Mice Have More Fun
“Mice Run for Fun, Not
Just Work, Research Shows.”
This recent New York Times headline stirred my
curiosity. As I read on I was delighted
to find that mice actually are motivated to run on an exercise wheel. They don’t run—as long suspected—out of
neurotic behavior or some overstressed condition; they are drawn to the wheel
because of the fun reward the little squeally ones receive.
Two researchers in the Netherlands placed exercise wheels
outdoors in a garden and an area of dunes and monitored the activity with
motion detectors and cameras. The
pivotal question to be answered in the research-- would mice go to and run on a
wheel if they were outside and free to do as they pleased? Would mice seek the fun of the wheel?
Resoundingly yes! The
mice sought out the wheel as an athlete runs to the gym.
“When I saw the first mice I was extremely happy”, said
Johanna H. Meijer at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. She observed mice hopping on, hopping off and
then hopping back on the wheel.
Other renowned researchers have commented on Meijer’s work
and likewise concluded that wheel running is some type of rewarding behavior.
Huda Akil, co-director of the Molecular and Behavioral
Neuroscience Institute at the University of Michigan, who has studied reward
systems, said, “It’s not a surprise. All
you have to do is watch a bunch of little kids in a playground or park. They run and run and run.”
I like having fun. I
flat out enjoy enjoyment. And I have
observed over the years whether I was involved in accounting, manufacturing,
consulting or NASBA, that employees enjoying their work—having fun—are more
productive, more dependable and more trustworthy.
But let me give you more authoritative examples than my
subjective analysis.
There are several highly respected organizations, including Fortune and Forbes, which recognize the top companies to work for in the U.S. But my favorite top company report is put out
by Rediff.com, a global on line shopping and information giant. Their “5
Really Cool Companies to Work For” and a slice of employee comments and
other rationale follow:
Microsoft
An employee says, “Imagine your life in a great
college. You have great teachers, you
learn something new every day, you get to hang out with cool people, a great
infrastructure makes you feel pampered and comfortable and you’re given a lot
of freedom—to think, to imagine, to choose what you wish to learn, to be the
master of your own career and to live the life that you’ve always dreamt of.”
MTV Music Television
At MTV the work ethic is strictly “work hard, play harder.”
Facebook
FB provides toys for employees, footballs, snooker and table
tennis equipment, in-house karaoke competitions and all-night hackathons
(hacking contests for programmers).
The 120 Media Collective
Recommends its employees learn a foreign language and pays
for it; allows sabbaticals to pursue higher education; employees allowed to
switch to other departments to dabble in other projects.
Google
Google’s “awesome policies” include employee-friendly
ambience, casual but intense workplace; flexible work hours, individual
creativity and entrepreneurship, freedom to try new things. One
employee comments, “The focus on good quality work and ethics surpassed everything
else. Managers and seniors at every
level were approachable.”
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One can’t help but be impressed with the common message
emanating from these successful companies:
employees are more productive, more ethical, and more trustworthy when
work is fun and the environment is employee-friendly.
Mice will run a long while for fun; so will children on a
playground; so will you and your employees.
David A.
Costello
Ad astra per
aspera 
