We've all read or heard corporate descriptions that claim, "We work hard, but we play hard." Yet the general impression seems to be that if you're having fun at work, you're not working hard enough.

It has been well-documented that humor and laughter can help reduce stress, strengthen morale, build camaraderie and, in general, be a positive influence. In fact, research has shown that people who have fun at work are more creative, more productive, work better with others and call in sick less often.

Yet according to a William M. Mercer survey, only 29 percent of employers nationwide encourage humor as part of their corporate culture. Only eight percent have a policy for using fun to reduce employee stress. (We realize using stale statistics to encourage fun is a bit counterintuitive. But we don't claim to be fun.)

The problem is that most often "creative" ideas to induce fun in the workplace — especially when established in "fun policies" — are simply bland and, more often than not, corny. Karaoke, anyone?

Sure, once a month the entire office can take a long lunch and go to a movie matinee. After 5 p.m., it may be shoes-optional.

The thing is, you spend eight hours each day with these people. Eight hours! Even the most serious business person needs to have a little fun — even if it's slightly absurd fun.

So, although "casual Friday" has been done to death, here are some ways to lighten the drudgery at work — from third-rate hacky jokes minor hijinks to brazen, extra-effort pranks to full-on cubicle warfare.

Minor Hijinks

• Put your trash can on your desk. Label it IN.

• Send e-mail to the rest of the company telling them exactly what you're doing. For example: "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the bathroom."

• Alternatively, send an e-mail to the rest of the department asking for something ridiculous. E.g., "If you're passing the kitchen, would you mind bringing me seven-and-a-half napkins? Or some guacamole?"

• Page yourself over the intercom. Don't disguise your voice.

• Hang mosquito netting around your cubicle. When you emerge to get coffee or a printout or whatever, slap yourself randomly the whole way. (via FishTank Humor)

• Replace a colleague's desk with one of these:

Credit: Chip Chick

Office Pranks
According to Office Humor Blog, there are five reasons to prank coworkers:

5) They're jerks and deserve it;
4) They're cool and deserve it;
3) They're your boss;
2) Prank payback/revenge; and
1) You're bored.

Warning: Some of these will render you completely unproductive. We do not encourage or even condone any of these if, in fact, actually getting work done is required by management.

1) A tried-and-true, easy-to-do oldie: Lower or raise a coworker's swivel chair each time he or she leaves the desk.

2 Place a small Post-it note under each coworker's computer mouse and write "droppings" on it. This renders the track ball ineffective. And sometimes scatological humor can produce a good laugh.

3) Put a coworker's stapler in Jell-O:

4) Pranks as old as cubicle-dwelling itself: Fill a coworker's cubicle with Styrofoam peanuts. Or Post-it notes. Or tin foil. Or newspapers. Or balloons.

5) This works best when the targeted coworker is away on vacation. Take a spare, dead keyboard that is identical to the target colleague's. Remove the keys, fill the keyboard with soil and plant "cat" grass. It's thick and grows fast. With the grass planted, cover the keyboard in plastic and keep it in sunlight or under a grow light. After 18 days, the grass can grow several inches and even uproot a few keys. Swap your colleague's keyboard with your grassy one. You can purchase "cat" grass from pet stores or the pet food aisle of many grocery stores.

Credit: Jaek Muran/TechRepublic

6) Perhaps the mother of ambitious, intrepid — not to mention pricey — projects: walling-off your CEO's office...

Two Words: Cubicle. Wars.
With Nerf Melee, for instance, an unlimited number of players shoot Nerf guns at one another and are out of play if they are hit by an opponent. The last player remaining is declared the winner.

Also consider the USB Rocket Launcher, the USB Missile Launcher, the USB Laser Guided Missile Launcher and, of course, the Sonic Grenade.

If you prefer hand-to-hand cube combat, there are Office Warrior Weapons, which include a sword, shield and ax:

For a few more ideas…

The Office: Top 10 Pranks on Dwight

Then again, as Douglas Rushkoff explains in the "follow the fun" chapter of Get Back in the Box and at his Web site, efforts like these "are really stupid, and actually defeat the whole point."

By making the "fun" at work extraneous — external and unrelated — to the boring and dull work that people are actually doing, it only exacerbates the problem. It's like giving kids dessert as a "reward" for finishing the main part of the meal. Why do they need a reward? Because the main meal tastes terrible! The reward just reinforces the notion that the work itself is not fun.

Having fun in any setting, especially work, is about comfort with and trust in, those around you. If someone is playful in life, they will be in work — in similar ways.

Of course, there can be too much of a good thing. The trick is finding a balance between being productive and having fun — and when being a jokester, straddling that thin line of audacious and stupid.