How to Make Life-Sciences Work Fun (and Why)

Allies in Fun

First things first: if your job is causing you more stress than is healthy, you need to find a way to deal with the stress and/or consider another job. Either way, once you have your stress levels under control, it’s time to turn your thoughts to how you can turn your 90,000 hours from just passing time to time you’re truly enjoying.

Luckily, you have one natural source of allies in your quest: your coworkers. In the wrong situation, they can be as much a source of stress as the work itself (and if this is the case, see the last paragraph again: find a way to improve the situation, or get yourself out of it). But in the right situation…well, they’re often the people who make it the right situation. Not that you need to be best friends, but a convivial atmosphere will make days more fun and even your clients will benefit from the mood boost such an environment gives. Camaraderie is also one of the most powerful tools to help you get through the more healthy, temporary periods of workplace stress that will inevitably arise.

 At Seuss, there is a lot of laughter and fun around the office, although people are really busy. This might be because we are smaller group (growing fast, though we are) and, even more importantly, because we intentionally hire people with good attitudes. But even in larger companies, your daily life often revolves around a smaller group: your department or team. So it’s really important that you and your team, the people you interact with every day, really get along.

How We Do it 

Have you ever noticed how much happier people are when there’s food in front of them? That’s why we almost always eat together. We have a huge table and, for half an hour, we sit together and talk – sometimes about work, but normally about our lives, fun stories or food. We definitely like our food here.

We also make sure to plan a regular “dagje uit” (day out, for you non-Dutch speakers). Every quarter we have a team meeting that not only includes the typical stuff (budget reviews, performance reviews, trainings and updates), but also leaves time to just hang out with each other. This year we had brunch, a photo tour of Amsterdam and a cooking class/dinner. (Did we mention we love food?)

Lucky for us, our leaders Kieran and Sabine are also fun and have been friends for a long time. We often hear them laughing and making jokes, which sets a good tone for the rest of us to relax and spice up our own work with a few laughs.

Yes, we are a growing company and there are a lot of challenges and disappointments and stress, so it is not all sunshine! But because we have a nice working atmosphere and supportive teammates – and we really do rely on each other to make each other feel better – there is always a rainbow at the end of each storm.

Leading the Way to Fun

Surveys show that work friendships and a friendly work environment is important for Millennials, who will soon dominate the workforce; so leaders take note! What can leaders do to make the workplace better? It goes without saying that hiring the right people is paramount, but we know this is hard (especially in life sciences, where there can be shortages for certain positions). This is why career matchmaking and hiring for attitude are so important.

Hiring the right people isn’t enough alone, though. It’s even more important to have positive leadership that creates an atmosphere where coworkers support each other and help each other succeed, as well as a company culture that makes the workplace fun and friendly. Make a friendly work environment where work friendships can blossom by doing things like encouraging walking meetings or having fun team events.

Employees: don’t waste another one of your 90,000 hours. You owe it yourself find ways to have fun and success at work! Be part of the solution as much as possible – but if that doesn’t work, we’ll be happy to help you find another place to work where you can be effective, impactful…and fun.

It’s time to make your life-sciences teams more fun and more successful and the first step is to hire the right people. You already know that the Seuss Recruitment team is lively and energetic and ready to help, so give us a call at: +31(0) 20 29 00 016. Don’t have time? No problem, we know you are busy, so send us a quick message to: talktous@seussrecruitment.com to get the information you need.