7 payroll and HR pranks to look out for on April Fools’ Day

There’s nothing wrong with having a bit of fun at the office as long as certain boundaries are respected. Workspaces and offices aren’t safe from pranks and jokes on April Fools’ Day. This includes the HR and payroll department.

Here are 7 HR April Fools jokes to watch out for this year—or to play on your coworkers.

We all know how hard it can be to remember the names of all coworkers when being new at the office. How about leveraging the hardship of remembering names for a really cool April Fools joke?

Talk to your coworkers and agree to switch names for the day. Then enjoy the confusion on your new teammate’s face when they think they got all the names wrong the entire time.

This is a popular HR April Fools’ Day joke that will have your coworkers cracking out laughing for sure. The trick is to create a fake virtual background before the meeting starts and then activate it while you’re in the call.

For instance, you could create a video of yourself walking into the room. Your coworkers will probably be quite puzzled when seeing you appear double on their screens.

Access your Slack workspace and set up a Slack bot that is programmed to send out automated replies to messages that contain certain trigger words. Think about words that are commonly used in your organization or that are likely to feature in messages sent by your coworkers.

For each trigger word, work out a humorous, unexpected message that can be sent out by the bot. Just remember to make it clear for people that the answers are not to be taken seriously.

This HR prank will work nicely on coworkers who are easily intrigued by anything that isn’t meant for their eyes and ears. To pull it off, create a new folder on your organization’s Google Drive workspace and give it an intriguing name, such as “confidential reports”.

Next, rename a few files using single space so they become practically invisible and move them to the folder. Finally, share the folder with your coworkers, emphasizing that the information it contains is highly sensitive and try to keep a straight face when they are confused about the seemingly empty folder.

This is probably one of the most commonly played April Fools jokes because it causes hilarious moments among colleagues. There are several different ways to play this.

Whenever one of your coworkers leaves his or her desk unattended, sneak over there and change screen settings. Here are some ideas:

• Play a fake windows update screen,

• Flip the screen by activating image rotation, or

• Change the desktop background image to something hilarious.

If you want to see your coworker’s face totally puzzled, then this is the way to go. Make arrangements with a few colleagues and organize a birthday card, some balloons, and maybe even a cake. Then surprise one of your teammates by singing “Happy Birthday” to them on April Fools’ Day—knowing all too well that it’s not their actual birthday.

Many employees keep a photo of their family on their desk at work. A popular office prank is to swap the family photo with a weird shot of a celebrity or any other photo you can think of that is disturbing enough to cause your coworker to pull a face when looking at it.

Office pranks are a lot of fun, but only as long as you respect a few ground rules. Remember to:

• Avoid causing major disruptions: HR and payroll are intertwined with many processes in an organization, which is why there is a good chance that any pranks and jokes that are a bit over the top might cause actual disruptions. Disruptions to office workflows should definitely be avoided when planning HR April Fools jokes.

• Make sure not to damage anyone’s property: This should be an obvious one, but we’re gonna mention it anyway. Whatever HR or payroll joke you plan for April Fools’ Day, make sure that nobody’s personal property gets damaged.

• Don’t cross the line: Payroll and HR matters are important and often have a direct impact on employees. That’s why it’s important to avoid payroll and HR pranks that could cause confusion among employees regarding important payroll and HR decisions. For instance, playing a trick on employees by stating that payroll will be late this month is not a good idea because it might trigger financial worries.

• Be funny, not harmful: This should go without saying, but let’s include this as a reminder. Whatever HR prank you’re planning for April Fools’ Day, don’t go too far. Payroll and HR jokes should be funny, but they should in no case hurt somebody—be it emotionally or psychologically.

There is nothing wrong with organizing April Fools jokes in the office. Well on the contrary. HR pranks and other little jokes can help businesses foster employee engagement, promote team building, and create a positive work environment.

HR pranks boost employee morale by breaking up the daily routine and relieving workplace stress. They also make it easier for employees to connect with their teammates and form proper workplace relationships by providing opportunities for shared laughter and non-work-related interactions.

What’s more, they can help enhance creativity by creating humorous little distractions that allow workers to break free from the daily grind.