Plan your workplace Thanksgiving celebration with gThankYou!

Thanksgiving isn’t just for families! A workplace Thanksgiving celebration is the perfect way to show appreciation for your team. (Photo via Satya Murthy, Flickr)

A workplace Thanksgiving celebration lets employees know how grateful you are for their hard work, at a time of year when gratitude is on everyone’s minds already.
Now’s the time to start planning.
Early planning for a workplace Thanksgiving celebration means that, come holiday-time, you and your management team will be able to focus on celebrating with employees.
And that’s key for any employee appreciation effort. Leadership needs to be present and engaged for a celebration to really work. Leaders set the tone.
If employees sense that company leaders don’t care, even the most dazzling party and generous gifts won’t matter.
“For supervisors, managers, business owners and other organization leaders, the Thanksgiving holiday is an excellent reminder to both remember and communicate the most valuable asset in your workplace — the people who work there,” according to Paul White, psychologist and workplace communication expert.

How a Workplace Thanksgiving Celebration Engages Employees

Thanking the people in your workplace at Thanksgiving isn’t just the nice thing to do.
Clearly communicated gratitude helps build an engaged workforce — a factor missing at many companies today. Gallup’s exhaustive research on employee engagement in recent years reveals that most employees worldwide are not engaged.
Two in three U.S. workers are disengaged.
Building sustainable workplace engagement is a complex, multifaceted undertaking, but one thing is sure: gratitude is the fastest, most reliable to engage people in the moment. And since gratitude is an emotion that spreads naturally — those who receive gratitude are likely to feel gratitude in return or to pass it on — it has amazing ROI.
As one gratitude expert tells SHRM: “Never forget that whatever you acknowledge positively will be repeated.”
Dan Finnigan, president and CEO of Jobvite, reflects in an Inc. column about the power of gratitude in his own workplace. The practice of expressing gratitude to employees is one shared by “all the great managers and executives out there”:

“One small thing I have done every Thanksgiving since first becoming a CEO in 1999 is send a note of thanks to everyone in the company, letting them know that I’m grateful to be working in such an exciting industry with such smart people like themselves, building a company together.
I’ve been told years later by former employees how much they appreciated that annual note. Again, sincere expressions of gratitude do not take too much time and effort, but are essential to organizational health.

Ultimately, sharing gratitude builds all four “key pillars” of employee engagement: connection, meaning, impact and appreciation.
“Employees want to feel connected to their colleagues and managers, to feel their work has meaning and impact on the company, and to be appreciated for the work they do,” according to an HR Dive analysis.

Download your free eBook, Put the Thanks in Thanksgiving

Download our ebook “How to Write a Thanksgiving Letter to Employees” for tips, real-life examples and more!

Building a strong company culture through gratitude has a major impact on employee experience. According to a YouEarnedIt survey, strong culture is more influential than physical environment or even the technology employees use to do their jobs — and your gratitude plays a big role in creating and strengthening that culture.

Turkey Gifts: Essential to Any Workplace Thanksgiving Celebration

What’s the perfect party favor to share at your annual workplace Thanksgiving celebration?
A turkey, of course! Your employee gratitude at Thanksgiving is communicated best with the gift of a turkey.
The Thanksgiving turkey is a traditional symbol of gratitude, the centerpiece to a meal celebrated by all Americans as a reminder to be grateful.
Even better (and easier!), share gThankYou! Turkey Gift Certificates. They’re the convenient way to give employees a meaningful turkey gift — without the headaches associated with storing and sharing a large quantity of bulky frozen birds.
gThankYou! Turkey Gift Certificates are good for any brand and any preparation of fresh or frozen turkey at virtually all grocery stores nationwide.
Need more reasons why turkey gifts are the perfect party favor for your workplace Thanksgiving celebration? Download gThankYou’s brochure “10 Reasons to Give Employees a Turkey for the Holidays,” or visit our new “Why Turkey?” page. Share with senior management and learn why giving the gift of a turkey to employees has been a popular workplace holiday gift for generations.

Download your free copy of "10 Reasons to Give Employees a Turkey for the Holidays"

About gThankYou, LLC

Turkey Gift Certificates, Ham Gift Certificates, and Turkey Or Ham Gift Certificates by gThankYou are America’s favorite employee gifts and can be redeemed for any brand (Turkey, Ham, or Turkey Or Ham), at virtually any grocery store in the U.S.
gThankYou, LLC provides company leaders with a variety of easy, meaningful and affordable ways to recognize and reward employees, holiday time or anytime. gThankYou! Certificates of Gratitude and our free Enclosure Cards are personalizable including incorporating your company logo. And, nearly all orders ship same day.

To learn more about gThankYou, watch our “About Us” Video and visit gThankYou today!

gThankYou, LLC (www.gthankyou.com) is based in Madison, Wisconsin. Contact: Rick Kiley, Chief ThankYou! Officer, gThankYou, LLC at info@gthankyou.com or 888-609-2234.
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“G” logo and “Certificates of Gratitude” are trademarks and “gThankYou” is a registered trademark of gThankYou, LLC.

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Gift Certificates

Learn More About gThankYou! Gift Certificates Download Our Free Guide Now!

How gThankYou Certificates Work

Step 1

Order Certificates

Choose the gThankYou Certificates you want and order them online or by telephone.

Step 2

Ship directly to your business

Your order is delivered by UPS. Nearly all orders ship the day received. Overnight shipping is available.

Step 3

Distribute to your employees

Personalize your gThankYou Certificates with Giver name or logo (both optional) and give them to employees.

Step 4

Redeem at any grocery store

Recipients redeem Certificates at major U.S. grocery stores and select the items they want.