10 Fun And Innovative Ideas For Employee Appreciation Day 2017

by Kylee Stone Mar 1,2017
Engagedly
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The People Strategy Leaders Podcast

with Srikant Chellappa, CEO

Employee appreciation day is fast approaching! It is just two days away (March 3, Friday). Have you planned anything for your employees? If not, this article is just for you (well, almost).

Also Read : Last Minute Employee appreciation Ideas

Although you might think that this article is quite similar to the above mentioned article, we have something new for you this time. We got more innovative and funny (at least we thought we did!).

We at Engagedly, have done a considerable amount of research this time and applied it in our own workplace before selling these ideas to you. Realizing the fact that not every company has a high budget for employee appreciation day, we have made two lists of ideas for employee appreciation.

The Budget-Friendly Ideas

 

1. An Afternoon Trip To The Movies

You don’t need to plan this one weeks ahead and decide on organizing the trip, like back in schools. Just casually walk into the office and surprise your employees with free tickets to a movie (Join’em at the movies). Also give them coupons for popcorn or some munch-on’s at the movies. (The popcorn coupons thing worked really well for us at Engagedly!)

2. Gift To Everyone

Well, you need to plan this one a little ahead, probably like two or three days earlier. Choose one from various affordable employee gifts available online or in stores and give one gift each to every employee.

This is another way to surprise your employees. Finding a gift lying on their desks as a sign of appreciation from their manager is the best way for employees to stay motivated throughout the day.

3. Hand-Written Cards

Hand written cards can work wonders. Again, not much planning is needed. You can also do it after coming to your office on the very same day. All you need is a bunch of empty cards, a pen and a heart filled with gratitude.

Employees feel appreciated personally and this small act can go a long way. Write why each one of your employees is special for you and how much you appreciate their efforts and contributions to your organization.

4. Food Is Everyone’s Friend

Who doesn’t love food? Especially, when it’s free!

Throw a pizza party or organize a buffet at your office and make your employees feel like special cupcakes. Lunch with colleagues will make them feel engaged and give them a break from their daily work routine.

5. Wall Of Fame

This one’s gonna need a little effort. You have to keep track of the smallest accomplishments of each of your employees. Well, that’s not practically possible, but you have Engagedly with you, don’t you?

Click to know how Engagedly can help you keep track of your employees’ accomplishments

Make a wall of fame in your office and list the names of all your employees and write about how their efforts contributed to your organizational success. This will be an entertaining and motivating way for your employees to be appreciated on employee appreciation day.

P.S: The wall of fame can be an ongoing employee engagement activity throughout the year.

The Not So Budget-Friendly But CREATIVE Ideas

 

6. Wheel Of Gifts

Well, this is new and puts your creative brain cells to work (You need to do some serious shopping and excercise your creativity when choosing the gifts).

Create a Wheel with list of gifts written on it and have your employees spin it and choose their gift for the day. This is going to be a fun and engaging activity for employee appreciation day!

7. Charitable Projects

This requires a slightly higher budget and research. Find out if your employees would like to support a cause and make a donation on their behalf and make them feel appreciated for being able to make a difference by donating to the cause.

You can also take them out to participate and actively volunteer for a cause. This will be your little employee engagement activity as well as an employee appreciation idea.

8. Video Games

You can set up video games for a day in your office and encourage your staff to participate. It would be more entertaining if the video games involve multiple players.

Employees can compete against each other and have fun. Another thing that you can do is make multiple teams and set time slots for every player and have a contest where you award the winning team.

9. Stand Up Comedy Day

How long has it been that you have laughed so hard with your colleagues that you cried? Well, now it’s the time to do it again. Hire a local stand-up comedian to entertain your staff for the day and have them share jokes themselves.

Remember that there’s no best medicine than laughter. Laugh Out Loud (LOL) !

10. Gift Cards

When you feel that giving cash bonuses to your employees will lack the emotion behind the very idea of appreciation, gift cards are the best! You will also be saved from the whole gift buying process.

Just set a limit and give gift cards to your employees. There are many places out there that accept these gift cards and employees can also use the gift cards to make purchases online. You can know more about creative ways for presenting gift cards here.


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Kylee Stone

Kylee Stone supports the professional services team as a CX intern and psychology SME. She leverages her innate creativity with extensive background in psychology to support client experience and organizational functions. Kylee is completing her master’s degree in Industrial-Organizational psychology at the University of Missouri Science and Technology emphasizing in Applied workplace psychology and Statistical Methods.

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