Welcome to our comprehensive guide on workplace celebrations, contests, and fun!
In today’s fast-paced work environment, it is more important than ever to create a positive and engaging atmosphere. A workplace that fosters team spirit and boosts employee morale. At gThankYou!, we understand the significance of workplace celebrations and the impact they have on employee satisfaction and productivity. Below, are samples of topics we will explore that focus on the power of workplace celebrations, contests, and fun activities, and how they contribute to a thriving work culture.
Mentors and Trainers: The Unsung Heroes
As we celebrate teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week, it is crucial to recognize the mentors and trainers in the workplace who play a vital role in employee development. That is, these unsung heroes deserve recognition for their exceptional contributions to employee growth through coaching, mentoring, and training programs. Their guidance and support foster learning and professional development, ultimately leading to a more skilled and engaged workforce.
Celebrating Administrative Professionals
Administrative professionals are the backbone of any organization, handling a wide range of tasks to ensure smooth operations. They manage schedules, handle customer service, and provide crucial support to employees. Take the opportunity to show appreciation for their hard work and dedication on Administrative Professionals Day. Plan special activities or surprise treats to make them feel valued and celebrated for their contributions to the organization’s success.
Embracing Earth Day at Work
Earth Day provides a great opportunity to raise awareness about environmental sustainability and encourage eco-friendly practices in the workplace. By organizing events like tree planting, recycling drives, or educational sessions on conservation, you can celebrate Earth Day and demonstrate your commitment to a greener future. Engaging employees in environmentally friendly initiatives not only benefits the planet but also fosters a sense of collective responsibility and pride within the organization.
Easter Employee Appreciation
Easter marks the arrival of spring and is a time of renewal and gratitude. Regardless of religious affiliations, Easter can be a wonderful occasion to appreciate employees for their hard work and contributions. Consider organizing activities like an Easter egg hunt or providing small treats to create a festive and appreciative atmosphere. By recognizing and celebrating your employees during this holiday, you reinforce their value and create a sense of camaraderie within the workplace.
Celebrating National Nurses Week
Nurses play a crucial role in healthcare and deserve recognition for their hard work and dedication. National Nurses Week provides an opportunity to show appreciation for the extraordinary contributions of nurses. Plan special events, provide small tokens of appreciation, or organize a thank-you luncheon to honor these healthcare heroes. By acknowledging their efforts and dedication, you demonstrate your support for the nursing profession and create a culture of gratitude within your organization.
By embracing workplace celebrations, contests, and fun activities, you create a positive work environment that enhances employee engagement, teamwork, and overall satisfaction. At gThankYou!, we believe in the power of celebrating achievements, recognizing employees’ efforts, and fostering a sense of camaraderie. Join us in creating a vibrant and joyful workplace where employees thrive and feel appreciated.
Teacher Appreciation Week is coming up May 8 – May 12. It can be argued that teachers are the most hardworking group of people on the planet. We think they deserve to be celebrated all year long. Thank you, teachers! Be sure to send your kids to school with handwritten thank you notes. (Teachers love them!)
Mentors and Trainers are Teachers, Too!
As we honor the teachers who educate our children, we should also show gratitude for those who teach in the workplace. Trainers and mentors should be celebrated for their critical roles, too.
According to the Association for Talent Development (ATD), “Training is one specific and common form of employee development; other forms include coaching, mentoring, informal learning, self-directed learning, or experimental learning.” (more…)
Administrative professionals play a vital role in the success of any organization. These key team members are at the heart of everything. Take the time to shower them with appreciation for all they do to keep the engine running.
Administrative staff are responsible for a wide range of tasks, from managing schedules and calendars to handling customer service and providing support to employees. Without administrative professionals, businesses would not be able to function smoothly.
Here are some ways to celebrate the work of administrative professionals: (more…)
Earth Day is a great opportunity to celebrate the planet and take action to protect it. Whether or not sustainability is a core pillar of your business, sharing ways to care for the Earth is a wonderful message for employees.
Celebrate Earth Day at work. Here are a few ideas:
Host an Earth Day event. This could be anything from a potluck lunch to a tree planting ceremony. Get your employees involved in planning and organizing the event, and make sure to promote it to the community.
Encourage employees to take public transportation or carpool to work. You can offer incentives, such as a free parking day or a gift card to a local business, for employees who choose to take alternative transportation.
Not sure you should celebrate Easter in the workplace? Read on and learn why you should and how to take advantage of the joy of the arrival of spring and Easter to celebrate.
If you’re planning ahead, it’s time to think about Easter! This year, it falls on Sunday, April 9.
Sharing Easter employee appreciation is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate colleagues regardless of employee religious affiliation; it marks the beginning of spring and celebrates the joy, hopeand gratitudethat come with the changing seasons.
Two of our favorite events are coming up and we want to help you celebrate: Employee Appreciation Day and Pi Day! You still have time to rev up the fun engine and plan ahead for these excellent opportunities to recognize employees.
EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION DAY (MARCH 3)
Let the tone of appreciation ring loud and clear! Celebrate with a team activity and message of gratitude, or use the occasion to kick off a new appreciation program.
Did You Know that January is National Thank You Month?
The holidays are an excellent time to give and receive, but January is the time to slow down and say THANK YOU! January is National Thank You Month and is the perfect time to invest in new activities to nurture gratitude and kindness in the coming year.
We’d like to revisit 5 ways to embrace gratitude in life and the workplace, setting the stage for a year full of thankful habits.
We thought it would be a jolly ol’ time to round up some lists of top favorite Christmas foods, music and movies surrounding the holiday from a variety of creative sources. Enjoy and share!
We are so grateful for our family, friends, employees, customers and partners. Thank you for your support all year round! Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
Will employees at your company be spending Thanksgiving at work? If so, bring the gratitude (and treats) and make it a workplace celebration they’ll appreciate!
Spending the holiday at work isn’t where most of us want to be for this traditional at-home celebration. But with the right attitude and activities, sharing Thanksgiving with colleagues is an opportunity to highlight workplace gratitude and celebrate your work family.
If your company has employees spending Thanksgiving in the office, (more…)
According to the National Retail Federation, 69% of consumers plan to celebrate Halloween this year. People love getting into costume, putting up scary decorations, and sharing their favorite treats. With interest like this, Halloween is the perfect opportunity to bring your workplace together for a holiday celebration.
Download gThankYou’s “Halloween Team Building Guide” — a one-page PDF that highlights 20 time-tested exercises, games and activities for Halloween team building to help you engage your staff in a meaningful celebration. (more…)
Our New Enclosure Card designs are the perfect way to add a special note of “Thanks!” with your gThankYou! Gift Certificates. Select your favorite from dozens of design choices and include the thoughtful message already included or write your own personalized message of gratitude.
Our cards are FREE with your purchase of any gThankYou! Gift Certificates. We’ll even customize the cards for you! Include a personal message, signature, and even your company logo – free of charge. (more…)
Celebrated every Sept. 21, World Gratitude Day was started by the United Nations more than 50 years ago. It’s also known as the International Day of Peace.
In the workplace, World Gratitude Day is for celebrating the power of “Thank You” — from company leaders to employees, between coworkers, from employees to customers and, ultimately, as a building block for a culture of gratitude.
Numerous studies and business cases have shown the benefits of gratitude and the ill effects of a lack of gratitude — job dissatisfaction, turnover, absenteeism, burnout, gossip, negativity and exploitation. (more…)
Some of the most effective, easy ways to thank employees can be done on the fly, or with just a few days’ notice – just remember to keep the message of gratitude in mind!
Try it! You have your chance coming up with a holiday that’s easy to celebrate in the workplace: the 4th of July.
Independence Day has themes that bring people together — patriotism, community, family — plus it has traditions everyone loves: fireworks and sparklers, parades, neighborhood barbecues and events for kids. (more…)
Everyone loves this time of year — wrapping up school, planting flowers, planning summer trips and simply enjoying the outdoors. The last few summers weren’t as carefree, so we want to help YOU make summertime at work FUN again! Here are some creative ideas from our 2022 Day-to-Day Employee Celebration Calendar to help.
Top 10 Ways to Make Summertime at Work Special Again:
Celebrate LGBTQ+ Month with free flags and T-shirts for employees.
Host an ice cream or food truck once a week.
Present employees with a summer-themed gratitude journal.
Host a family day at a local park with food, games, and music.
Rent out a public pool or amusement park.
Organize a few morning walks with leadership — exercise AND good one-on-one time.
Have a summer reading program with incentives at the end of the summer. Remember that? Everyone loves to read for a personal pizza! Bonus points for books on business, leadership, and personal development.
So why aren’t nurses feeling the appreciation?
One major factor could be the overall lack of employee recognition across all industries. General respect and trust for a profession doesn’t automatically translate into concrete acts of appreciation. (more…)
It’s almost spring and Easter will be here soon! Now’s the time to start your Easter employee appreciation planning.
Why thank employees at Easter?
Besides being a widely celebrated family occasion, it’s a springtime holiday with cultural, non-religious traditions that appeal to everyone.
Easter employee appreciation is a great idea, regardless of employee religious affiliation, because it generally marks the beginning of spring and the sense of renewal and gratitude that accompany the new season.
And, as is often the case, Easter coincides with Passover.
In a diverse workplace where the majority of employees may not be Christian, focus on the secular aspects of Easter. Put employee accomplishments and community first!
Read on for five reasons to include Easter employee appreciation in your spring planning this year. (more…)
Thanksgiving is a time of gratitude and celebrating traditions. Turkey has long-been the traditional centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal, making it the symbol of the holiday, gratitude for the bounty of the meal, shared history and family and friends.
While every group or family is different, there is something special about time together, gathering around the table, and enjoying each other’s company at the holidays. At gThankYou, we are passionate about what we do because it provides employers a way to celebrate team members in a way that honors gratitude and tradition.
A Thanksgiving turkey gift is so meaningful, it positively impacts both giver and recipient. You may not know this, but turkey gift-giving has been a workplace tradition for over a century. (more…)
Last year, workplace Halloween festivities took place virtually. Despite the distance — and perhaps the initial awkwardness of dressing up for a Zoom party — events everywhere were successful! Halloween is a favorite holiday for many, offering an opportunity to tap into creativity and kid-like behaviors (candy binge, anyone?). In our current environment, everyone appreciates a chance to relax and have fun at work.
In this new world of work, Halloween may continue to be a hybrid event. Some workplaces will resume all-things-Halloween, with elaborate decorations, cutthroat costume contests and sugar-laden parties. Others are still remote, but with full intentions of celebrating. Either way, the options to have Halloween fun are endless. (more…)
Celebrating Thanksgiving in the workplace is an appreciated and valuable way of showing gratitude to employees. (Photo via Satya Murthy, Flickr)
Celebrating Thanksgiving in the workplace is an appreciated and valuable way of showing gratitude to employees. Don’t miss out this year!
SHRM calls Thanksgiving workplace celebrations an “incredible tool” for managers.
A business veteran and author quoted by SHRM says that “in so many organizations, employees go through their days assuming that their co-workers, and especially their bosses, don’t notice or appreciate all of the hard work that they do.” (more…)
There isn’t just one recipe for success when it comes to employee recognition; there are many thoughtful ways to acknowledge employees’ dedication. Leaders who take the time and energy to show employee gratitude year-round end up with happier team members and a more enjoyable workplace. Below are some ways to show Spring gratitude!
We couldn’t agree more with this recent Forbes article that states, “Never underestimate the power of ‘thank you.’ Everyone wants to feel recognized and appreciated, so encourage employees to thank the people around them, including their colleagues, senior leaders, and employers, on a regular basis, year-round.”
There’s another way to frame a Valentine’s Day workplace celebration besides romance. It’s a celebration of workplace friendships! (Photo by Tyler Burrus, Flickr)
Planning a Valentine’s Day workplace celebration may seem like a tricky proposition at first glance — drawing attention to romance, among coworkers? That’s an HR headache waiting to happen!
But there’s another way to frame a Valentine’s Day workplace celebration: as a celebration of workplace friendships and the strong bonds that develop between people who work closely together. (more…)
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About the Blog: The gThankYou! Team believes happiness and engagement are key ingredients to a successful workplace. That's why we give workplace leaders advice and insights to build a culture of gratitude. We invite you to explore our blog and discover ways to celebrate and build successful workplaces.
About gThankYou: gThankYou is a leader in easy, affordable and meaningful employee gifts. We are best known for America’s favorite Turkey Gift Certificates and Turkey Or Ham Gift Certificates which are redeemed for any Brand, at virtually any Grocery Store in the U.S. To learn more about gThankYou Gift Certificates watch the video on the right.
