Work anniversaries are big accomplishments and well worth celebrating, requiring loyalty, perseverance, and expertise on the part of the employee. That's why work anniversaries are an important occasion to celebrate your employees.
From congratulating them on a significant milestone and reiterating how much you value their ongoing involvement with your organization - wishing your employees a happy work anniversary is a small but significant form of employee appreciation.
Acknowledging work anniversaries is valuable for your business
If you're not already in the practice of making special gestures in honor of work anniversaries, now is the time to start.
By celebrating an employee's work anniversary, you are reminding your employees what they love about your company, showing them appreciation, and encouraging them to continue working with you for years to come.
There are a number of important benefits to celebrating work anniversaries, including:
Showing your appreciation Celebrating a work anniversary demonstrates that you value an employee and believe they are an essential part of your organization, increasing their motivation and morale.
Contributing to positive company culture Work anniversary celebrations affect more than just the individual employee whose anniversary it is. They also help you build a positive, appreciative company culture offering an excellent employee experience.
Helps encourage loyalty In celebrating longer tenure with your company, you are giving employees positive reinforcement to stay at the organization for that much longer.
Builds your employer brand Want to attract top talent? Potential applicants are certain to be impressed by your commitment to celebrating your employees with meaningful rewards and gestures of recognition.
What is the best way to show your employees your appreciation during work anniversaries? We're here to help you out with nine creative ideas sure to make anybody's day special.
Work anniversary ideas
Work anniversary celebrations can range significantly, from a quick word of congratulations in the break room to a much larger and more involved gesture. Below, we share nine ideas for meaningful and memorable ways that you can celebrate a work anniversary.
Give a workiversary gift
A classic way to celebrate anniversaries of every kind is to show appreciation with a gift, and for good reason. A thoughtful gift is a lasting way to express your feelings of gratitude, remaining a perpetual reminder to the recipient of the occasion the gift was given in honor of.
When giving a great gift, it's important to keep things personal, as 85% of people say that suitability is one of the biggest factors determining the perfect gift.
Thankfully, giving meaningful gifts to celebrate a work anniversary is simple. With Snappy for example, you can allow employees to choose from a selection of popular gift options, ensuring they'll be delighted by what they receive. Not only that, with our HR integrations, you can fully automate anniversary gift sends from your employee's first day of work, making sure their anniversary gifts always arrive exactly on time.
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Send a shout-out on the company channel
When it comes to rewards, public recognition has a huge impact as one of the two work-related benefits most likely to make employees feel loved at work.
A great way to recognize an employee in front of the entire organization - even if your workforce is too large to fit into the same room - is to send a happy workiversary shout-out on the company channel.
In addition to the basic information about the employee's name, role, and how many years they're celebrating, consider including a genuine, personalized note about your gratitude for the employee's loyalty to your company, mentioning any notable accomplishments that you want to recognize.
Bring treats, or send them
To maximize the fun of a work anniversary celebration, special treats are always a great idea.
Some ideas for successful office work anniversary treats include allowing the employee you're celebrating to choose the office treats for that day or weekly happy hour.
If your employee is working remotely, you can still treat them to something sweet. By sending them Snappy's sweets collection, they'll be able to choose their favorite treat out of a wide selection of carefully curated items by our gifting experts.
Take the team out to lunch
Another great way to celebrate a happy work anniversary is to take the employee and their team out for a team lunch.
This intimate setting is perfect for giving personal speeches and toasting the honoree. And that's not to mention that it kills two birds with one stone by doubling as a team-building opportunity, helping to nurture relationships and bring people closer to one another. And there's real value in that, with 46% of work professionals worldwide believing that work friends are important to their overall happiness.
Decorate their desk
Want to surprise your employee with a meaningful gesture that's sure to put a smile on their face? Get creative and decorate their desk for them before they come to work so they'll be greeted with a happy surprise as they walk in.
Hanging a "happy anniversary" banner is an obvious choice, but beyond that, you can let your imagination guide you, choosing decorations that you think they'll appreciate.
Some ideas include:
- Pinning up photos of the employee at work events over the years
- Writing notes with any notable accomplishments you want to congratulate them on, such as "4,000 customer calls answered!"
- Placing a gift on their desk
- Leaving behind a heartfelt greeting card or letter
- Blowing up colorful balloons
- Decorating with plants or flowers
What about remote employees? There is a solution for that as well. With no physical desk to decorate, fun ideas can include creating a Zoom background for the daily team meeting to celebrate the unique milestone.
Send a card
Greeting cards can function as something of a best-of-both-worlds celebration by giving an employee the opportunity to hear kind words from others without putting them at the center of attention in a public setting. If you know that the employee you're celebrating is on the shyer side, you may prefer to opt for this option rather than an office shout-out.
All it requires is for you to plan ahead with enough time to buy a (rather large) card and give anybody on the employee's team or in the office the opportunity to sign it before the day of their anniversary. You can have the card waiting on their desk as a surprise or give it to them directly with a gift or flowers, whatever you think they might most prefer.
Give a shout-out on social media
Suppose shyness is not a concern, and you know that the employee whose anniversary you are celebrating loves to be the center of attention. In that case, consider giving them the most public form of recognition out of all of these options: a shout-out on your organization's social media accounts.
Not only does this serve as that public recognition that many desire, but it also helps to build your employer brand by showing people outside your organization that you are a caring employer who recognizes its employees and celebrates work anniversaries.
Your social media shout-out can come in many forms, from a short tweet to a longer, heartfelt post on LinkedIn or Facebook to a photo or video on Instagram showing your employee smiling happily at their decorated desk, team lunch, or office party anniversary celebration.
Create a fun video
One final option for employers with more time to invest in a celebratory gesture (or an in-house video team with a little time to spare) is to create a video congratulating your employee on their anniversary.
Again, the exact execution of this gesture can vary widely depending on how creative you want to get and the amount of time you have to invest. From using an online drag-and-drop video editor to recording and cutting together team members congratulating the employee you're celebrating, you should be able to find a video option that works for your budget, skill level, and timeline.
To many more years of happy work anniversaries
Celebrating work anniversaries is a must if you want to build a company culture characterized by employee happiness and recognition. Whichever of the above gestures you decide to try out, giving employees some extra gratitude and appreciation on a day as special as an anniversary will have a big impact, contributing to the employee experience and earning you a reputation as a great employer.
