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JOHN MORREALL, PROFESSOR OF RELI-gious studies at the College of William andMary in Williamsburg, Virginia, tells thestory of a police officer who responded toa domestic violence call after having com-pleted a course of humor training. As theofficer walked to the front door, she heardthe sound of an argument inside. Suddenlya television crashed through the window,landing in the yard. She knocked on thedoor. "Who is it?" yelled an angry voice."TV repair," the officer replied. Her ripostecaught the quarreling husband and wife offguard, amused them and made handling atense situation easier.

Dealing with volatile situations like do-mestic violence is all in a day's work forpolice officers. But these days-as peoplehave watched their investments evaporate,

54 ODEMA~AZINE.CDM AUGUST 2009

their retirement plans disappear and theunemployment rate rise-s-even the mostserene work environments have becomestressful. By letting loose with a littlelaughter, employees can do themselves abig favor. "That wonderful 'Whew!' weexperience after laughing hard isn't just afeeling," Morreall, also a humor consult-ant, writes in Humor Works. "While weare laughing, muscle tension, heart rateand blood pressure rise, but when we stop,they all drop to levels lower than before westarted laughing. And this relaxation lastsup to 45 minutes." Funny as it may seem,laughter is crucial to keeping workers-and workplaces-healthy.

Laughter exercises the lungs and in-creases blood circulation. It triggershormones called "catecholamines" that

heighten alertness and releases endorphins,the body's natural painkillers. Laughterenhances the immune system, helping usprevent and fight disease, even activatingsome of the same pleasure centers in thebrain as cocaine and sex. Plus, laughter re-duces stress. What's not to like?

Stress is the No. I reason for workers'compensation claims. Stressed-out em-ployees tend to be less productive and makemore mistakes. And as stress depresses theimmune system, people become more vul-nerable to illness and consequently missmore days of work. Laughter acts as a buf-fer against stress. (See "The medicine ofmirth" on page 46.)

"Even if you're lucky enough that youstill have a job," says Paul McGhee, hu-mor researcher and president of the humor

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story or a self-deprecatory remark, whichis why many managers kick off meetingswith a joke. Even office bullies can be de-flated with humor. The next time someonepays you a back-handed compliment atwork, say thanks as if you think the personreally means it and watch how quickly thesarcastic smirk disappears. "Knowing howto use humor is a valuable tool in [helpingpeople]. establish habits-like teamwork andeffective communications," says MalcolmKushner, author of The Light Touch: Howto Use Humor for Business Success.

Kushner says the best managers antici-pate stressful situations and defuse themwith humor, a technique that can becomestandard operating procedure for address-ing the routine foul-ups of office life. Forinstance, if the copy machine is constantlybroken, Kushner suggests hanging a signabove the copier that reads, "Temporarilyin Working Order." People will laugh orsmile, he says, and the next time the ma-chine breaks they'll be less likely to jumpright into anger.

Studies led by Alice Isen, professor ofpsychology at Cornell University in Ithaca,New York, show that the positive moodcreated by laughter inspires people to thinkand work more creatively. In Isen's experi-ments, people shown a few minutes of acomedy film performed better em creativetasks than those who hadn't seen it.

"People who can maintain positiveemotions have a longer attention span andare more creative in problem solving," saysWillibald Ruch, professor of psychologyat the University of Zurich in Switzerlandand author of The Sense of Humor: Ex-plorations of a Personality Characteristic."If you have to deal with a work situationand you're in a good mood, you have moreaccess to alternative solutions."

Computer chip maker Sun Micro-systems has incorporated this philosophyof fun into its business. For years, com-pany directors have carried out elaborateApril Fool's Day pranks. One year, Sunengineers disassembled an executive's carand reassembled it in his office; anotheryear, they reassembled every bit of a vice-president's office at the bottom of a tankat the San Francisco Aquarium. Not only

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consulting firm The Laughter Remedy inWilmington, Delaware, "you have morework to do than you used to and moreanxiety hanging over you because youcould be next. Employees have to have alot of emotional resilience if they're goingto be effective, and employers have to dosomething to help them deal with what'sbeingthrown at them. There's all kinds ofevidence showing that humor is effectivein doing that."

People who work in high-stress environ-ments, such as police officers or emer-gency health-care providers, develop blackhumor as a coping mechanism. The darklaughs help people distance themselvesfrom negative emotions so they can func-tion properly. McGhee believes a similarprocess can be useful in the office and onthe shop floor. "It's the same idea today inthe corporate environment. A life may notbe on the line, but people are feeling thatsame level of anxiety." McGhee's remedy?Laugh it off. He conducts workshops andgives talks about how humor affects pro-ductivity and how to develop humor skills.

IT'S NOT ALWAYS AN EASY SELL, AC-cording to McGhee. "We think of playasthe opposite of work," he says. "For a lot ofcompanies, inviting people to play or bring

56 OOEMAGAZINE.COM AUGUST 2009

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their sense of humor to their work seemsincompatible with work. It is viewed asinviting employees to goof off on the job.But people need some positive focus in themidst of all the work demands, and humorcan do that. If you can get people to laughin response to [negative situations], that'svery effective in getting them to a betteremotional place. They will work betteronce they get to that place."

McGhee cites Dilbert cartoons, which heuses in his presentations, as a case in point.Dilbert cartoons often focus on the absurdsituations that arise at work. Laughingabout it, instead of stressing out, McGheeargues, can help people focus on the tasksat hand and be more efficient in gettingthem done. "In talking to people after pro-grams, I often find that they have collecteda few Dilbert cartoons ... and put them ona wall near their desks or in a place whereno one else can see them," McGhee says."With this reminder to lighten up, they canlaugh-at 'least mentally, if not out loud-at their own situations."

Laughter isn't only good for your health;it's a social lubricant. We all encounterwork situations in which tension is high be-cause oflooming deadlines, office rivalries,commercial pressure--or all of the above.That tension can be eased with a funny

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.- •do the engineers love it, but it's great PR,Kushner says. "It demonstrates their engin-eering prowess and their sense of humor."

BUSINESSES-FROM SMALL FIRMS TOmultinational corporations like Kodak,IBM and Xerox-are starting to get theneed for laughter at work-so much so,in fact, that humor consulting has becomea recognized field. Some consultationsinvolve one-time workshops or presen-tations, at which speakers like McGheeconduct group exercises to get workersthinking about ways to use humor in'com-munication; other projects are ongoing,like the Fun on the Run programs con-ducted by The' Fun Department. At thisfirm in Newark, Delaware, the staff or-ganizes activities like bowling, go-cartingor Ultimate Pictionary four times a year.Either way, the goal is to introduce laugh-ter as company policy. "There's a reasonschools have recess," says Nat Measley,"master of fun" with The Fun Department,"Everybody needs a break now and then.And when people are more creative andmore productive on the job, that really af-fects the bottom line."

In Switzerland, Ruch and his team con-duct humor training courses based on aneight-week program developed by TheLaughter Remedy's McGhee. The coursesencourage participants to "find the humorin their environment, laugh at themselvesor use humor under stress," Ruch says.He offers a variety of teohniques for keep-ing things light, such as exaggeration andunderstatement, and gives instruction onhow to develop a sense of playfulness.Everyone is asked to keep humor diaries,in which they write down funny thingsthat happen each day. "People learn thatit's okay to talk about embarrassing thingswithout feeling bad," Ruch says, "andit helps them shift from an outlook of'What's wrong with my life?' or 'What'swrong with other people?' to a more light-hearted look at 'What's good and happyabout my life?"

To experience the full benefits oflaughter in the workplace, though, top'management must get involved. "Top-level executives always think they have to

LAUGHTER ON THE JOB CAN BOOST EM-ployees' morale and a company's bot-tom line--as long as it's not negativehumor. "When you promote laughter inthe workplace, you also have to teachwhat is good laughter and what is badlaughter," says Willibald Ruch, professorof psychology at the University of zur-leh and author of The Sense of Humor:Explorations of a Personality Character-istic. "It's very important to distinguishbetween laughing with someone andlaughing at them. There's a line betweenridicule and humor."

Ruch is studying the fear of being

be so serious, but if you poke a little fun atyourself, that's actually a leadership trait,"Kushner says. "It shows confidence, and itmotivates people."

He points to the Santa Cruz MedicalClinic as an example. Each of the morethan 100 physicians at the clinic-includ-ing top brass-posts his or her baby photoon a bulletin board. Then there's a contestto guess who's WHO. "Baby pictures equal-ize the ground; they reduce everyone to thesame level," Kushner says. "That's one ofthe most important things that humor atwork does. It's not undermining authority,but using humor to reduce the difference.Rather than cracking a whip, you crack ajoke and it erihances your authority."

And you don't need to be a stand-upcomedian to generate laughter. WhenKushner speaks to corporate groups about

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humor in the workplace, he always tellsthem, "If you can't tell a joke well, youshouldn't. There are other ways of bringinghumor into a conversation or a presentation.Use a personal anecdote; everybody's gotsome stories they've been telling for years.Think of the points you can make withthem, and use them whether you're talkingto one person or to1 ,000 people."

Hey, have you heard the one about thepolice officer who responded to a domes-tic violence call after having completed acourse of humor training? ••II! ilILLLI •. 1 OJ iliA.iM; •••

NANCYMANN JACKSONhas two preschool-ers at home who keep her laughing.

•laughed at for a research pro-ject that involves 22,000 peoplein 75 countries. He has distribut-ed a 46-item questionnaire to atleast 100 men and 100 womenin each country. Thus far, he'sfound that in some countries, upto 20 percent of those surveyed

have an extreme fear of having otherslaugh at them. people Who experiencethis fear may even interpret good-na-tured laughter in a negative way.

The research is a reminder that laugh-ter can wound as well as heal. Ruch hasfound that many of those who fear thelaughter have been bullied. "people areafraid others will laugh at them and in-duce Shame," Ruch says. "In some cases,the people being laughed at will assumethat they in fact are ridiculous." That'swhy sarcastic humor has no place in theworld of work, Ruch argues. "If humorhurts, it might divide people."-N.M.J.