The benefits of workplace levity Online ret­ailer Zappos actively en­courages staff to "goof off." This, explains the Las Vegas-based company's "culture evangelist" Jon Wolske, "is a chance to take your attention away from your duties for a short time to do a fun activity." This could be anything from taking time out for a coffee and a chat to elaborate practical jokes where 100 ping-pong balls fall out of the ceiling on to unsuspecting employees. The point, explains Mr Wolkse, is to bring levity to the workplace. By al­lowing team members to participate in non-work activities and have fun, the office keeps a positive vibe and people are much happier. Also, they don't burn out as they are free to take time away from their duties. Zappos also runs events in the lunch room such as karaoke and eating contests. Other businesses also recognise the value of non-work activities. London-based innovation consultancy WhatIf runs Pecha Kucha sessions. "It's an idea imported from Japan," says co-founder Matt Kingdon. A group of people get together and do presentations. Each presentation is 20 slides and you only have 20 seconds on each, with questions afterwards. The topics have ranged from driving a VW Beetle across Russia to "How I became sexy." "The only stipulation," Mr Kingdon says, "is that it has to be something interesting in their life outside work." WhatIf's other activities include days when employees bring friends and family in to work, lunchtime talks by outside experts and baking everyone a cake on their birthday. Similarly, Forward Internet Group, a collection of consumer internet businesses, runs Pilates and language classes for staff and has a massage chair and a free bar for after-work socialising. Volunteering is also encouraged via the Forward Foundation, its philanthropic arm focused on young people. The idea, says human resources director Richard Roberts, is to create a "work hard, play hard, do some good culture." John Williams, author of Screw Work, Let's Play, says there are good reasons to provide fun social activities in the office. Your employees are amateur actors, boatbuilders and creative musicians - and they bring none of that to work. These activities allow them to do that - and they give people other reasons to talk to each other," he says. You meet people in other parts of the company and foster connections. These can be very powerful - Steve Jobs famously des­igned the Pixar building so that people had to mix with colleagues from other parts of the company. Activities must come from or be heavily influenced by staff in order to work, says Mr Williams. It can't just be a cynical, manipulative thing to get the employees to work longer. Done right, however, they can be empowering, and need not cost much. "If you take an example like giving people free beer on Fridays, the nice thing is that the perceived value - to the employees - is often much greater than the cost," says Mr Williams. Although some big companies such as Google manage to keep a sense of fun, the goofing-off strategy may work better for small businesses with young staff. Typical Forward Internet employees are under 30 and "the majority are young graduates looking for more than a nine-to-five role." Where activities can be organised, however, people are less likely to feel like cogs in a machine. "While the bottom line is important, we want to help people to be happy while they're at work," says Mr Wolske.