Employee Appreciation Day Ideas Your Team Will Love

Employee Appreciation Day is an excellent opportunity you can use to show your workforce how much you value their presence and services. When you appreciate your employees, they become more productive and find fewer reasons for leaving. Companies that recognize their employees have a higher employee retention rate and better engagement with the workers, among several other benefits. Hence, the best time to start putting the recognition ideas into practice is during Employee Appreciation Day.

Below, please find ways you can use to thrill your workforce and keep them motivated during the Employee Appreciation Day and beyond:

Let the Organization Leaders Express Verbally Express Gratitude to Employees

Most employees appreciate recognition more when it comes from their leaders. Many of them remember recognition from their managers more than they do from other leaders such as departmental heads or supervisors. Let your senior leaders appreciate the employees for their services in the organization during the next meeting.

It could also be a great idea to encourage the managers to send appreciation notes or messages to all employees. You could also host an in-person or virtual lunch for all team members to spend time together as they celebrate their achievements.

Sponsor Your Workers for Fun Activities

Choose activities that your employees love and treat them to an in-person or virtual outing. If you have a team that enjoys competitions, consider hosting a trivia game night. If your employees love collaboration, you may also opt for cooking lessons, escape rooms, or scavenger hunts.

The activities you choose for the day or night should create enriching connections in all departments. Incorporate ideas to make the day memorable and give rewards to make the team feel appreciated. You can combine workers from different departments to form a team and prepare prizes for teams with strong collaboration.

Reward Your Employees

You can appreciate your team using different items such as gift cards, crystal trophies, branded water bottles, t-shirts, and notebooks, among many others. You can give a crystal trophy to celebrate employees who have achieved exceptional milestones and results. You may also reward your team using a unique gift that provides it with a memorable experience. It may be something the employees will do together, like taking them out to their favorite restaurant for a treat or paying for a spa treatment for them, among others.

Spend Time Cooking Together and Getting Creative

These days, virtual working makes employees feel disconnected from their workmates and managers. They no longer have meaningful conversations with their coworkers during coffee and lunch breaks. During the National Employee Appreciation Day, plan a virtual cooking class where your team will connect, converse and spend time virtually. You may hire a chef for the lessons or let one employee teach others how to prepare their favorite meal.

You can also plan an in-person cooking activity and different pair teams where they can prepare different recipes as they spend time together and have fun. It would also be a brilliant idea to plan a happy hour where the employees will showcase their passions, hobbies, and interests, such as creating art pieces.

Give Your Employees a Day Off

Surprise your employees by giving them a day off and consider more off days throughout the year. It can help prevent burnout, improve productivity, and provide motivation and job satisfaction for extended durations. The employees can use the off day to concentrate on personal matters, have time with family and friends, and have the much-needed change of spending time away from the office. Ensure to communicate with the team about the off day for everyone to take it. During the off day, let the employees spend time on other things that aren’t related to work.

Send Mails to Employees at Home

It could be a delightful experience for employees to get mail when everyone uses digital communication at home. During Employee Appreciation Day, you may send packages to your team that contains some fun gifts such as chocolate, and branded socks, among others. If you don’t have enough finances to give the whole team, consider choosing one employee who has a wellness talent and is willing to share with the other workers as a way of appreciation from the organization.

Employee Appreciation Day is an amazing opportunity to appreciate your employees for their different achievements in the organization. The above are six suggestions you can choose to appreciate your team.