Council Post: Want Good Office Morale? Get A Funny Box

When I was still clerking for a law firm during law school, I had a boss who had a funny box. It was just a plain old brown box that looked very weathered. It sat under his desk, and whenever something made him laugh, he put whatever it was in the box. There were all kinds of things in there, from court pleadings to ashtrays. My boss explained to me that the practice of law is a hard field to work in, and if you cannot keep your sense of humor, you can go mad. At the time, I was thinking he was kind of mad, but I listened to what he said. My boss said that when you are having a really bad day, go get yourself a six pack of beer and open the box. Go through the box and relive it, and when you are done, you will be back to normal.

His words stuck with me when I opened my own practice. I did like he said and put a shoebox under my desk. I was a solo attorney back then and easily worked 14-16 hours a day. It was exhilarating, yet terrifying. You worry about everything. Did I file my motion on time? Did I do it right? Will the judge rule this my way? So many questions and so many terrors. But there were some funny things that happened, too.

One of my business partners saved an email I had written her from my first year in business. She was not my partner back then but just another lawyer I called repeatedly on the daily for help in my business. The email was written by me long after business hours, telling her I had been retained by a client and had received $1,000 for a retainer. I was over the moon. A whole $1,000! I was definitely on my way. That email did not make it to the funny box for probably another 10 years, but it is something that makes us chuckle all the same.

Now, here we are more than 20 years later, and once a year, we sit around the conference table and open the funny box. The funny box is no longer the size of a shoebox but two large boxes, and it is jammed full of fun stuff. There are a pair of handcuffs (you’ll have to hear that story someday), and there are court documents and letters from clients. All of it elicits great peals of laughter when read aloud. We pass the box around, and someone takes a piece and holds it up or reads it. And the stories flow. Pretty soon we are all laughing, and some of us even crying because it is just so funny. Divorce law is not an easy field, but one thing you can say about it is that it is never boring. 

As employers and owners of businesses, we have a lot of pressure. Whether you are running a law firm or a hardware store, we have the same types of problems. We worry. We manage employees. We deal with clients or customers. I am sure all of us want to be the best at what we do as well. We did not open our own business to be second best. I want to be the best lawyer in town, and I want my firm to have the best reputation as well. That does not come easy. There is extensive staff training, laws to keep apprised of and cases to battle. I noticed that I had become so driven and so focused that I never really stopped and had fun. That lack of fun can ruin you and, in turn, make your employees dread being around you.

You will notice that even if you pay your employees well, they will still leave if they are not satisfied with how they are treated. If you push them too hard, they crack and eventually stop being productive. I think if you can maintain some humor and some fun, then it will go a long way. I am not saying that we have so much fun that nothing gets done, but it doesn’t have to be all drudgery either. Think about your personal life. If all you did was drudgery-type work and never had any fun, you would be a very dull person. 

Your business needs some life balance, too. Your staff wants to come to work for the environment that is there. What kind of environment do you have? Is it an office that has so much tension that employees are uncomfortable, or is it an office with people who enjoy each other? Do opinions flow freely because people feel comfortable enough to offer up different solutions? There is a fine line to establish a company environment that gets things done and one that is too driven.

Our firm’s funny box is just one way of alleviating the tension in the office. Everyone knows when there is a trial week that we have to buckle down and work like fiends, but when the trial is over, we can spare an hour or two to hang out and have a little downtime. Share a little humor, share in the stories of the company, and it will go a long way to build camaraderie in the office. Try making a funny box for your house, too. When life is getting you down, sometimes laughter is the best medicine.

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