Some organizations include employee appreciation as part of their business structure, which shows how much they value their employees and keeps the morale high in the workplace. Expressing your appreciation towards an employee tends to increase employee job satisfaction as well.
Employee Appreciation Day is one of the best annual opportunities for managers, company leadership, and HR to reinforce the importance of appreciating employees. Recognition and appreciation are the top drivers of employee happiness and satisfaction and can have a positive influence on everything from recruitment to turnover.
What can I do for Employee Appreciation Day?
Let’s face it, there is not enough appreciation in the world. The more you can spread around your organization, the better. The value of kindness in the workplace is immeasurable, and it can elevate the communities you serve while attracting high performers to your organization.
While showing your employees how much you appreciate them, you can ask them how they like to be appreciated. You might find three or more ways that fit best in the industry you belong to. It can also save some time.
Keep in mind that employees’ personalities differ and most employees are goal-driven people. Earning an award, a thank you, or recognition motivates them to reach even higher goals for the benefit of any business or organization.
What are the Benefits of an Employee Appreciation Day Celebration?
It sends a strong message of unity to employees and gives the organization a platform for communicating appreciation and goals. In addition, It can be an effective supplement to HR’s engagement effort if you already have an existing recognition system.
Plus, it gives managers a great chance to make genuine connections with their team members. The more managers can get involved in directly engaging their teams on a personal level, the better. Remember: people are happier and more cooperative in workplaces where inclusion and diversity are priorities.
An employee who has a safe, respectful, and appreciative work environment as well as a strong connection to their direct managers are more productive, proactive, and prosocial. Employee Appreciation Day is a day to flex all your recognition muscles and make an indelible impression.
How do you celebrate Employee Appreciation Day?
Fortunately, there are already some creative strategies and established best practices that are perfect to celebrate Employee Appreciation Day:
Virtual Happy Hour
Hosting a happy hour or similar virtual event is becoming one of the most efficient ways to celebrate and bond with coworkers separated by distance.
Check our Virtual Happy Hour experience!
Care Packages
Themed care packages are always fun and allow a lot of room to be creative. Give gifts, snacks, and candy, and add in company-branded swag for some extra memorability and brand connection.
An example of care packages are:
Snack Box
Hand-picked for your team's enjoyment.
Red or White Wine, Cheese, Crackers, and More Set
It's cool, it's Californian, and it's classic. California red wine paired with savory cheese, scrumptious crackers, and cookies. Sprinkled with sunshine and some West Coast style, this simply elegant gift is sure to bring a smile. The perfect gift for family, and friends or to say thanks to a colleague.
Fruits & Snacks Gift
Explore seasonal fruit and salty, savory, sweet, and protein-rich snacks from other mission-driven brands. Weekly fruit selections include seasonal specialties from farms in your region.
Unwind Lavender Gift Set
Start a relaxing routine that helps soothe you into a peaceful slumber with the power of aromatherapy.
Gin & Tonic Kit
Stellar ingredients give you the best quality G&T you will ever taste. Great base ingredients for other cocktails as well!
Special Recognition
Creating an event-specific award initiative for Employee Appreciation Day is another engaging way to spread recognition across an entire workforce.
Video Message
Video messages from leadership generally have a higher engagement rate among employees than emails and are a useful mass communication tool for delivering messages with more of a human touch.
Gift Cards
Gift cards to popular retailers and websites are a great way to show appreciation to everyone on the team, and instant delivery options make them a versatile reward that’s easily distributed companywide.
Personal Call
Phone calls are becoming increasingly rare and taking a minute to reach out to employees for a quick thanks over the phone is easy and thoughtful.
Play games & socialize
Engage in team games like a scavenger hunt, ‘pub’ quiz, or team-based office Olympics. They can be great opportunities for teams to know each other better in a fun setting while introducing healthy competition and encouraging innovative thinking. Chances are you’ll see your coworkers in a whole new light!
Check out these games you can get for your team:
Virtual Squid Game
Based on the popular Squid Game series, this virtual game tests your wit, communication, logic, and other skills over 6 different games.
Virtual Bingo
Play this high-energy Bingo game that's built on the platform with video. It'll keep your team buzzing with this action-packed session.
Escape Room
Solve riddles and complete puzzles in a fixed amount of time, with the goal of “escaping the room.”
Take a field trip
Organize a field trip to a local museum, botanical garden, or park. Sign up for a factory, brewery, or winery tour. Use Employee Appreciation Day as an opportunity to better know your community and learn about your neighbors. It might even spark some new ideas!
Establish dedicated time off
Time is a priceless resource, and it's one thing you can never get back. Why not offer some extra PTO to your team as part of Employee Appreciation Day? Even for people who love their jobs, a little extra free time is always welcome.
There are many time-based ways to reward your employees for their hard work, from flexible scheduling to sleep-in days and early releases!
Movie
How about an afternoon movie to entertain and delight your staff members? You don’t have to go to the theaters – you could set this up in a break room or meeting room. Again, you could do this in shifts if you can’t have all your team members watching a movie at the same time.
Teamland has a Movie Night you can get for your team members! Click here for more info.
While it’s a great idea to celebrate Employee Appreciation Day, it’s important to understand that organizations shouldn’t limit employee appreciation to just one day. Every day should be Employee Appreciation Day!
