Feelings of fun and happiness play a significant role in offsetting the stressors and rigours of working life. In this episode, brought to you by Lawyers Weekly's sister brand, HR Leader, an Auckland-based academic dives into the need for businesses to get creative in ensuring staff engagement and the critical role that HR must play in doing so.

Host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with University of Auckland Business School Associate Professor Barbara Plester about her research into humour and fun in the workplace and why it's of such interest to her, the extent to which the pandemic shifted workers' levels of happiness, workers' level of connection post-COVID-19, and how critical creativity has become in keeping workers engaged.

Plester also delves into how the pandemic has correlated with an uptick in worker happiness, whether it had led to greater productivity, movement away from standardised approaches to wellbeing, the place for worker autonomy, employer limitations on flexibility, practical steps that employers should be taking to ensure optimal levels of employee happiness and striking the right balance with business objectives, and the role of team leaders in doing so.

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