Workplace Celebrations, Contests, Fun

Giving at Thanksgiving

The season of gratitude is coming up, and it’s an important time of year to make sure that each and every employee knows that you’re thankful for what they do. Whether you work in a small office where people wear a variety of hats or oversee a multi-site organization, the fact remains: PEOPLE make the business work. And an employee Thanksgiving gift is the perfect way to say thank you to the individuals who show up every day and give it their all. We certainly think that a Turkey Gift Certificate checks all the boxes.

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Are you looking for exciting Halloween contest ideas to liven up your workplace? There is still time to plan ahead and give your team tools to help them unleash creativity, foster teambuilding, and create a memorable experience.

With a record 179 million Americans expected to celebrate Halloween this year, you can take the lead by offering ideas like asking employees to submit creative Halloween themes for work and plan an event with that theme. Provide Halloween costume ideas for everyone in the office. Throw an office costume contest and your employees can enjoy festive energy and positive team dynamics.

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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.”
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Administrative Professionals Day is April 26.

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:
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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.

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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.

5 Ways to Embrace Workplace Gratitude Now

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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!

Top 5 Christmas Carols (New York Public Library)

While the list has 18, here are the top 5, according to the author.

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Photo by Brian Penny on Unsplash

Millions of Americans will work on Thanksgiving.

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…)

Photo by sheri silver on Unsplash

Halloween is one of America’s favorite holidays.

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…)

Today is World Gratitude Day!

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.

The scientific argument for gratitude in the workplace is strong and backed by rigorous research.

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.
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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! 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…)

Photo by Juja Han on Unsplash

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.

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Photo by Melissa Walker Horn, Unsplash

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.
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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.
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Photo credit: Bee Felten-Leidel, Unsplash

 
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.
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Celebrate Thanksgiving at work! It’s 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.”
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Celebrate Thanksgiving traditions, communal harmony and harvest bounty are common around the world. (Photo via Faith Goble, Flickr)

Did you know that our American Thanksgiving is just one of many gratitude-related Thanksgiving traditions celebrated around the world?
Traditions differ from country to country, but gratitude in action is cause for universal celebration.
The spirit and significance of giving thanks is the same wherever you go — with or without roast turkey and cranberry sauce. So what does giving thanks look like around the world?
Celebrations worldwide of “thanks-giving” share several elements, no matter what people are eating, wearing or singing. We all honor:

• harvest bounty
• communal harmony
• gratitude in action

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Share Your Workplace Love with Donuts!

Friday, June 1st is National Donut Day and a perfect opportunity to celebrate colleagues with a donut, coffee (and maybe a side of fruit)!
Donuts are a time-honored workplace treat, so it’s fun to have an excuse to pick up a box for the office. After all, they’ve been a sign of appreciation since at least World War I!

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