Burning Question: Should the office be fun?

At many companies these days (and maybe some government offices, too?) fun is the order of the day. Literally. From crazy hat days to games in the workplace, management has encouraged -- in some cases, practically ordered -- employees to lighten up.

It's all too much for the Economist's "Schumpeter" blogger. "These days," he writes, "many companies are obsessed with fun." To wit:

Software firms in Silicon Valley have installed rock-climbing walls in their reception areas and put inflatable animals in their offices. Wal-Mart orders its cashiers to smile at all and sundry. The cult of fun has spread like some disgusting haemorrhagic disease. Acclaris, an American IT company, has a "chief fun officer." TD Bank, the American arm of Canada's Toronto Dominion, has a "Wow!" department that dispatches costume-clad teams to "surprise and delight" successful workers. Red Bull, a drinks firm, has installed a slide in its London office.

In Schumpeter's view, making fun a business is, well, taking all the fun out of it. Managers, he writes, are acting out of a belief that fun "will magically make workers more engaged and creative. But the problem is that as soon as fun becomes part of a corporate strategy it ceases to be fun and becomes its opposite -- at best an empty shell and at worst a tiresome imposition."

What say you? Has fun invaded the federal workplace? Or does the staid bureaucratic approach of stereotypical lore still rule the day? And if that's the case, should the workplace be more fun?

Down with Fun
(Schumpeter, The Economist, via The Atlantic Wire)

Burning Question is a recurring feature that looks at key issues and compelling stories being explored at other publications and social media sites.