#Staff Column
2022.04.05
Can Work Ever Be Fun?
Columnist | Introducing the columns written by member of Amorepacific Group
The Way People Work Nowadays Part 1. Can Work Ever Be Fun?
Columnist | Shin Kihoon
Amorepacific Vision Support Team
Amorepacific Vision Support Team
#INTRO
I am in my 12th year at my work. I am somebody who can’t start or continue to do something if I’m not into it. So, I’ve had no choice but to continue to find new things. When I fail to find something new, then I need to find a way to work differently. I have always mulled over how to have fun at work and as such, ended up writing this column, thinking that there must be people out there who think the same way and want to have fun while working.
I am in my 12th year at my work. I am somebody who can’t start or continue to do something if I’m not into it. So, I’ve had no choice but to continue to find new things. When I fail to find something new, then I need to find a way to work differently. I have always mulled over how to have fun at work and as such, ended up writing this column, thinking that there must be people out there who think the same way and want to have fun while working.
#BODY
One of the things I remember when I first started working at a company was that people asked the same question as if they had promised to do so in advance. People continued to ask me the same question for about a year since day one when I bumped into them in the bathroom or said hi in the elevator. From colleagues who joined the company just several months before me to team leaders, and even directors, everyone asked the same exact question.
One of the things I remember when I first started working at a company was that people asked the same question as if they had promised to do so in advance. People continued to ask me the same question for about a year since day one when I bumped into them in the bathroom or said hi in the elevator. From colleagues who joined the company just several months before me to team leaders, and even directors, everyone asked the same exact question.
"Are you having fun?"
I wonder why people kept on asking me if I was having fun at work.
Of course, I said, “Yes!” but it wasn’t something I said after thinking carefully about the question. It was just a reflex action. Plus, my acting was not so great (It’s still bad, but it must have been worse back then.), so they must have known that I was just saying it. I’m not sure if they were happy with my answer but I was too busy to check on my emotions at work in my first year at the company. I was only thinking about getting the work done properly.
Looking back on those days, it was definitely not fun. It was not fun at all, and I even felt suffocated. On Sunday nights, I had to struggle to breathe thinking that I had to go to work the next day. I didn’t get any proper turnover of my role from my predecessor, and all my team members who joined the company before me left, so I became the senior member of the team in just five months into the company. Making things worse, the team leader had just come onboard and he was not familiar with the work yet. Every time a phone rang, I had to listen to things that I did not know about, but I had no one to ask. The counterparts yelled, “Your predecessor handled all this,” and pressed me to handle the task immediately. I had nowhere to turn to and complain. It was not fun at all.
Looking back on those days, it was definitely not fun. It was not fun at all, and I even felt suffocated. On Sunday nights, I had to struggle to breathe thinking that I had to go to work the next day. I didn’t get any proper turnover of my role from my predecessor, and all my team members who joined the company before me left, so I became the senior member of the team in just five months into the company. Making things worse, the team leader had just come onboard and he was not familiar with the work yet. Every time a phone rang, I had to listen to things that I did not know about, but I had no one to ask. The counterparts yelled, “Your predecessor handled all this,” and pressed me to handle the task immediately. I had nowhere to turn to and complain. It was not fun at all.
There must be a moment when you were frightened to hear your phone ring
I wonder why people at work asked me if I was having fun at work? Did they think that I should be having fun? Or did they wish that I was having fun here? Or is it because they were enjoying their work and wanted me to feel the same? Or the opposite?
"But has there ever been a time in which work was fun?"
Fast forward 10 years, I switched jobs several times and my roles changed along the way. The workplace changed as did my colleagues and how I worked also changed a great deal. Now I know something about what I am good at, and how I should work to deliver good results.
Sure, there were interesting moments at work. At times, I felt great about my performance and got favorable responses from customers (I have memories of office dinners, too). But that is not part of my daily routine and it takes up less than 1% of work. 99% of my daily work is the process. The question, “Are you having fun?” was about whether the process was fun or not.
Sure, there were interesting moments at work. At times, I felt great about my performance and got favorable responses from customers (I have memories of office dinners, too). But that is not part of my daily routine and it takes up less than 1% of work. 99% of my daily work is the process. The question, “Are you having fun?” was about whether the process was fun or not.
When people talk about happy moments at work, they usually mean when you get good results
(Of course, you get overjoyed if your hard work pays off).
“Where do we get delight from?”
The first thing that came to my mind when I thought of the keyword fun was games. Games are fun. It’s fun throughout the process of playing them. Games are essential content that still gives me joy. It’s not just me. My father who is over 70 years old plays games, and my first child who just entered elementary school and my four-year-old child all play games. In fact, seven out of ten people in Korea reportedly play games.
Games for children (8 years old)
Games for seniors (70 years old)
“What makes games fun?”
I searched the web by typing in this question and was surprised to find that there has been much research done on this matter. I probably didn’t ask why because I automatically thought of games as a fun activity. But it seems that there are many graduate school students who are curious about this very question. So, why are games fun?
There are many types of games out there, but games are activities aimed at accomplishing given goals, or competition. Starting with the card games that adults play, to puzzles for children, and open-world games that I love all fall under this definition. In that sense, games are similar in nature with our work. Games and work are both activities performed to achieve set goals. The same goes for competition. But games are fun while work is not. What makes the difference?
The reason we feel why games are fun (This is my personal view, which also happens to be the same as the research results.) lies in the new experience and a sense of accomplishment. In games, you can become the lead character of a completely different world that is unlike the common mundane world, where you go to work during the day and take care of children at home in the evening. Plus, you can get new experiences that you cannot encounter in the real world. This helps to immerse you in the game’s story, complete missions and get rewards, to accomplish more challenging missions and continue the journey into ever more new experiences.
The same is true for office workers. Everyone has their own missions. Although not as immediate as in games, they still get rewards and as they complete the missions, they grow and can take part in more challenging missions.
There are many types of games out there, but games are activities aimed at accomplishing given goals, or competition. Starting with the card games that adults play, to puzzles for children, and open-world games that I love all fall under this definition. In that sense, games are similar in nature with our work. Games and work are both activities performed to achieve set goals. The same goes for competition. But games are fun while work is not. What makes the difference?
The reason we feel why games are fun (This is my personal view, which also happens to be the same as the research results.) lies in the new experience and a sense of accomplishment. In games, you can become the lead character of a completely different world that is unlike the common mundane world, where you go to work during the day and take care of children at home in the evening. Plus, you can get new experiences that you cannot encounter in the real world. This helps to immerse you in the game’s story, complete missions and get rewards, to accomplish more challenging missions and continue the journey into ever more new experiences.
The same is true for office workers. Everyone has their own missions. Although not as immediate as in games, they still get rewards and as they complete the missions, they grow and can take part in more challenging missions.
A child chacter who just learned archery
completes a series of quests to grow into a veteran archer
“Then why is work not fun?”
People have different preferences for games. Even if you loved a certain game, other gamers may find it boring. The reason is usually (in my opinion) the difficulty of the games. Some people may find some games too complicated and end up not having any fun, or it may be too easy and repetitive and thus lose interest. So, most games offer options that allow players to adjust the level of difficulty.
Regrettably, you cannot adjust the level of complexity at work. You need to play the game according to the level of difficulty set by the company. Sometimes you perform highly complex missions, or easy missions that involve repetitive tasks. Games occasionally provide random, immediate gamble-like rewards to lure the gamers to continue playing the simple, repetitive quests. Plus, games are structured in such a way that the mission must be solved in some way. In reality, however, some missions are just impossible to be accomplished, and you cannot simply press the finish button as in games. This is why people stagnate and fail to face new challenges. You continue to receive monthly compensations, though.
Regrettably, you cannot adjust the level of complexity at work. You need to play the game according to the level of difficulty set by the company. Sometimes you perform highly complex missions, or easy missions that involve repetitive tasks. Games occasionally provide random, immediate gamble-like rewards to lure the gamers to continue playing the simple, repetitive quests. Plus, games are structured in such a way that the mission must be solved in some way. In reality, however, some missions are just impossible to be accomplished, and you cannot simply press the finish button as in games. This is why people stagnate and fail to face new challenges. You continue to receive monthly compensations, though.
It’s the level of difficulty.
Yes, it’s the level of difficulty (That’s not all, of course). Wouldn’t work be fun, too, if it progressed well? There’s nothing more boring than being stuck, unable to make a breakthrough. It’s similar to roaming around the same route that you were lost inside the game. Work may become fun if you could find the right direction and start resolving tasks little by little. In this way, you may be able to grow, take on new challenges and have fun in the process.
Are you not having fun at work? What you need then is change (rather than pressing the finish button). If you are stuck, you need to try taking a different approach and try a new way by breaking away from conventional practices. If you don’t choose the option of making changes, the only option left is to spend more time using the same way to continue to get lost and be bored. You can’t expect to have fun by staying still. Perhaps people persistently ask the question, “Are you having fun?” with that intention in mind. If you are not enjoying your work, the first thing you need to do is to change.
Are you not having fun at work? What you need then is change (rather than pressing the finish button). If you are stuck, you need to try taking a different approach and try a new way by breaking away from conventional practices. If you don’t choose the option of making changes, the only option left is to spend more time using the same way to continue to get lost and be bored. You can’t expect to have fun by staying still. Perhaps people persistently ask the question, “Are you having fun?” with that intention in mind. If you are not enjoying your work, the first thing you need to do is to change.
Are you bored at work? Then make some changes.
See things from a new perspective and adopt a new approach.
#CONCLUSION
Being a person who values fun, I readily applied for the columnist contest after hearing about it during the self-quarantine week spending days in complete monotony. Writing the column itself was a fresh new mission for me, so I thought it’d be fun, but I realized that this is a difficult job for me as I endured the painful pressure while I was writing the column.
I have studied several things about work, but I decided to write about my personal experience thinking that if I just put together the results from research done by others, readers are not likely to sympathize with the column. This could leave room for objections, but since everyone has a different opinion on “fun,” I hope that people just take it as the personal view of the writer.
From the second column, I will talk about how to have fun at work, in other words, the changes you need to make to work better, or new ways of working to be more successful at work step by step. I hope the first column will provide readers with an opportunity to think about the need to change how they work.
Being a person who values fun, I readily applied for the columnist contest after hearing about it during the self-quarantine week spending days in complete monotony. Writing the column itself was a fresh new mission for me, so I thought it’d be fun, but I realized that this is a difficult job for me as I endured the painful pressure while I was writing the column.
I have studied several things about work, but I decided to write about my personal experience thinking that if I just put together the results from research done by others, readers are not likely to sympathize with the column. This could leave room for objections, but since everyone has a different opinion on “fun,” I hope that people just take it as the personal view of the writer.
From the second column, I will talk about how to have fun at work, in other words, the changes you need to make to work better, or new ways of working to be more successful at work step by step. I hope the first column will provide readers with an opportunity to think about the need to change how they work.
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