This thesis presents the role of playful work design in organizations, as well as definitions, key elements and drivers of employee work engagement. Playful work design represents the proactive creation of conditions in which employees optimize their personal work experience, which is of particular importance for their growth on a business and personal level. Playful work design can be defined through its forms, such as designing fun at work and designing competition at work. In the empirical research, descriptive statistical, correlation and regression analyzes were carried out in order to determine the connection between playful work design and work engagement and to determine which variables have the greatest influence on work engagement. Correlation analysis showed that there is a significant relationship between designing competitions as a form of playful work design and work engagement, but no significant relationship was observed between designing fun and work engagement. It can be concluded that employees who design competition through work have greater work engagement, in the sense that they proactively approach work, create a challenging environment and exceed their capabilities in their work tasks. Regression analysis found that work engagement has a positive relationship with designing competitions, but at the same time, it does not have a positive relationship with designing fun, as a form of playful work design. The research showed that organizations could influence the increase of employee work engagement by encouraging and applying elements of competition design, as one of the forms of playful work design.