Putting Some Fun Back Into 9 to 5

WORK, in its most traditional sense, is the antithesis of fun. As my grandmother used to say, when I complained about a boss or a deadline, “There’s a reason they call it work.”

Grandma would be beyond surprised at what Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher have to say in “The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up” (Wiley). The book, which is to be released later this month, examines how fun in the office increases the bottom line. And they are very serious about that.

“If they’re busting a gut,” said Mr. Christopher, a comedian and humor columnist for Human Capital magazine, they’ll bust their bottoms.

“When they’re laughing, they’re listening,” said Mr. Gostick, an author and consultant on employee motivation.

The two chuckle as they throw out favorite arguments:

Being fun gets you hired! A study of 737 chief executives of major corporations found that 98 percent would hire an applicant with a good sense of humor over one who seemed to lack one.

Having fun makes people loyal! According to a survey of 1,000 workers conducted for the authors by the research firm Ipsos, employees who laugh at work tend to stay. Those who rated their manager’s sense of humor “above average” also said there was a 90 percent chance they would stay in their job for more than a year. If they worked for a boss whose sense of humor they describe as “average” or below, the employee’s chances of staying dropped to 77 percent.

Amusing people go far! According to a study in the Harvard Business Review, executives described by co-workers as having a good sense of humor “climb the corporate ladder more quickly, and earn more money than their peers.”

A good laugh is good for your health! A study from the University of Maryland showed that while stress decreased blood flow, humor increased it.

By 22 percent.

Point taken. Laughter is beneficial. And potentially good for business. But isn’t that knowledge its own form of stress? I mean, what if you aren’t funny?

Don’t we have enough to worry about at a job interview without adding “ability to do stand-up” to the list —humor is so subjective, and so potentially deflating when it falls flat. And don’t bosses have enough to handle, what with this slumping economy, without being expected to rally the troops by making them laugh? There are quite a few smart and industrious folk out there who have no business (in either sense of the word) getting up at the front of the office and doing a comedy routine.

Not to worry, Mr. Gostick said. “We define levity as more of a lightness, more being fun than being funny,” he said. “Great leaders have a way of bringing lightness into the workplace.”

“The boss is not necessarily the humor giver,” added Mr. Christopher (the two tend to take turns talking in interviews), “as much as the humor enabler, or, at least, the humor tolerator.”

In recent years, a growing number of companies have strived to have “lighthearted” workplaces, Mr. Gostick said.

Bain & Company, the business consulting firm, does that by gathering more than 400 employees from around the world for the annual Bain World Cup soccer tournament. Lego America, which manufactures toys, encourages employees to travel the company campus via scooter. Google holds roller-hockey games in the parking lot twice a week, has ongoing Scrabble tournaments throughout the day and boasts a baby grand in the break room. In contrast, the Whole Foods break room has a far-less-grand chalkboard on which workers are urged to doodle.

Some companies actually put a group or an individual in charge of planning the levity.

At the advertising agency iris North America it’s called “the Smile Squad,” said Stewart Shanley, a founder. The squad, which is overseen by the Head of People (human resources at other companies) has its own logo and budget and is responsible for “general well-being and serendipitous happenings” at the 475-employee agency, Mr. Shanley said.

“Keeping people happy is what makes them perform,” he said. “The trick about running a successful business is to attract talent, and then this is the part people seem to forget, to manage and retain that talent. That’s what the squads are for.”

E-mail: Belkin@nytimes.com.