Entering the workforce can kill off your sense of humour — and the damage is not undone until well after you retire — researchers have warned.
Business scholars from California surveyed over a million people to explore how they use levity in the workplace — and to see how our laughter changes with time.
They found that — as they strive to conform to the formal atmosphere of many offices — people typically end up laughing significantly less after the age of 23.
In addition, studies have shown that 98 per cent of chief executives prefer to hire job candidates that express good cheer over those who are more serious.
While managers with a sense of humour are seen as around a quarter more pleasant to work with and worthy of respect — even if they aren’t themselves funny.
Entering the workforce can kill one’s sense of humour — and the damage, pictured, is not undone until well after one retires late in life — researchers have warned (stock image)
‘The collective loss of our sense of humour is a serious problem afflicting people and organisations globally,’ explained psychologist Jennifer Aaker of the Stanford Graduate School of Business in California.
In her work, Professor Aaker and her colleague Naomi Bagdonas — a management specialist — conducted a survey into workplace humour and happiness.
They polled around 1.4 million people of various ages from across 166 different countries, the Times reported.
The researchers found that the frequency at which people laugh and smile tends to drop significantly at around the age of 23.
In fact, the average four-year-old child laughs as many as 300 times each day — while the typical 40-year-old would take some ten weeks to rack up the same count.
This is a trend that the pair attribute, in no small part, to the humourless and stiflingly formal environment cultivated in many workplaces.
‘We grow up, enter the workforce and suddenly become “serious and important people”, trading laughter for ties and pantsuits,’ the duo explained.
The researchers found that the frequency at which people laugh and smile tends to drop significantly at around the age of 23. ‘We grow up, enter the workforce and suddenly become “serious and important people”, trading laughter for ties and pantsuits,’ the team explained
Since 2017, Professor Aaker and Ms Bagdonas have co-taught a lecture course to students at Stanford entitled ‘Humor: Serious Business’.
‘We teach some of the world’s most ambitious, smart, and caffeine-addled business minds how to use humour and levity to transform their future organisations and lives,’ the duo explained.
In the corporate world, humour is a ‘superpower’, the researchers argue — albeit one that is ‘incredibly under-leveraged’ — which can enhance influence and status, alongside helping to improve creativity and problem-solving.
‘The mere act of signalling that your sense of humour has a heartbeat is enough to make a big difference, especially if you’re in a leadership role,’ they explained.
‘Our MBA [Master of Business Administration] students get the same amount of academic credit for our course about the power of humour as they do for Managerial Accounting and Financial Trading Strategies.’
‘Robin Williams said: “You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” We’re trying to help our students keep the pilot light on,’ said Ms Bagdonas.
The full findings of the duo’s research is published in their new book, ‘Humor, Seriously‘.
