Newsletter – Can You Take a Joke? Rules for Humor in the Workplace

Especially in the current climate where new harassment claims erupt on a daily basis against titans of media, industry, and politics, people seem to be moving toward paranoia about what they can and cannot do at work.

A common complaint now is:  we can’t have fun anymore at work and we can’t tell jokes. Not true. The only thing you can’t tell are derogatory or stereotypical jokes based on the fourteen protected characteristics. (Under federal law: sex or gender, age 40 and over, race and color, religion, national origin, citizenship, physical disability, mental disability, pregnancy, veteran/military status, family and medical leave, and genetic characteristics. Some state laws: sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, status as a domestic violence victim, medical condition, ancestry, marital status, childbirth and related medical conditions).

We were at a comedy show in Boulder last night. This was an adult crowd, complete with a bar and the usual Boulder vibe. Yet as we laughed at the jokes of four different professional comics, I was amazed to notice that they told not one joke about politics or sex! Somehow, they all avoided these current hot topics. Yet this decidedly PG show was hysterically funny.

• Use humor at work.  Life is too short not to have fun at work.
• Model appropriate humor.  I like to stress, for example, that jokes about engineers in my sessions (we have a lot of high tech clients) are allowed but jokes about attorneys are not because I’ve heard them all.  Just to be clear… both of those groups are fair game and not covered by one of the above characteristics.
• Learn and teach protected characteristics. Make sure that people understand what protected characteristics are off limits and why.
• Make a list. If people grumble that they can’t have fun anymore, have them make a list of the thousands of things that they can tell jokes about.
• Use self-deprecating humor. Remember that there is generally one person in the room that is safe to tell a joke about: yourself (as long as you avoid protected characteristics). Most people enjoy self-deprecating humor.

 Did You Know