Ahead of the most popular birth months in the United States – August and September – Snappy surveyed more than 1,500 Americans to understand current trends and preferences in birthday celebrations. Unwrapped: Snappy’s 2023 Birthday Gifting and Celebrations Study explores how Americans are thinking about, anticipating, and actually prefer celebrating their annual day of birth, both among personal friends and family, as well as professional colleagues.
Birthday celebrations are a great time for companies to connect with and acknowledge their employees to drive engagement, boost morale, and encourage meaningful employee retention. Two out of 3 working Americans (67.5%) agree that “if I received a birthday gift from my employer, I would be more likely to have improved job satisfaction.” When employees receive birthday gifts from their employer, they report “morale would be higher in the workplace” (80.8%), as would employee retention (74.6%).
Do’s and Don’ts of Celebrating Employee Birthdays
DO: Mark your calendars
The first step to celebrating a birthday is by remembering it. According to the study, two of the top ways Americans report remembering birthdays is through their natural memory (48.5%) and digital calendars, such as Google Calendar or the Apple calendar app (34.7%).
Nearly 1 in 5 Americans (16.8%) admit “I usually forget people’s birthdays” and more than half of all Americans (55.5%) agree, when people forget about or do not acknowledge their birthdays it makes them sad.
As part of your onboarding process, be sure to collect employee’s birth date and month and put it on a digital calendar or set up seamlessly integrated HRIS automations so you never forget to acknowledge their special day! This small gesture goes a long way in building trust and making employees feel valued, as well as setting HR teams up for success in future birthday celebrations and gifting opportunities.
DO: Figure out personal preferences in acknowledgment, and respect those preferences
While most Americans enjoy celebrating their birthdays in general, when it comes to celebrating at work they say they prefer recognizing coworkers' birthdays more than their own (91.8%).
Two out of 3 American workers (67.1%) report they would prefer their birthday moments at work be done through private acknowledgment such as sharing a gift, personal message, or card, versus a company-wide announcement or celebration. The desire for private acknowledgment is in line with the study finding that the majority (58.4%) of Americans do not enjoy when others – friends, family, coworkers, or anyone in between – sing the “Happy Birthday” song to them.
When figuring out the best way to acknowledge and celebrate birthdays in your organization, figure out personal employee preferences. Have a plan to give employees the option to opt out of birthday celebrations, if that is what they prefer. This can be built into your onboarding process. Respecting employees' wishes regarding birthday celebrations can demonstrate that the company values and respects their personal preferences and boundaries, creating a safe work environment where employees feel heard and respected.
DON’T: Forget about remote employees
Remote team members are an important part of your workforce and company culture. Don’t leave them out when it comes to birthday celebrations of others and for themselves.
You can be sure to always involve remote employees when you celebrate other team members birthdays by including them on any calendar invites with a video conferencing link to join in on the fun, as well as offering to add hand written well-wishes to a card for an in-person birthday celebrations they’re unable to attend.
When it’s your remote teammates birthday, be sure to celebrate by sending personalized messages, such as an e-card, email, or video message wishing them a happy birthday. Send a gift with Snappy so they know you recognize and appreciate them. Organize a virtual celebration so others can wish them a happy birthday and celebrate their day!
DON’T: Gift everyone the same thing
Birthday celebrations and acknowledgements should feel as special as the team member you’re celebrating. Companies are generous when it comes to celebrating employee birthdays, with 3 in 4 working Americans (76.8%) reporting they receive a gift from an employer on their birthday each year. Beyond just gifting employees, it’s important to make each gift experience unique.
When you send a birthday gift with Snappy you empower each of your employees to choose a single gift from an expertly-curated collection of amazing options that perfectly reflects their personal interests, hobbies, or needs at that time.
How to send gifts with Snappy
Set up in seconds… Get set up quickly and start spreading joy through the power of gifting. Birthdays, anniversaries, job well done, just because – Once you have a celebratory moment in mind, you can start to explore the right gift collections to send.
Choose your country for delivery and set a budget. Snappy sends gifts to more than 30 countries around the globe – don’t let distance deter your gratitude. Never spend more than you planned. Set your budget and select high-quality gift options that match your price point.
Find the perfect gift collection and then customize.. Select a collection of gift options & your recipient chooses their gift. Then, share a thoughtful, custom message and a digital unwrapping experience that is sure to delight!
Sending to the right gift recipients. Snappy makes it simple upload info for all your gift recipients and create special rules for your campaign so everything is delivered perfectly! No address required, just an email or phone number is needed!
Make their day! Sit back, relax, and enjoy those warm-fuzzy feelings knowing you’re sparking joy through the power of giting! Your recipients will be instantly notified and can pick any gift from the unique collection you’ve shared with them. Hooray!
Looking for more data on how birthday gifting impacts relationships with your employees? Dive into our complete 2023 Birthday Study, available here.
Start sending meaningful gifts today...
Looking to send meaningful birthday gifts to your employees and clients? Get in touch at Snappy.com/demo.
Want to start sharing delightful gifting experiences with all your personal friends, family and loved ones, check out SnappyGifts.com.
