Coming up with employee appreciation event ideas can be challenging for companies. Whether you are on a tight budget or have some money to spare, we hope this list of event ideas can help you connect with your team.
1. Participate in a Group Volunteer Day
Volunteering can be a stellar experience for employees, but it’s not always easy to make time for this activity. Arranging a group volunteer day might be just what your team needs to help them find time for volunteering.
Here are a few things you can do as a group:
- Clean up a highway or park.
- Pass out meals at a soup kitchen.
- Shop for, put together, and hand out baskets full of toiletries and living essentials for those in need.
But, how can we frame these volunteer days as employee appreciation event ideas? Simple, you can sweeten the deal by playing fun music, rewarding team members who are participating, and even offering paid time off for employees who attend the event.
2. Put On a Food Truck Lunch Event
Sometimes one of the easiest ways to show appreciation for your team is to cater lunch. If your city has food trucks, consider reserving a few of them to cater lunch for your team.
For example, you could host several food trucks and let your employees choose for the day. Alternatively, you could do a Food Truck Friday where you invite a food truck to your company’s office and buy lunch for your team that day.
3. Create a Drink Station
Do you want more employee appreciation event ideas? Try creating a drink station at work. This simple appreciation event helps you show love for your team by supplying them with free drinks from a:
- Coffee bar
- Hot chocolate station
- Lemonade stand
This idea works even better if staff members can customize the drinks in some way. For example, you can make this event even cooler by purchasing customized keepsake cups or mugs.
4. Host an End-of-the-Year Award Ceremony
One of the most traditional employee appreciation event ideas is an end-of-the-year award ceremony. Employees love receiving recognition for the hard work they’ve put in throughout the year; wouldn’t you?
Try putting together a fun event with custom awards, a nice dinner, and lots of time to bond and connect with coworkers. These events make work special for your team members.
5. Throw Events on Company Anniversaries
Did you know that quitting spikes around a person’s work anniversary? It’s one of the three days employees are most likely to quit.
Work anniversaries make your team think about what they’ve accomplished at your organization. Unfortunately, they might find that they don’t like what they see.
It’s your job as an employer to make sure that staff members feel loved and appreciated year-round. But, you should show some extra love by hosting an event or party for workplace anniversaries.
6. Host a Great Speaker
If you’ve been in the corporate world for a while, you know how energizing a great speaker can be.
Show your appreciation for your amazing staff by inviting a captivating speaker to your office and hosting a nice lunch.
If you get a relatively famous speaker, you can even get them to sign autographs or take pictures after the event.
7. Have a Creative Party
Whether you work in a creative field or you work an analytical job, people love getting creative. What’s better than getting creative when there are no expectations about how good or bad your art will be?
Spend some time chatting, listening to music, and bonding as an organization.
Here are a few examples of creative projects you could get your team into:
- Painting
- Jewelry making
- Pottery
- Tie dye
- Lego building
8. Invite Loved Ones to a Family and Friends Day
Who doesn’t love sharing their work with their family and friends? A family and friends day is the perfect way to show your employees how much you care while entertaining their loved ones.
The best family and friends days give your employees’ loved ones a chance to see what they do at work while showing your team how much you care about them.
Try hosting this event as a half day. Family and friends can join the company around lunchtime, take a tour of your office, and see a lunchtime presentation of company awards. After that, you can have a fun afternoon activity for everyone to participate in together.
9. Go to a Game Together
As the fall approaches, fun sports like football and basketball are coming back. Whether you support a high school team or a professional league, going to a game can be fun.
Work with your local sports team to purchase a bunch of seats for your employees. Then, go to the game together dressed in team gear or colors. Before you know it, you and your employees will be having fun together.
Bringing your company together for a fun night on the town isn’t cheap, but it can bring you closer. Make sure that your team members understand that you are doing this because you appreciate the time and energy they put into the company.
10. Host a Talent Show
Employees should be recognized for the talents they have outside of the office, too. When did you last take the time to appreciate your team members for all of their skills and abilities?
Hosting a talent show gives you a chance to highlight all of your employees’ talents, from writing to singing.
You can provide awards for talent show winners like cash, gift cards, or extra time off. Try rewarding employees who are brave enough to step up with a small reward as well, even if they don’t win.
Hosting a talent show should provide lots of entertainment, even if some of your employees are too shy to join. Plus, hosting a talent show shouldn’t cost you a ton of money.
Conclusion: Recognize Your Team With These Employee Appreciation Event Ideas
Your employees deserve recognition. Today’s employee appreciation event ideas should hopefully give you some food for thought around how to celebrate your staff members.
You can create a Workrowd krowd for anything, including planning employee appreciation events. Reach out to us at hello@workrowd.com to see if our product is right for your business.
1 reply on “10 employee appreciation event ideas to delight your team”
Save the time planning and spent doing the actual events as well as any money spent on the event and just give me the time off and extra money in my paycheck.