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How much fun do you generally have at work?
I asked myself this question recently when I met a British academic named William Donald. He’s an associate professor at the University of Southampton, where he studies career development and human resources management, and in 2022 he had a brainwave. What if he could publish a paper with another scientist whose last name is Duck, so that anyone who cites his research would have to say it came from Donald and Duck?
I’d like to say there was a serious reason for this endeavor, but when I called Donald he said he did it mostly because “I thought it would be somewhat entertaining.”
Unfortunately, finding a cooperative duck proved difficult. Donald spent 18 months contacting potential co-authors on LinkedIn before finding Nicholas Duck, an organizational psychologist in Australia who runs a workplace productivity consulting firm called Opposite.
Unlike some other candidates, Duck found Donald’s suggestion neither offensive nor ridiculous. “I like to mix things up and not take them too seriously,” he told me last week. Donald’s idea was right for him, he said.
Since the two had a common interest in the workplace, they decided to write a paper on what they called the Donald Duck phenomenon, or the unconventional reasons that drive scientists to publish. This included revenge on a rival; working with a hero; the desire to promote a cause and simple pleasure.
The result was a slim work of just three pages – five of which included references and notes – which was surprisingly published last month in the GiLE Journal of Skills Development. This is a relatively new open access publication that nevertheless claims to use a “robust” peer review process.
Nevertheless, the paper does not contribute significantly to the totality of human knowledge. It’s probably smug and childish. But it’s also a joy and I wish there were more such follies.
Not only do these things make the large part of life spent at work more bearable. There are serious reasons to have fun at work as governments across Europe worry about a post-pandemic fall in average working hours, blamed for making the economy weaker and less competitive.
Of course, jokes alone are not the answer. But it’s telling considering how rarely we hear about playfulness in the workplace these days.
It’s been 17 years since Steve Jobs stood on a stage in San Francisco to unveil a new Apple device called the iPhone and called a nearby Starbucks to order “4,000 lattes to go, please.” He immediately said “wrong number” and hung up. But years later, the store still received orders for so many coffees from Apple fans, confusing managers.
However, the caprioles of the CEOs are few and far between. I was amazed to read recently that Jane Fraser, the CEO of Citigroup, is a serial prankster who has a long history of making jokes about colleagues.
In 2022, she asked her leadership team to sign a skydiving waiver, the Wall Street Journal reported, leaving them to ponder that all of the bank’s executives would risk death together before emailing again: April Fool’s Day.
Another time, she reportedly kidnapped a teddy bear she had once given to a cost-cutting executive, duct-taped its paws and told the man to ease the cuts or the bear would get it.
News of the merriment could rattle some circles at Citi, where Fraser is grappling with widespread job losses. Even academic quote jokes can backfire.
In the 1940s, a physicist named George Gamow decided that it would be fun to add the name of an eminent friend, Hans Bethe, to a paper that Gamow and his student Ralph Alpher had written on the origins of the universe.
This had the excellent effect of producing an article by Alpher, Bethe and Gamow, a pun on the first three letters of the Greek alphabet, Alpha Beta Gamma. However, Alpher was reportedly upset because he feared his contribution would be diminished by the addition of the famous Bethe’s name.
You can understand his point of view. Workplace jokes need to be used with skill and care. But the best are great and the world of work would be a much better place if we had a lot more of them.
pilita.clark@ft.com