Of course it is.

Does humour have a place in the workplace?

Well, you read many opinions by experts on this and it would lead you to believe the jury is firmly out.

A previous working team in a previous life was privileged to be part of a study which has shown in all likelihood humour, of an inclusive nature, can fit perfectly into the workplace.

In fact, it can actually help build effective teams.

The study was conducted, quite coincidentally, by a long-term family friend on behalf of the University of Tasmania.

By nature of his day job, Daryl Peebles was a government bureaucrat, but his real passion was humour.

Out of work hours he was part of a much-loved comedy duo called Novak ‘n’ Good ……. say it fast and you’ll understand it’s meaning.

When his government life came to an end, Daryl decided to return to study and find out a bit more about the psyche of humour in the workplace - in itself a hilarious thing for a government employee to do.

The study, Value of Positive Humour in the Workplace, was started in mid 2012 and studied data from 50 workplace teams.

Keeping it simple and avoiding the high psychological analysis of the study, Daryl says in his own words ‘’the study examined the history of the acceptance of humour as a positive human attribute and its possible impact on contemporary workplace management practices’’.

‘’It suggests that the ‘style’ of humour used in a workplace context is a significant factor in its effectiveness. ‘Positive humour’, that is humour that is inclusive and uplifting, was found to be most effective.’’

In summarising the results, he said: ‘’The implications for workplaces are simple. Appropriate, positive humour used within workplaces is not detrimental to productivity but is actually shown to contribute to employees’ performance and positive attitude towards their work. ‘’

As someone who loves a dad joke – How do you make a Kleenex dance? Put a little boogie in it! – that’s music to the ears.

After all, life is too short to not enjoy yourself, especially at work.