Fun in the workplace and employee turnover: is less managed fun better?

Many notable employers believe fun in the workplace is a key ingredient to promote healthy and engaging workplaces. Southwest Airlines, one of the first companies to embrace fun, continues to believe in its importance today. At the heart of Southwest’s values is for employees to “embrace a fun-LUVing attitude” and to “not take themselves too seriously” (Southwest Airlines, n.d.). One way Southwest promotes its fun culture is through a variety of creative events such as spirit parties, chili cook-offs and rallies. Zappos is famous for its relaxed and fun work culture, where one of its core values is to “Create Fun and A Little Weirdness” (Zappos, n.d.). This culture is realized through employee nerf ball wars, ugly sweater days, donut-eating contests, office parades and an open mic in the cafeteria (Ferrell et al., 2013). Richard Branson of the Virgin Brand contends that “Fun is the most important – and underrated – ingredient in any successful venture” (Branson, 2015, p. 376). Branson proudly and unapologetically proclaims that serious fun is at the heart of the Virgin way of conducting business. A wide variety of other companies have also embraced fun, including Acuity Insurance, Adobe Systems, Ben and Jerry’s, Fast Enterprises, Hubspot and Lush Cosmetics, among others (Boss Magazine, n.d.).

While on the whole, previous research has validated practitioner beliefs that fun in the workplace has a favorable impact (Michel et al., 2019), two issues remain to be examined. One such issue is the effect of fun on employee turnover. Only three studies to date have examined this relationship, and the results are equivocal (Tews et al., 2013, 2014, 2021). A second issue is whether less managed fun is more beneficial than managed fun. Managed fun reflects whether fun is packaged, inauthentic, contrived and forced (Bolton and Houlihan, 2009; Plester et al., 2015). Relative to quantitative research, qualitative research has viewed fun more critically largely because efforts to promote fun may not be organic, resulting in employee resistance to engage in such endeavors (e.g. Bolton and Houlihan, 2009; Plester et al., 2015). One complaint echoing those expressed in qualitative studies is, “Manufactured corporate fun is the killer of souls” (Boss Magazine, n.d.).

For addressing the issues highlighted above, the goals of the...