Riddles for Work With Answers
Updated · Best Riddles With Answers editorial team
Quick answer: This page collects 42 riddles for work, each with its answer, for staff meetings, coffee breaks and team chats. They suit anyone in an office, shop or remote team. Start with the easy ones, move on to the number puzzles, and keep the quick-fire set for the first minute of a call.
Easy Riddles For Work
I have keys but no locks, a space but no room, and you can enter but never go in. What am I?
A keyboard.
I hang on the office wall, have two hands but cannot clap, and I tell you when you may go home. What am I?
A clock.
Everyone in the building looks forward to me at the end of the month, and I am the reason people turn up. What am I?
A paycheck (a salary).
I swallow paper, spit out copies, and always jam when you are in the biggest hurry. What am I?
A printer.
I bite sheets of paper together with a tiny metal bite, and I vanish whenever you need me. What am I?
A stapler.
I show every day of the month on one page, and you check me before saying yes to a meeting. What am I?
A calendar.
I have wheels but go nowhere, arms but cannot hug, and I carry you all day. What am I?
An office chair.
I go up and down all day with workers on board, yet I never leave the building. What am I?
An elevator (a lift).
Click my top and my tip appears, click again and it hides. I sign every contract. What am I?
A ballpoint pen.
I have a tail but no body, two buttons but no coat, and I live beside the keyboard. What am I?
A computer mouse.
I am small and rectangular, I carry your name and job title, and I am handed over at first meetings. What am I?
A business card.
I summarise your whole career on one or two pages, and you send me before an interview. What am I?
A resume (or CV).
Trickier Riddles For Work
Three colleagues share a 700 dollar bonus. Ann gets twice as much as Ben, and Ben gets twice as much as Cal. How much does Cal get?
100 dollars. Cal = x, Ben = 2x, Ann = 4x, so 7x = 700 and x = 100.
A meeting starts at 2:15 and lasts 90 minutes. A second meeting begins 25 minutes after the first ends and lasts one hour. When does the second one finish?
5:10. The first ends at 3:45, the second starts at 4:10 and ends at 5:10.
Eight people at a staff party each shake hands once with every other person. How many handshakes happen?
28, because 8 x 7 / 2 = 28.
Two fathers and two sons go to a work lunch and order exactly three sandwiches, one each. How is that possible?
There are only three people: a grandfather, his son and his grandson. The middle man is both a father and a son.
I can be set, missed, met or extended, and I make a whole office hurry. What am I?
A deadline.
You can take me at work but you cannot carry me, and a coffee usually goes with me. What am I?
A break.
Ana, Bo, Cy and Di sit at four desks in a row. Ana is at the window end, Bo is next to her, and Cy is not next to Bo. Who sits third from the window?
Di. Bo is second, so Cy cannot be third and must be fourth, which leaves Di third.
A temporary job pays 1 cent on day one, 2 cents on day two, 4 cents on day three and keeps doubling. What is paid on day ten?
512 cents (5.12 dollars), because day ten pays 2 multiplied by itself nine times.
One writer can finish a report in 6 hours and another can finish it in 3 hours. Working together at the same pace, how long do they take?
2 hours. In one hour they do 1/6 + 1/3 = 1/2 of the report.
A meeting room has six chairs and you take away four. How many chairs do you have?
Four, the ones you took.
A part-time employee earns 15 dollars an hour and works from 8:30 to 4:30 with a 30 minute unpaid lunch. What does she earn that day?
112.50 dollars. She works 7.5 hours, and 7.5 x 15 = 112.50.
Kim, Lee and Max are a designer, an accountant and a driver. Kim hates numbers and cannot draw, Max has no licence, and Lee cannot design. Who is the designer?
Max. Kim is neither accountant nor designer so is the driver, Lee is then the accountant, which leaves Max as designer.
Hard Riddles For Work
The number of staff in a growing start-up doubles every day, and the office is completely full on day 20. On which day was it half full?
Day 19, because one more doubling fills it.
Nine envelopes look identical, but one is heavier. You have a balance scale. What is the fewest weighings that always find it?
Two. Weigh three against three: the heavier side, or the three left out if it balances, holds the heavy one. Then weigh two of those three.
Two coworkers each always tell the truth or always lie. Ana says, 'At least one of us is lying.' Who lies?
Bo lies and Ana is honest. If Ana were lying, her statement would be true, which is impossible, so she is honest, and so Bo must be the liar.
You are offered 1,000 dollars today, or one cent that doubles every day for 30 days, adding up all payments. Which is worth more?
The doubling plan, worth about 10.7 million dollars, because the total is 2 multiplied by itself 30 times, minus 1 cent.
A wall clock strikes six at six o'clock and takes 30 seconds to do it. How long does it take to strike twelve at twelve o'clock?
66 seconds. Six strikes have 5 gaps, so each gap is 6 seconds, and twelve strikes have 11 gaps.
If 3 printers take 3 minutes to print 3 reports, how long do 100 printers take to print 100 reports?
3 minutes, because each printer prints one report in 3 minutes.
Four colleagues must cross a dark corridor in a power cut. They have one torch, only two can walk at once, and they take 1, 2, 5 and 10 minutes. What is the shortest total time?
17 minutes. 1 and 2 cross (2), 1 returns (1), 5 and 10 cross (10), 2 returns (2), 1 and 2 cross (2).
Your salary is raised by 20 percent and, a month later, cut by 20 percent. Compared with the start, where are you?
4 percent lower, because 1.2 x 0.8 = 0.96.
The average age of three staff members is 30. The youngest is 20 and the oldest is 40. How old is the middle one?
30, because the total is 90 and 90 - 20 - 40 = 30.
At a staff event everyone shook hands once with everyone else and there were 45 handshakes in total. How many people were there?
10, because 10 x 9 / 2 = 45.
Quick-Fire Riddles For Work
I hold sheets together and I am bent from wire. What am I?
A paper clip.
Once I am signed, everybody is stuck with me. What am I?
A contract.
Two days that every employee is waiting for?
The weekend.
Hours worked beyond the usual ones?
Overtime.
I make your pay go up and your smile too. What am I?
A raise.
The letter you write on your last day?
A resignation letter.
I move you up the ladder without you taking a single step. What am I?
A promotion.
A small walled space where many people spend their working day?
A cubicle.
How to Use These Riddles at Work
Riddles work well at the start of a meeting because they give everyone something to answer before the real agenda begins. Read one aloud, give people thirty seconds, and let them call out guesses. The easy set suits a mixed group, while the number puzzles in the trickier and hard sets reward teams that talk the problem through.
Keep it light. Nobody should feel judged for a wrong guess, so praise the reasoning rather than the answer. If a puzzle stalls the room, give one hint and move on. Remote teams can post a riddle in the chat at the start of the day and reveal the answer after lunch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are riddles appropriate to use at work?
Yes, when they are clean and short. Riddles are a friendly way to open a meeting, welcome new staff or fill a quiet moment on a call, and every riddle on this page is safe for a professional setting.
How do I use riddles in a team meeting?
Pick one riddle, read it slowly, and give the group a short time to guess. Reveal the answer, explain the trick in a sentence, and then begin the agenda. Two minutes is usually enough.
What kind of riddles suit a mixed office group?
Start with object riddles such as the keyboard or the clock, since everyone can guess them. Add number puzzles once the room is warmed up, because they invite people to work out the answer together.
Can I use these riddles in an interview?
Interviewers sometimes use logic puzzles to see how a candidate reasons aloud. If you are asked one, talk through your steps, check your arithmetic, and say what you are assuming. The thinking matters more than speed.
