Summary
Employee Appreciation Day 2022 is a special occasion to celebrate the contributions of everyone in your organization.
Employee Appreciation Day 2022
Employee Appreciation Day 2022 is a special occasion to celebrate the contributions of everyone in your organization. But like nearly every other employee recognition event post-2020, its significance has taken on new meaning and it demands new strategies for involving every employee in a meaningful way. Any ideas for celebrating must consider the new landscape of 2022.
What Is Employee Appreciation Day?
Employee Appreciation Day is an unofficial holiday observed on the first Friday of March, falling on March 4th this year. It was the brainchild of Bob Nelson, one of Recognition Professionals International’s founding board members. Nelson collaborated with his publishing company, Workman Publishing, to make the holiday appear prominently on workplace calendars starting in 1995.
How Has It Changed in 2021?
With 1 in 4 employees working remotely in 2021 along with ongoing social distancing restrictions, showing appreciation isn’t quite what it used to be. An event that is typically celebrated with companywide gatherings and in-person interactions needs to be re-engineered with respect to each organization’s new cultural dynamics.
6 Celebration Ideas
Fortunately, there are already some creative strategies and established best practices that are growing into pandemic-proof channels to ensure everyone feels included and seen. Here are six ideas for celebrating Employee Appreciation Day in 2022:
- Virtual Happy Hour – Hosting a happy hour or similar virtual event is becoming one of the most efficient ways to celebrate and bond with coworkers separated by distance. Employee Appreciation Day is a fun and informal opportunity to toast to success.
- Care Packages – Themed care packages are always fun and allow a lot of room to be creative. Give gifts, snacks, candy, and add in company branded swag for some extra memorability and brand connection.
- Special Recognition – For companies with enterprise recognition systems, creating an event-specific award initiative for Employee Appreciation Day is another engaging way to spread recognition across an entire workforce.
- Video Message – Video messages from leadership generally have a higher engagement rate among employees than emails and are a useful mass communication tool for delivering messages with more of a human touch.
- Gift Cards – Gift cards to popular retailers and websites are a great way show appreciation to everyone on the team, and instant delivery options make them a versatile reward that’s easily distributed companywide.
- Personal Call – Phone calls are becoming increasingly rare and taking a minute to reach out to employees for a quick thanks over the phone is easy and thoughtful.
Happy Employee Appreciation Day
Aside from being one of the best opportunities all year to celebrate and recognize your workforce, Employee Appreciation Day is an internationally observed custom and touchstone for many organizations throughout the world. The fact that everything has changed about how we work doesn’t change the fact that workers still need to be seen and recognized.
For more Employee Appreciation Day ideas visit our dedicated Employee Appreciation Day page.
