Insurance Company to Force Employees to Laugh More at Work by Installing Office 'Laughter Detectors' and Setting a Laugh 'Quota'

An insurance company installed an office "laugh detector" to try to get employees to laugh more at work, and if they fail to meet their laugh quota, they are sent a funny video to get the giggles going.

Baloise, an insurance company in Switzerland, brought in the laugh detector known as their "Chief LOL Officer" to get employees to laugh and to boost morale, as reported by Swiss outlet Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Alexandra Toscanelli, a project manager at Baloise, said that the detector is "fortunately not" a joke. "I'm happy if it makes people smile. The device is also meant to make people laugh, but above all we look at how much people laugh. And if that's not enough, then we encourage the employees to laugh a bit more, hopefully," Toscanelli told the outlet.

The device works by using AI to recognize laughter, and keeps track of the amount of laughter heard. "An adult person laughs on average about 15 times a day, which is why we said four laughs in two hours should be possible, anything less is too little," Toscanelli told Süddeutsche Zeitung.

If a person fails to meet their laugh "quota," they are sent one of the funny videos compiled by a social media agency for Baloise to share. These could include a cute animal video, or exaggerated falls or fail videos.

The laugh detector is currently being tested with a smaller group. Toscanelli noted that while she does not want to take away from the importance of hotlines and health centers, finding small ways to improve people's mental health can also make a difference.

"Mental health problems are still talked about much less than a broken leg. We want to draw attention to this, but not in a dry, boring way," she told the outlet.

Data supports that laughter has many immediate short-term benefits, including stimulating some organs, activating and cooling down stress responses and aiding in muscle relaxation, according to a 2023 article by the Mayo Clinic. It can also relieve pain and improve immune systems in the long run.