Fun Works: Creating Places Where People Love to Work (Paperback)

by Leslie Yerkes (Author), Jim Kouzes (Foreword)
Key Phrases: fun works, challenge your bias, expansive thinking and risk taking, Pike Place Fish, American Skandia, Will Vinton Studios (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Yerkes offers tips, examples, and motivation to help readers, their coworkers, and their customers unleash the power of fun in the workplace. Through real-life case studies and interviews with dozens of leading authors and everyday people, the author illustrates 11 principles of what she calls "The Work/Fun Fusion".

About the Author
Yerkes is President of Catalyst Consulting Group, an organizational development/change management consulting firm in Cleveland, Ohio.

Product Details

• Paperback: 235 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 2nd edition (April 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576754081
• ISBN-13: 978-1576754085
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #428,708 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun Works: Creating Places Where People Love to Work, November 2, 2001

By	Jim Harter/TallySoft (Houston, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fun Works: Creating Places Where People Love to Work (Paperback)

This is an easy read but it by no means is the fluff that you find in so many of these types of books. Many books on this subject are simply a collection of stories that illustrate random examples where others have brought fun into the workplace.

This book goes deeper. It provides the "Why" as well as the "How" and not just the "What". The book is divided into principles that you can apply to your business that actually work. You decide the outcome you want based on the principle you want to implement and do it. You tailor it to your specific business environment.

In other words, this book can actually help your business!!!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun Works Does, June 4, 2001

By	Joseph Murphy (Cleveland, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fun Works: Creating Places Where People Love to Work (Paperback)

This new book from Leslie Yerkes uses a case study format to emphasizes key principles of why having fun at work makes business sense. I like how the book is divided into two main sections, one holds rich and thoughtful case studies and the other, tools and actions to help foster the principles of Fun in your workplace. You can read it like a reference book by using the Table of Contents to find what may be of interest to you. This is good user-friendly design.

In each case, a business is highlighted that provides living proof of both the existence and value of a Fun Works principle. I found these examples to be real and full of ideas to build upon. Companies large and small, from coast to coast provide the framework that shouts, Fun enhances the capability of your organization. People feel more compelled to bring their strengths into the workplace when they are allowed and encouraged to express themselves.

Going beyond corporate success stories, Yerkes has captured and shared simple experiments to try, and suggestions to implement that may help you take fun to a new level in your organization. Being able to find and create fun on-the-job seems to make the day feel less like work and more like an adventure.

I recommend the book as a source of inspiration and a resource for benchmarking practices and principles that can unleash creativity and impact employee retention.

Joseph P. Murphy, Senior Consultant SHL

Chairperson, NorthCoast Employment Management Association (EMA)

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun Works: Creating Places Where People Love to Work, June 1, 2001

By	Bill Wilkins (Westlake, OH (USA)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fun Works: Creating Places Where People Love to Work (Paperback)

Why do employees in top performing organizations always seem to enjoy their work? In her second book Fun Works: Creating Places Where People Love to Work, Leslie Yerkes lays out 11 principles for creating a Fun/Work Fusion in the workplace. She then examines 11 companies, including Southwest Airlines and Harvard University Dining Services, that have successfully applied these principles to merge fun and work. Leslie offers the keys for unlocking each of the 11 principles for making companies happier and healthier. The book includes a Fun/Work Fusion Inventory of behaviors for measuring the extent to which fun has been allowed to enter any workplace. This easy to read book is loaded with nuggets of information designed to help any organization become a more enjoyable, productive and profitable place to work.