jokes makes his audience comfortable, even if he’s about to deliver bad news. It’s clear, it’s important to lighten up. It pays off for almost everyone.”