Funny Work Awards

Funny Work Awards

FunAwards.com is well known for its collection of "Funny Office Awards". A few years ago, someone asked me if my "Funny Employee Awards" would work for companies not in an office environment. We don't want to leave out nurses, firefighters, restaurant staff, and all of the blue-collar folks out there working outside of an office environment.

The short answer is, yes - Funny Employee Awards does have a large selection of funny work awards for non-office personnel.

But truthfully, I did have office workers in mind when I wrote the first collection of awards a few years back. Since then, I have released "Funny Teacher Awards" and more recently "Funny Award Certificates".

I wrote Funny Awards Certificates as a more informal version of Funny Employee Awards. In an office environment or employee awards setting, managers and bosses must be mindful when poking fun. In a warehouse or blue-collar setting, coworkers might be more apt to let loose and really have fun with their fellow workers.

Funny Employee Awards purposely avoids potentially embarrassing personality traits or appearances. Funny Awards Certificates pushes the envelope a little further for workers who are more tight-knit and not afraid to have a little fun.

If you had to choose which funny work awards are best for you, here are my guidelines:

• Funny Employee Awards - for employees, volunteers and staff
• Funny Award Certificates - for family, friends, coworkers, and teammates

Or buy them both and you'll have funny work awards for everyone!

Fun at Work Day 2011

Fun at Work Day, also known as National Fun at Work Day, always occurs April 1 -- at least according to some websites. Other sites claim the date occurs in 2011 on January 29. Even other sites state that January 29, 2011 is not "Fun at Work Day" but instead "Have-Fun-at-Work Day". If you look around enough, you'll find websites listing the 2011 as occurring on January 25, 28, 29, 30, and 31.

International Fun at Work Day is always on April 1 -- unless the date falls on a weekend. According to playfair.com, Friday, April 1, 2011 is the Fifteenth Annual International Fun At Work Day.

So when is Fun at Work Day 2011 in the United States -- some random date in January or April 1? The truth is, we don't know. Feel free to chime in on the subject using the comments section. And remember, every day can be Fun at Work Day with Funny Employee Awards!

Download 101 Funny Awards Certificates! PDF download includes 101 Hilarious Printable Certificates + 6 Award Templates for making up your own Funny Awards! Download now and start using right away!

Bosses Day 2010 - Ideas for National Boss's Day

When is Boss's Day? Boss's Day (also known as Bosses Day or National Boss Day) always occurs on October 16. This year, it falls on Saturday, October 16, 2010. Since it falls on a weekday in 2010, most will celebrate National Boss's Day on Friday, October 16, 2010.

According to Wikipedia, Emily Post says you should not give a gift to your boss unless it is from a group of employees. Nobody likes a suck up.

Humor is a great way to show appreciation while having fun at the expense of your boss. Just make sure they actually have a sense of humor first.

Below are some free printable certificates you can present to your boss. Just download the free certificate, fill in your boss's information, and print. Within seconds you'll have a gift idea that's fun, free, and easy:

	Raisin Pay Award For the Boss Most Deserving of a "Raisin" Pay. Download this free Certificate of Appreciation
	Loch Ness Award For the Boss who is Least Likely to be Found. Download this free Free Printable Award
	Running with the Bulls Leadership Award For the Boss who is the Biggest Risk Taker. Download this Free Printable Certificate

If you need serious gift ideas for Boss's Day, cards, flowers, or balloons are a good bet. Or go in with your coworkers to get a gift from the entire office.

Just don't forget National Boss's Day 2010. After all, your boss is... well, your boss.

Humor in the Workplace

The Daily Journal takes a thorough look at humor in the workplace in their article, "Main Street: Even in business, laughter is the best medicine." Co-authors Don Daake and Edward Piatt offer their own take on Academy of Management Perspective article by Eric J. Romero and Kevin W. Cruthirds. The latter wrote:

"Humor is more than just funny concepts; it represents a multifunctional management tool that can be used to achieve many objectives. ... Managers can use humor to reduce stress and enhance leadership, group cohesiveness, communication, creativity and organizational culture."

Daake and Piatt offer three benefits and three warnings on the use of humor in the workplace.

Benefits of Workplace Humor

1. Humor has a way of building group cohesion, enhancing communication and increasing job satisfaction.
2. Humor can enhance communication because it awakens positive emotions and helps listening, understanding and the acceptance of messages.
3. Humor can reduce stress.

Cautions When Using Workplace Humor

1. The use of inappropriate ethnic and sexist jokes, personal insults or humiliation is out.
2. It is OK to use a little self-deprecating humor, but when overdone, it can be seen as self-defeating humor.
3. Never use humor as way to dominate or humiliate another person.

Read the full article at daily-journal.com. Even though this is my introduction to Romero and Cruthirds work, I put all of these guidelines to use when writing my collection of Funny Workplace Awards. The awards are not meant to embarrass, only to entertain. And you won't have to worry about getting in trouble with the HR department because the awards are all in good fun. Check them out for yourself:

101 Funny Employee Awards: Your Complete Guide to Organizing a Humorous, Entertaining, and Rewarding Recognition Ceremony Around every place of business, there comes a time when it’s necessary to give those who toil there a “thank you” that’s bigger than just dental coverage. And that’s where the employee recognition awards ceremony comes in. Just make sure your ceremony isn’t dry and boring by handing out creative and funny certificates. "Funny Employee Awards" includes 101 printable award certificates plus 6 blank award templates for creating your own funny awards. A staple of workplace humor!

Fun at Work Day 2010

Fun at Work Day, also known as National Fun at Work Day, always occurs April 1 - at least according to some websites. Other sites claim the date is always January 28 in the United States. Still others claim that the event occurs in 2010 on January 30.

International Fun at Work Day is always on April 1 - unless the date falls on a weekend. According to playfair.com, Thursday April 1, 2010 is the Fourteenth Annual International Fun At Work Day.

It's not unusual for holidays to have different dates for National and International celebrations. For example, National Teacher Appreciation Day is May 4, 2010 in the United States, while most countries celebrate October 5, 2010 as World Teachers Day.

So when is Fun at Work Day 2010 in the United States - January 28, January 30, or April 1?
The truth is, we don't know. Feel free to chime in on the subject using the comments section.
And remember, every day can be Fun at Work Day with Funny Employee Awards!

Download 101 Funny Awards Certificates! PDF download includes 101 Hilarious Printable Certificates + 6 Award Templates for making up your own Funny Nurses Awards! Download now and start using right away!

Silly Office Awards

Looking for silly awards? Download the newly released third version of my eBook, "Funny Employee Awards: Your Complete Guide to Organizing a Humorous, Entertaining, and Rewarding Recognition Ceremony".

If you've tried to come up with your own ideas for silly awards, you know that the toughest part is coming up with ideas. That's why I've done the work for you. I assembled of team of top comedians and comedy writers, including a features editor from the New York Post and an Emmy-nominated writer from Saturday Night Live.

My goal with this new version was to make the awards more accessible and with wider appeal. Just looking at the examples below, they could be used as silly sports awards, teacher awards, student awards, family reunions, high school superlatives - the applications are endless.

Here are some free sample silly awards:

• Foot-in-Mouth Award - for always saying the wrong thing at the wrong time
• Baby's Bottom Award - for smoothest in times of crisis
• Selective Hearing Impairment Award - for only hearing what you want to hear
• Baryshnikov Award - for most skill in dancing around the issues
• Kool and the Gang Award - for excellence in group work

The printable certificates make a great gag gift. Just add an inexpensive frame (think dollar store) and it's ready to present.

Remember to bookmark this site and keep checking back for silly achievement awards, silly end of the year awards, silly office awards, silly recognition awards, and silly employee awards.

Silly Awards for the Office

Download 101 Funny Employee Awards Certificates!
These awards are perfect for any type of staff, organization, group, or business. The eBook has 101 professionally designed awards in PDF format that can be easily printed on the office printer. The awards poke fun, recognize accomplishments, and make reference to pop culture and cartoon characters.   Download now and start using right away!

Boss's Day 2009 - Free Funny Gift Ideas

When is Boss's Day? Boss's Day (also known as Bosses Day or National Boss Day)always occurs on October 16. This year, it falls on Friday, October 16, 2009.

Boss Day is a great time to show appreciation for your boss. But nobody likes a suck up. Humor is a great way to show appreciation while having fun at the expense of your boss. Just make sure they have a sense of humor first.

Below are some free printable certificates you can present to your boss. Just download the free certificate, fill in your boss's information, and print. Within seconds you'll have a gift idea that's fun, free, and easy:

	Running with the Bulls Leadership Award For the Boss who is the Biggest Risk Taker. Download this Free Printable Certificate
	Raisin Pay Award For the Boss Most Deserving of a "Raisin" Pay. Download this free Certificate of Appreciation
	Loch Ness Award For the Boss who is Least Likely to be Found. Download this free Free Printable Award

If you need serious gift ideas for Boss's Day, cards, flowers, or balloons are a good bet. Or go in with your coworkers to get a gift from the entire office. Just don't forget National Boss's Day 2009. After all, your boss is... well, your boss.

Workplace Humor - Humor in the Workplace

CIO magazines outlines the benefits of workplace humor in their recent article, "Making IT Fun Again". While we've long been huge advocates of the topic, this article presents a good in-depth case study of how one specific company used humor in the workplace to achieve specific morale and productivity gains.

Dave Patzwald, CIO of Schneider Electric N.A., a provider of energy management solutions, understood the benefits that workplace humor can bring: greater productivity, better camaraderie, happier workers. And now is a critical time to make humor a priority, says Stuart Robertshaw, retired psychology professor and author of DrHumor.com. "With the bad economy, people need a reason to look forward to coming to work," he says. "Happy people go the extra mile; they're more creative and ultimately produce better products."

Read the full article at CIO.com. And for further reading on the topic of humor in the workplace, check out these books:

There's No I in Office: 4293 Meaningless Phrases to Keep Your Coworkers Smiling While Avoiding Actual Conversation Contrary to conventional wisdom, the greatest challenge in today's office environment is not how to keep from being stabbed in the back by corporate climbers; it's how to avoid burdensome friendships with well-intentioned but energy-sucking office mates.

	The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent, and Accelerate Performance The authors advocate creating a "carrot culture" in which successes are continually celebrated and reinforced. Dozens of recognition techniques include the obvious ("When a top performer is going on a particularly long business trip, upgrade her ticket to business class") to the offbeat ("Hire a celebrity impersonator to leave a congratulatory voice-mail message on an employee's phone").
	Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace Creativity is crucial to business success. But too often, even the most innovative organization quickly becomes a "giant hairball"--a tangled, impenetrable mass of rules, traditions, and systems, all based on what worked in the past--that exercises an inexorable pull into mediocrity. Great for any manager looking for new ways to invigorate employees, and any professional who wants to achieve his or her best, most self-expressive, most creative and fulfilling work.
	101 Funny Employee Awards: Your Complete Guide to Organizing a Humorous, Entertaining, and Rewarding Recognition Ceremony Around every place of business, there comes a time when it’s necessary to give those who toil there a “thank you” that’s bigger than just dental coverage. And that’s where the employee recognition awards ceremony comes in. Just make sure your ceremony isn’t dry and boring by handing out creative and funny certificates. "Funny Employee Awards" includes 101 printable award certificates plus 6 blank award templates for creating your own funny awards. A staple of workplace humor!

Reward Employees with the Gift of Laughter!

Have the Best Staff Party Ever! That's the headline I chose for our first direct mail postcard. You can check out a mockup of the postcard below. The back reads:

Reward with the Gift of Laughter!

Make your next staff meeting unforgettable! These funny awards are perfect for any organization.

• Low Cost way to have the best staff party yet.
• Presentation Tips will save you time and preparation.
• Over 100 Awards guarantee something for everyone.

For office parties, staff recognition, employee meetings, annual ceremonies or any occasion that needs more laughs!

Certificates, Trophies & Live Emcees Order NOW for your Year-End Party!
And of course it has all of the requisite contact info. I would normally outsource a design project like this, but I was pressed for time and ended up taking the photo and doing the layout myself. I think it turned out pretty good. What do you think?

Download Funny Awards Postcard

Cheap Plug for my Printer

By the way, I get ALL of my full color printing services done online through PrintingForLess.com. Previously, I used a local printer and it was a royal pain. Now I upload my files online, approve the proofs via PDF, and PrintingForLess ships the finished product in a few days. It's so much easier.

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Find Funny Awards at www.FunAwards.com