Imagine your family or friends, someone you’re surrounded by mostly, forget or just don’t celebrate your birthday willingly. Now that’s a little hurtful!
But wait a minute, isn’t your workplace the next place where you spend the most time, surrounded by your colleagues.
Same goes with your teammates. In today’s work environment, employees expect more than just a paycheck; they seek a sense of belonging and appreciation in their place of work. And it comes from things that are as little but yet quite impactful as celebrating an employee birthday.
But how can you celebrate employee birthdays in a meaningful way that reflects your company’s values?
In this article, we’ll explore a range of fun ways to celebrate birthdays that cater to different personalities, preferences, and workplace dynamics, ensuring that celebrating employee birthdays are a source of joy and appreciation rather than obligation or stress.
Why Celebrating Employee Birthdays Matters
An employee birthday is a great opportunity to create a personalized experience that can build a better connection between employees and their company. Here are a few advantages of celebrating employee birthdays:
- Boost Morale: Literally acknowledging anyone on their special day makes them happy and valued. Even if you wish a complete stranger, you’ll be making them happy. This greatly improves employee morale to a good extent.
- Encourage Engagement: When the company goes out of their way to make their employees feel appreciated and involved, employees reciprocate. It’s obvious, right?
- Foster Team Spirit: We’ve often seen the entire team coming in and celebrating their teammate’s birthday. It brings the team together, fostering stronger relationships and camaraderie.
- Enhance Company Culture: The smallest of things can highlight your company’s culture. Birthday celebrations show the company’s commitment towards recognition and appreciation towards employees and throws light on the core values of the company.
8 Ways to Celebrate an Employee Birthday
Personalized Birthday Card with team messages
Birthday gifts for employees need not be an expensive situation. Something as simple as a birthday card from colleagues or even the leadership – imagine the significance of the emotional impact it can have. You can use this space for inside jokes, appreciation, and some nice, heartfelt messages for the teammate. No more thinking “what to do for coworkers’ birthday” because you always have an option now.
Give Thoughtful, Personalized Gifts
A personalized gift also can do great wonders. When it comes to employee birthday ideas, the more personal, the better. Something that reflects the employee’s interest. Do they like reading? How about you give them a book they might like? Some like to try new tech gadgets, what’s the next best one that can help them?
Why it Works:
This majorly highlights that the company is aware of the employee’s interests and choices. This is what you call going the extra edge.
Celebrate with a Team Lunch or Outing
A team outing is the “easiest” way to take a break from all the hectic work and just have some fun during an employee birthday. A local restaurant also works out. For remote teams, you can arrange a virtual lunch where everyone dials in with their favorite meal, creating a shared experience despite the physical distance.
Why it Works:
This team lunch doesn’t only celebrate a birthday, but also makes sure that the entire team is engaged in this. It can be an easy team-bonding activity where everyone gathers and bonds with each other better.
Offer a Day Off
One of the most appreciated birthday perks – giving employees a paid day off on their birthday. So that they can celebrate it their own way – whether alone, or with friends and family. It’s a straightforward way to show you care about their personal time and special days and don’t associate it with work. If their birthday falls on a weekend, consider allowing them to take a day off on the following workday.
Create a Birthday Wall
For in-office folks, imagine a separate wall dedicated to celebrate employee birthdays.
For remote teams, this can be done through virtual platforms. This board can showcase photos of the employees with their birthdates and wishes. Add some quirky, fun facts to make it more personal and fun.
Why it Works:
A birthday wall is a consistent place for all employees – and everyone who’s being wished feels part of a larger community. It helps employees get to know one another better, especially in larger teams or remote environments.
Acknowledge Birthdays in Meetings
When no work birthday ideas are possible, well this one is always the easiest way to make someone happy. Start a team or company-wide meeting with a quick birthday shoutout. This small gesture of recognition can help the employee feel appreciated instantly. A little bit more? How about you announce it in the company newsletter or the social media channel for some public recognition.
Create a Birthday Fund
Allow team members to contribute to a birthday fund that goes toward buying birthday gifts for employees, a cake, or organizing a fun activity for the birthday person. This ensures that the celebration is a collaborative effort and allows employees to participate in each other’s special days.
Why it Works:
A birthday fund encourages teamwork and shared responsibility in celebrating colleagues. It also helps ensure that the celebration is thoughtful and engaging.
Customizable Birthday Experiences
Keep multiple options open and ask employees a few days before their birthday on how they would like to celebrate. These options can be from the list above (team lunch, an off day, a gift voucher, etc.). To maintain the element of surprise, you can also add an option of “surprise me” here. This allows them to have the flexibility to choose how they want to celebrate their birthday – in their own ways – whether known or some nice surprise birthday ideas. How about you start thinking of things to ask for your birthday too? 😉
What to Avoid When Celebrating Employee Birthdays
Celebrating birthdays is definitely fun. But it needs to be done in the right manner. Make sure you take care of some basic hygiene stuff to ensure that the process feels smooth – both for the employees and the company.
- Making It Mandatory: It is never a good idea to make birthday celebrations mandatory. There are many folks who don’t celebrate birthdays publicly or at all. And it is very important that their choice is respected accordingly.
- One-Size-Fits-All Celebrations: Not everyone has the same idea of birthday celebrations and if you really want to make an impact, the best way to go about it is – to tailor the celebration accordingly.
- Neglecting Remote Employees: There are way too many options to not celebrate birthdays virtually as well. It’s always possible – make sure your remote teammates receive equal attention and recognition. How to celebrate employee birthdays remotely is not a doubt / confusion anymore.
FAQ
What is the sample birthday policy for employees?
A sample birthday policy is designed to recognize and celebrate employees on their special day. Here are some key elements that you should consider adding in the policy:
- Acknowledgement: Each employee will be appreciated by the team or company, with a virtual or in-office celebration.
- Celebration Activities: Teams and most importantly the employees can choose how to celebrate
- Flexibility: If an employee doesn’t want to celebrate their birthday at the workplace, they can request to opt out of public recognition.
In case you want a birthday leave policy, here’s a template you can check out: https://4289024.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/4289024/Birthday%20leave%20policy.pdf
This policy promotes a positive workplace culture and ensures everyone feels valued.
How do you announce an employee’s birthday?
To announce an employee’s birthday, best is to send out a celebratory message on a public channel or on the email. You can even announce it in a team meeting for a better and more instant impact.
How do I make a birthday budget?
- Check the total number of birthdays you’ve to celebrate every year (of course, equivalent to the number of employees in the organization)
- Scope out the events of this celebration. What can you do here to make them feel special?
- Assign a fixed amount to each employee’s birthday celebration. This would be the max budget you will be following for all employees.
- Keep checking if this is fitting well and make changes accordingly.
