Keeping employees on their toes, a field study

Continuing with the Training Trends theme from last week, I’d like to demonstrate how you, too, can easily keep your employees on their toes. Depending on your line of work, it could be as simple as putting on a blue polo and a pair of khakis.

Back in 2006, the self-proclaimed “urban pranksters” from Improv Everywhere recruited a group of about 80 people to play an interesting joke on a local Best Buy store. After arriving to a secret location dressed in the company’s signature blue polo and khaki pants the group was given these instructions:

“We’re heading up to the Best Buy on 23rd Street. We’ll enter the store one by one. Once inside, spread out and stand near the end of an aisle, facing away from the merchandise. Don’t shop, but don’t work either. If a customer comes up to you and asks you a question, be polite and help them if you know the answer. If anyone asks you if you work there, say no. If an employee asks you what you’re doing, respond ‘I’m waiting for my girlfriend/boyfriend who is shopping elsewhere in the store.’ If they question you about your clothing, just explain that it’s what you put on when you woke up this morning and you don’t know any of the other people dressed like you.”

And, they caught it all on video:



Get creative, keep your employees on their toes and have some fun.

Skip the gross, stage greener office pranks

In the wake of possibly the worst workplace prank ever recorded and posted on YouTube (thank you Domino's employees), we'd like to take a less disgusting and much friendlier approach to the office prank.

Whether it's filling your coworker's cube with packing peanuts or covering their walls with sticky notes, most office pranks create unnecessary waste. Now you can still be funny while keeping the environment in mind by playing greener office pranks.

Here are just a few ideas:

• Stage a kidnapping. Kidnap all the plastic water bottles from your coworkers and replace them with eco-friendly reusable mugs. Leave a ransom note with the reason for the swap.
• Paper saver. This one's for that employee who always prints way too much. Get onto their computer and change their printer settings to ".pdf writer" or another option that doesn't go straight to the printer.
• Indoor guerrilla gardening. Pick up a bunch of indoor plants and do a little indoor guerrilla gardening on a coworkers desk by covering their workspace with a collection of greenery.

The video below by Grist's Umbra Fisk shares some great ideas for going green in the office, plus an added green office prank that should go over well with most of the eco-friendly pranksters and The Office fans out there.

April Fool's Day was only a few weeks ago and we know you were a part of at least a prank or two. Leave a comment and share your ideas for the greenest office pranks going around.

April Fool’s Day work pranks

Did you wake up this morning with a giant knot in your stomach? Did the thought of seeing your cubicle completely covered in bubble wrap have you thinking about cashing in some PTO time?

Or, have you been strategically planning a prank on the boss for months, anxiously awaiting the arrival of April? Did your plot play out according to plan?

According to a CareerBuilder survey, 32 percent of workers say they have either initiated or been on the receiving end of an April Fools’ joke at work.

Most executives aren’t humored by office pranks. Seventy-one percent of marketing executives thought pranks were not appropriate for the workplace, as polled by The Creative Group.

Here are a few highlights from CareerBuilder.com's annual April Fool's Day survey:

• Placed a pair of pants and shoes inside the only toilet stall in a men’s room to make it appear someone was using the stall. It sat there for hours until someone called security to check if the person had died.
• All the women in office individually spoke to the president, confiding that she is pregnant. By noon, he ‘knew’ that all of his female workers were pregnant and he could not tell anyone because each asked for confidentially.
• Filled the vending soda machine with cans of beer.
• Placed a sign on the restroom door that read, “The company ran out of toilet tissue; please use your own resources.”
• Shrink-wrapped everything in a co-worker’s cubicle.

Happy April Fool’s Day! ... Now go prank someone.