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Planning to pull an April Fool's prank on the boss or a co-worker this year? Not so fast, because it can be a career-limiting move, according to a new survey.
Nearly six out of 10 - 58 per cent - of 250 marketing and advertising managers surveyed by the Creative Group staffing service said they consider April Fool's jokes not appropriate in their organizations.
Even though the poll found that 37 per cent believe jokes can be appropriate, no matter where you work, caution is in order if you're being humorous when you're supposed to be working, said Megan Slabinski, Seattle-based president for the Creative Group in Canada
"April Fool's has a negative connotation from childhood. Pranks have the connotation of someone trying to take advantage or getting revenge on someone else, so it's important to understand there is a line between morale-boosting pranks and ones that can hurt you and the organization," she said.
A lot of the survey's respondents, when asked about bad April Fool's jokes, cited instances where people pretended to quit or pretended to fire people. "This is never a good idea. And especially in today's work environment, it's not wise to joke about job security - it just hits too close to home," Ms. Slabinski said.
One of the executives surveyed said an employee announced, as a joke, that he would resign. The boss thought it was a good idea. The joke was definitely on the employee. Ms. Slabinski cited another respondent as saying: "Someone sent a fake e-mail saying that a handful of employee jobs were eliminated - that ended up in a reprimand which is certainly not what he intended."
Career coach Cheryl Stein, president of Cheryl Stein Consulting & Coaching in Montreal, agrees that striking the right tone is important in the current economic climate.
"This year, there's a particularly delicate balance between trying to raise spirits with an April Fool's joke in a time when everyone is under pressure, and having the perception that you're not taking things seriously enough and have too much time on your hands," she said.
"It's a time when people are loaded up with responsibility; a little levity is great when things seem so dire. But there's no question you've got to be smart about it."
And the caution applies to both workers and managers alike. Ms. Stein said a client once told her of a boss who, on a pre-recession April 1st, introduced staff to a couple of people he identified as "consultants." All day, the employees warily eyed the pair, expecting that jobs were about to be axed; it was only late in the day that the boss revealed the two were actors and it was all a joke.
"I couldn't imagine a boss could get away with something like that today without causing a rebellion among the staff," Ms. Stein said.
Pulling a good prank, or joking to get a laugh, is likely to be better received this year than it was last, suggests motivational expert Michael Kerr, president of the Humour at Work Institute in Canmore, Alta.
"With the recession's effects fading, people seem to be in a better mood, so that bodes well for injecting a little more humour into the daily grind at any time of year," he said. "At the same time, you might see people more tempted to make mean-spirited jokes aimed at things the organization has done to them because of cutbacks and extra demands."
Managers should cut people a bit of slack, because humour is a way that employees can let off steam, Mr. Kerr suggested. "Listening to the subversive humour can be the only way some employees can express their true feelings or concerns about the organization."
No matter what you do to lighten the mood, remember that sarcasm and mean-spirited digs will have an unpleasant aftereffect that will linger even if the joke brings immediate laughs, Mr. Kerr said.
"I suggest that anyone planning a prank to be brutally honest: Ask yourself 'How would I react if this prank were pulled on me?' If you've got your doubts, don't do it."