Employee Appreciation

Employee Appreciation Day is just around the corner. Aside from having happier employees, research shows that there are many benefits of regular employee recognition including less turnover, higher customer satisfaction and an increase in the overall employee experience to name a few.

When you have a larger staff, you may feel like the act of trying to show appreciation to all of them on a consistent basis feels overwhelming at times. Whether you’re trying to come up with ideas for this year’s Employee Appreciation Day or you’re looking for ongoing recognition ideas, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve put together a list of employee recognition ideas that you can implement starting today.

But before you get started, be mindful of a few recognition rules you should follow to help you be more successful along the way.

1. Make it personal
2. Make it timely
3. Be authentic

Ideas for Large Companies: Employee Appreciation Day & Beyond

Offer Some Sweet SWAG

Most employees are proud of their company brand and like to show it.  What better way to connect them to company pride than to give them branded apparel and merchandise. Better yet give them the opportunity to choose between several types of SWAG. One employee may like a duffel bag whereas another may want a nice fleece hoodie.

Ramp Up Some Friendly Competition

Do you use a peer to peer recognition points program?  Use the points that employees are racking up from their peers, to award the highest earners with sweet prizes. You could also do a monthly or quarterly drawing for special rewards as well.

Team up for Team Building

For Employee Appreciation Day or another day of your choosing, increase team bonding by arranging a trip to a local entertainment place like golfing etc.. or a day of fun activities where the entire day’s theme is employee appreciation.

Play Up Good Performance

Set up a culture of expectation and employee stardom by rewarding your top performers with special gifts of their choosing.

Give to a Good Cause

Give to a charity of the employee’s choice. This method is especially effective for millennials. Reports show millennials feel deeply connected to a sense of purpose & goodwill.

Contribute to their Development

Acknowledge their strengths and invest in making them better. Maybe there is a class or conference that helps to hone their skills coming up? Employees will feel more appreciated if they see that you contribute to their career development.

Give them Someone to Look Up to

Pair newer employees with more seasoned employees for a mentoring program. Research shows a strong bond between coworkers helps to increase employee engagement. This will also help to foster an empowering collaborative culture.

Spice up their day with Good Ole’ Fashioned Fun

Have everyone bring in their favorite board game and make it a board game, food-filled day.

Re-create Unique Experiences

You’re a work family. Take a break and do some things that families do together. Let your employees share their creativity with one another by hosting a lunch where everyone brings their favorite dishes including famous family desserts.

Have a Show & Tell Talent Show

Employees like to be recognized for the good work they do, but they also want to be appreciated for their unique talents. For Employee Appreciation Day let them show off their skills. At the end of the show award prizes to the winners.

Put Together a Special Coupon Book

Everyone loves a good deal. Create a list of things your employees have shared with you that they like and create a mini coupon book out of their ideas. Some coupons you could include are: days off, work from home days and free lunch coupons.

Let Them Bring in Fido for a Day

If your workplace culture allows, you could have a day where pets are allowed. Studies have shown that dogs have been known to reduce anxiety in workplace environments. This also could fit in with your wellness program initiatives promoting good mental health among employees.

Have a Bake Sale

Have employees bring in their favorite sweets individually wrapped/sliced to offer to their co-workers at a small fee and donate the funds to your charity of choice.

 Host an Employee Breakfast or Snack Time

Bring in foods that appeal to everyone and set up in a centralized location to offer bagels, donuts, or go all out for a full-fledged sausage, pancake breakfast served up by Senior Leadership.  Great way to make employees feel appreciated by upper management.

Makeup Something Pinteresting    

If you’re looking for some fun employee appreciation ideas you can do in bulk, check out Pinterest boards for inspiration. There so many cute and inexpensive small gifts you can easily put together for your team.

No matter what you decide to do to celebrate how awesome your employees are, have fun. We hope you have a great Employee Appreciation Day and that this list will help you to give more consistent recognition. If you’re looking for more employee appreciation and recognition ideas, be sure to sign up for our newsletter and check out our other blog articles. If we can help you come up with ideas to boost your recognition program, we would love to help.