The Treasury Department’s Bureau of Public Debt is looking for a contractor to run a couple of three-hour discussions on “Humor in the Workplace.”
According to this FedBizOpps notice, which topped the Drudge Report today, the programs will “discuss the power of humor in the workplace, the close relationship between humor and stress, and why humor is one of the most important ways that we communicate in business and office life.”
The requirements:
Participants shall experience demonstrations of cartoons being created on the spot. The contractor shall have the ability to create cartoons on the spot about BPD jobs. The presenter shall refrain from using any foul language during the presentation. This is a business environment and we need the presenter to address a business audience.
At the end of the day the bureau wants its workers to learn the following:
• Understand the importance and power of humor in the workplace in a responsible manner
• How to use talents in a creative way that adds humor to everyday experiences
• Alleviate stress in home and the office
• Know how and why humor is important to communication
• Improve work-place relationships
• Prevent burn-out
While every workplace could probably use a little humor, one has to wonder whether the right way of going about it is a cheerless training session paid for by taxpayers.
Update: Treasury has canceled it’s search for workplace humor following a congressional inquiry into the item on Drudge. Guess FedLine wasn’t the only one wondering why taxpayers should pay to make Treasury laugh.
