Employee Appreciation Day is an excellent opportunity to boost employee engagement. Although it is essential to demonstrate employee appreciation year-round, having a dedicated Employee Appreciation Day shows staff they are valued while helping boost morale and camaraderie. An Employee Appreciation Day is suitable for staff parties, appreciation lunches or BBQs, employee recognition, and general rewards. However, with more remote and hybrid teams, organizing a fun Employee Appreciation Day is challenging.
Having hybrid and remote teams shouldn’t negate employee recognition. Although virtual teams face limited face-to-face interactions, there are several ways to recognize employees virtually. From organizing virtual events to sending digital rewards, use these three ideas to organize a fun and engaging virtual Employee Appreciation Day.
1. Coordinate Virtual Events for Virtual Teams
With employees working remotely, planning time for team building and bonding can be tricky. However, connection drives employee engagement, making virtual events a top priority for Employee Appreciation Day.
The first step to planning a successful virtual event is to ensure all your employees can attend. Try hosting work-related events during working hours to avoid forced involvement; just be sure to send calendar invites in advance to eliminate employees double-booking their time.
A successful virtual Employee Appreciation Day could consist of a simple happy hour and employee recognition. For example, invite your team to “BYOB” and hop on Zoom. During the happy hour, teammates can talk more about their roles and hobbies. Then, the event could conclude with recognizing employees for arduous work, exceeding expectations, achieving company milestones, or accomplishing wellness goals. A virtual Employee Appreciation Day is a wonderful time to share individual and small group achievements with the greater team.
Beyond hosting a virtual Employee Appreciation Day, ongoing virtual events help teams destress throughout the year. Try hosting weekly virtual happy hours or monthly themed virtual lunches, giving employees the chance to connect through fun facts, hobbies, games, and pets. Incorporating virtual events into your employee rewards program boosts employee engagement, morale, and retention.
2. Send Custom Swag
Help employees feel valued within your business by rewarding them with custom swag, such as t-shirts, mugs, sunglasses, pens, and more. These items can be easily customized with your company logo and can easily be mailed for Employee Appreciation Day. Swag is an excellent way to build company morale (and increase brand awareness—it’s a win-win).
If you want to get even more creative with sending custom swag, allow employees to nominate and vote on ideal swag options. Reward collaboration is a fun way to engage virtual teams over any chat interface, keeping them involved and interested in reward opportunities.
3. Show Appreciation with Digital Rewards
Digital rewards, such as e-gift cards, are ideal for Employee Appreciation Day. E-gift cards offer a flexible and personalized employee reward easily distributed to remote workers, no matter their location. E-gift cards are instantly delivered via email, eliminate the task of curating and shipping unique gifts to remote teams. E-gift card solutions—like Tango Card’s Reward LinkÒ—make it easy for employers to send branded e-gift cards that employees may redeem at a choice of popular retailers. Since gift cards have been the #1 wished-for holiday gift for 12 years in a row, e-gift cards are a simple Employee Appreciation Day reward that gives employees even more choice.
Engaging remote teams is challenging; however, displaying employee appreciation throughout the year is critical for engagement and employee retention. Whether your organization has a long-standing employee rewards program or is just getting one started, Employee Appreciation Day is an excellent opportunity to show staff that they are valued while helping boost morale and camaraderie. Activate remote teams by hosting fun virtual events, sending custom swag, and rewarding digital gift cards.
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Source: http://hrnews.co.uk/fun-ideas-for-a-virtual-employee-appreciation/
