Introduce play into the workplace
For many businesses this idea might sound a bit baffling. However, at The Lego Group they have proved that introducing play into the workplace is a great way of building skills and enhancing employee wellbeing. It’s not as strange or difficult as it might sound.
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1. Foster a playful culture
Introduce hands-on, playful elements – like building with LEGO bricks – into team meetings or workshops. This encourages problem-solving, perspective-taking and communication, all of which support both work and parenting.
The benefits of play in the workplace identified by The Lego Group are:
Social
Social skills empower us to be strong collaborators and communicators. They also promote healthy relationships with our family and friends.
Physical
By exercising our bodies, we also exercise our minds and maintain our personal wellbeing. Physical skills include being active, understanding movement by practicing sensory-motor skills, developing spatial understanding, and nurturing a healthy body.
Creative
Great creative skills allow us to devise new solutions to problems that we’ll face in the future, helping us to transform ideas into meaningful solutions. They include envisioning new ideas, explaining them and bringing them to life, exploring new possibilities and identifying the best solutions.
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2. Make it easy for teams to play
Create opportunities, tools and spaces for employees to engage in play – both task-related and purely for joy. Regular moments of play can improve wellbeing, collaboration and emotional health – which can ripple out into family life, improving parents’ capacity to respond playfully and warmly to their children.
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3. Support employees to understand how play supports development
Offer resources or short sessions on the value of play for adults and children. Help employees reflect on how their workplace experiences can support parenting skills like sensitivity, warmth and co-regulation – all key to early childhood development.
Case study: The Lego Group
The LEGO Group’s Employee Play Engagement Team supports staff to play at work and beyond. From global ‘Play Days’, support with tools and resources to encourage teams to be playful, and the opportunity to spend two days a year volunteering in local activities connected to learning through play, employees at the LEGO Group are encouraged to build play into their everyday working life. Find out more by reading PEDAL’s report on “How can emotionally healthy workplaces support emotionally healthy families”.
Why this matters
By providing support and resources, alongside flexibility and choice, employers will not only be boosting the wellbeing and productivity of their colleagues, they will also be contributing to a society which is better positioned to take on the challenges of the future.
Improve early childhood education and careRelated actions
