Ways to Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day 2024
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Employee Appreciation Day is a nationally recognized workday towards honoring employees and taking time to appreciate and celebrate their accomplishments. Recognizing your staff for their hard work can make a huge difference in employee engagement and satisfaction. Engaged employees can bring the best results for your company.
On Employee Appreciation Day, there are many ways to recognize, appreciate, and celebrate your team. Here are a few ideas:
Resources for Employee Appreciation Day 2024
Utilize Badges for employee appreciation day inside Recognizeapp.com and printable post cards to mail to staff this week.
Heart Employee Appreciation Day 2024 Postcard
Happy Employee Appreciation Day 2024 Postcard
Truly Grateful for You Postcard
Post an Announcement to Get the Word Out
Use Recognize’s Announcements feature to post about Employee Appreciation Day and the various initiatives that will be going on during that week or day. To get you started, we’ve created some graphics you can use!
Use a Recognition Platform & Offer Incentives
You can use an employee recognition platform like Recognize to encourage recognition across your team. Meaningful public recognitions (top down or peer-to-peer) can make a big impact, not just on Employee Appreciation Day, but year round!
To make things even more exciting, consider offering points for sending recognition for a limit time and see how engagement increases!
Arrange Team Games or Contests
Games and contests are great ways to enhance team spirit and collaboration. Your organization can arrange for fun games to build better team spirit and appreciate your employees’ hard work.
Virtual games, trivia contests, and scavenger hunts are great examples of showing appreciation and team building. Make sure to host games that all your employees can participate in. The whole setting should promote fun and teamwork! Other ideas for games and fun contests include:
- Outdoor team sports activities
- Team-building games and icebreakers
- Team-building exercise challenges
- Contest for sending or receiving the most recognitions
Treat Your Staff to a Fun Experience
Employee Appreciation Day is a great time for you and your team to take a field trip! You can explore a local museum, park, or winery, or do a fun activity like bowling, or mini golf. It will give you a chance to tap into your employees’ interests while getting to know your local community.
A field trip can create great memories for your employees while giving you opportunities to enjoy local attractions. You can even learn something new and generate new ideas to implement in your organization. Here is a short list of additional ideas for experiences to explore:
- Team-building cooking or baking classes
- Collaborative art or craft projects
- Team-building workshops or seminars
- Escape room challenge
Surprise & Delight
Another way to make employees feel appreciated is to treat them to a meal or treat. This could include a catered lunch, bringing in a local food or coffee truck, having a team barbecue, setting up an ice cream bar or dessert buffet, or even just stocking the break room with snacks!
Make sure to prioritize your employees’ choices or potential food allergies while choosing the restaurant, food truck, or snacks! Some other surprise and delight ideas to consider are:
- Arrange an office makeover to align with Employee Appreciation Day, with new decorations and comfortable seating areas
- Host a team barbecue
- Set up an ice cream bar or dessert buffet
- Stock the break room with free snacks
- Organize relaxation activities as a treat, such as chair massages or yoga sessions
Send a Thank You Note or Post Card
Letters and postcards are a time-honored way to show your staff your appreciation. This gives your thanks a personal touch, and can really encourage employees to keep up their good work.
A good appreciation letter can make your employees feel more engaged with their workplace, and can be a fun keepsake. To help you out, we’ve created some fun postcard templates that you are welcome to download in the ‘Resources’ section above!
Record a Thank You Video
A thank you note or card can be a great way to show appreciation, but you could go one step beyond that and record a thank you video. You can even get your whole leadership team involved in the video by letting them share their appreciation for your staff! If appropriate, the video can even be posted to your company’s website or social media platforms! This can be especially impactful for teams that are remote.
Bring in Some Entertainment
Sometimes a good way to show your staff that you value their hard work is by offering them a break to enjoy some local entertainment. You can bring in a comedian, a local band, or even a magician to put a smile on your team’s faces! Some other ideas to consider are:
- Arrange for guest speakers or motivational speakers to inspire and uplift employees on Employee Appreciation Day
- Provide opportunities for employees to showcase their talents or hobbies within the workplace on Employee Appreciation Day
Make a Donation or Volunteer
You can donate to a charity or cause on behalf of your staff by letting employees vote on what is important to them. Your team members will appreciate the opportunity to have input in the decision and will feel valued by you showing interest in something they care about! Other ideas for community outreach include:
- Volunteering for a local food bank or organizing community service activities as a team
Offer Some Time Off
You can really show your employees you know they work hard by offering them a little time off! This can be a full day off, a half day off, or just an extended lunch break. Because Employee Appreciation Day is always the first Friday in March, you can even offer them this day off, giving them an unexpected three-day weekend!
Gift Giving
You can thank your team for their year-round dedication by giving them each a small gift, such as stationary, company swag, work tools, a free Kindle book, or points using platforms like Recognize, which allows them to choose their own reward, like a gift card! Some other ideas to consider:
- Offer company-wide discounts or perks for a limited time
- Create ‘care packages’ with self-care items and tokens of appreciation for every employee
Bottom Line
Ultimately, the catalyst for a productive workforce is having great employee engagement and showing appreciation, and Employee Appreciation Day is a great opportunity to show your staff how much you care and see their hard work.
Recognition platforms like Recognize can be very helpful for building that bridge and strengthening company culture. You can easily recognize employees for holding up your company’s values, reward them for their hard work, and track employee engagement. For more Employee Recognition Ideas, see our article “140 Top Employee Recognition Ideas“.
Remember, these are just ideas to consider for Employee Appreciation Day 2024. Feel free to customize and adapt them to fit your company culture and employees’ preferences!