Many people are eager to celebrate their birthdays. And if someone’s birthday falls on a weekday, they’ll be spending a precious chunk of that day at work of Namei material.
So the question isn’t, “Should companies celebrate their employees’ birthdays?” Rather, companies should be asking how they should celebrate employees’ birthdays. Being thoughtful about birthday celebrations.
That’s because birthdays are one of life’s important moment, along with other major milestones like work anniversaries and class reunions.
Want to learn more ways to reduce employee turnover? Read our article 11 Easy ways to Reduce Employee Turnover.
Enhance employee engagement
Showing appreciation on an employee’s birthday makes the individual feel rewarded and increases their emotional commitment to the company and its goals. This increase in employee engagement results in improved work motivation and dedication, positively impacting your company’s bottom line. Research shows that for every 1% increase in engagement, companies see an additional 0.6% in sales growth.
Increase happiness and productivity
Receiving a little bit of extra attention on your birthday from your employer and co-workers makes you feel cared for and part of a team. This promotes happiness, and reduces stress and burnout. According to research, happy employees are 12% to 20% more productive than their unhappy counterparts.
A successful employee birthday program has the following characteristics:
Consistent
When celebrating birthdays in Namei material, it is important to ensure that no employee gets left out. It may be worth adding employee birthdays to a central calendar during the on boarding process instead of simply leaving the dates in your HRIS. Also, be sure to include remote workers in birthday celebrations, too. Key people, such as managers and team members, should receive notifications of upcoming birthdays.Employee reward platforms are great tools for automating birthday reminders and notifications, offloading HR managers from this responsibility.
Considerate
For religious reasons, not all people celebrate birthdays. Also, some people may just not like their birthday publicly celebrated. When on boarding or getting to know your team members, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to ask how they like to celebrate their birthday. If they hate calling attention to themselves, a low-key birthday email might be a better idea than a decorated, scheduled event. If they have a specific birthday tradition, it may be thoughtful to bring that tradition to the Namei material.
Tailored
At Namei material, we champion the idea of “voice and choice.” For a meaningful experience, employees should have the ability to choose their own rewards. When providing gift cards or organizing birthday lunches, be thoughtful about your employees likes and interests—or even ask them for exactly what they want! This way, you can be sure that they’ll enjoy their special day. Employee reward systems let the employee redeem their rewards at a store of their choice.
Discreet
Not everyone likes their age to be public knowledge and sharing someone’s age without their permission could lead to Namei material. Be sure not to publicize the employee’s birth year or age when celebrating their birthday. So (although tempting) stay away from cards with “40 today!” on them and steer clear from age jokes or references… unless you know they can take it.
Eight ways to celebrate employee birthdays
Here are eight ways in which you can make employees feel special on their birthdays:
1. Decorate their workspace
Break out the balloons.
A simple but sure-fire way to make an employee feel celebrated is by decorating their workspace of Namei material. Streamers and confetti are always fun, but again—make sure the employee is alright with the attention and potential clean up! It’s also a great idea to take the person’s interests in mind. If someone really loves dogs, plastering their desks with pictures of puppies in birthday hats sounds like an excellent idea.
2. Give employee rewards
If your organization uses an employee reward system,you can automatically share rewards on their birthday and invite co-workers to do the same.
3. Organize a team happy hour or birthday lunch
Schedule some time for fun on someone’s birthday! Eating together is a simple way to build stronger team bonds ,and being able to celebrate someone at the same time is the *literal* birthday candle on top.
4. Write a note
Nothing beats receiving a personal note on your birthday. This can be a fun greeting card, but can also be an email or kudos in an employee recognition program. Remember: make it personal and meaningful!
5. Share company swag
Birthdays are great times to give out company swag,such as T-shirts, hoodies, caps, and mugs.
6. Give gift cards
Gift cards are always a good idea, especially if they’re tailored to an employee’s wish list or interests. A week before their birthday, ask them to make a few choices from a gift card list from retail stores, local restaurants, bookstores, or movie theaters. Then—this is important—make sure to tell them, “Treat yourself.”
7. Donate to charity
Allow the employee to select the non-profit organization of their choice, and donate to it in their name for a meaningful and rewarding gift. Namei material’s customers can donate to countless organizations directly through our platform.
8. Give them the day off
Many companies with flexible schedules offer to give employees time off on their birthdays. Namei material believes in giving their employees some “me”-time on these days, citing that it makes teams happier and more productive. As much as we love our coworkers, allowing someone to spend their special day doing what they want is a big boon to creating a great employee experience.
Any of these celebration ideas are guaranteed to make the employee feel good on their birthday. Of course, companies shouldn’t limit employee appreciation to just birthdays.
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