Is Dilbert Bad For My Employees' Morale?

Not only are you familiar with Dilbert as a member of the business world, but as a boss in the business world, you probably even think that Dilbert is sometimes funny. After all, it's not as if these cartoons are making fun of you in any way, right? But then again, it is easy to second-guess this sentiment when you start to see Dilbert cartoons tacked up on the cubicle walls of your employees. Sure, it seems silly to be concerned about the effect that these cartoons might have on morale, but you also probably start to think about the fact that you have, after all, read articles that talked about how Dilbert cartoons create a negative environment. And so the question becomes, are Dilbert cartoons bad for employee morale?

One consideration to keep at the forefront of this discussion is the fact that humor, of course, is good for morale. Undoubtedly, the fact that these cartoon strips make your employees laugh is a sign in the right direction.

But the issue, of course, is the fact that most of these laughs are induced by taking jabs at corporate culture. And it is difficult to keep your own self out of the specifics of this discussion when you see a cartoon on an employee's wall that makes fun of the boss. The solution, however, might not be as simple as just banning the cartoons from people's cubicles. After all, you are sure to make employees think you are completely out of touch with the way they feel if you make such a brash decision.

Don't just order that all comic strips be taken down from office walls; instead, you ought to take the time to look at these comic strips yourself. As the root of the humor in many of these strips is the jokes made about the way corporate culture is run, there is a chance - considering that your employees deemed the strips appropriate enough to be tacked up in their cubicle - that the problem has nothing to do with the comic strip itself. The problem might be with the way your company itself is run!

While some might think it is trivial to turn Dilbert into a topic of serious discussion, many businesses have, in fact, banned these cartoons from cubicle walls. Every boss wants to improve morale around the office, but instead of banning humor and hoping it will do anything but alienate employees, you should aim to improve employee morale by improving all the ways in which your business itself is run!