It is a company like any other, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. Except that in the BeMyApp offices, you will hear a dinosaur screech and a stream of puns. Jokes that fail to get a laugh are taxed. Employees and managers put 20 cents in a jar. It is the "bad joke tax".
"Me, personally, I'm very funny, so I never pay," jokes John Karp, one of the founders of this event-planning company that regularly organises hackathons. Here, the 30 Parisian employees work in a relaxed atmosphere, where communication and laughter are omnipresent. Alexandre Sutra, who has worked here for four years, feels so good at BeMyApp that he regularly imitates a velociraptor—much to the amusement of his colleagues. "I used to work in an agency with a manager who gave me a hard time. I feel a lot more satisfied today," the event planner says. David Autissier, an associate professor at the Paris-Est-Créteil University and co-author of the book Petit traité de l’humour au travail (small treatise on humour at work), sees the pro-laughter policies in places like BeMyApp as part of an overall trend that emphasises people's well-being at work. "Humour helps people strengthen social bonds and improves atmospheres within companies," he says.
A good atmosphere is itself a good environment for laughter, Autissier explains. It is a virtuous circle, in other words, that reinforces team cohesion and employee motivation. "Laughter, by breaking down formalities, helps people access ideas they may have thought were stupid, but aren't necessarily. It boosts creativity," says Serge Grudzinski, founder of Humor Consulting Group, a laughter-in-the-workplace speciality firm.
Another company keen to promote laughter is Swiper, a startup. "When people sulk, it doesn’t make you want to go to work, whereas if employees feel good, they will be happy and motivated to develop projects together," says William Tarnowski, one of the founders. Here, the four employees work on the same level as the two managers.
Employees at the startup often put in long hours—all the more reason why humour matters. "When we work until late in the evening, a good fit of laughter enables us to take a break. And it motivates the team. We get back to work with more energy and we get things done faster. It’s a lot better than a cup of coffee," Tarnowski says.
At BeMyApp, humour is also used to convey messages that aren’t always amusing. "To announce to someone that they’ll have to work this weekend, or when assigning someone a new task, John, the manager, often comes with a big smile and says, 'Hey, what are you doing this weekend?' or 'I have a great mission for you'," says Alexandre Sutra.
In this company, workplace frustrations aren't seen as failures, but as experiences that make things move forward. Laughter helps the process by defusing certain situations. "When you find yourselves in a real stalemate, joking sometimes helps you take a step back," says John Karp.
In these companies, laughter is part of a whole, of a working atmosphere where communication, exchange and kindness are essential. When he co-founded Linkbynet, in 2000, Patrick Aisenberg wanted to establish this kind of relaxed, but also hard-working state of mind. And he committed to maintaining that conviviality even as the computer management services company grew. Today, it has 650 employees, including 250 at the head offices, in Saint-Denis, near Paris.
Aisenberg still keeps his office in the same area as the other employees, and goes to great lengths to ensure their mental well-being: hammocks to rest, a pool table, a dart set, a ping pong table to relax—even a slide to go down from one storey to another. "The manager sets the tone," he says. "I always joke, for example, before kicking off a meeting. It puts the employees at ease."
But don't just take the boss's word for it. "We organise Nerf fights or races up the slide," says Sébastien Moriceau, a longtime employee of Linkbynet. "It doesn’t prevent us from working. Quite the opposite really."
Humour may be a resource managers can use, but it also has to be used with a level of measure and moderation. "It's important that things don't delve into teasing. Laughter must remain benevolent," says Serge Grudzinski. Linkbynet's Aisenberg agrees. "We allow teasing, but only for small things. We don’t make fun of people."
It is also important to recognise that laughter is not always appropriate. "I think joking is most relevant in non-tense situations, because in situations of crisis, it can have the opposite effect," says David Autissier. All jokes aside, there will always be moments when work is no laughing matter.
