Employee Appreciation Day

The total population of the world today is about 7.7 billion people. A little over 3.26 billion people are employed. Almost half of all people around the globe spend more time at work than they do in any other activity, except sleeping. Still not many of them know that there is a special day for their companies to thank them for their hard work and effort throughout the year. The holiday is not half as popular as Boss’s day, which is a shame, because while bosses are very important, there would be no things done without millions (sorry, billions) of their hardworking and dedicated subordinates.

Employee Appreciation Day, observed on the first Friday in March, is actually an unnoficial holiday - which is a shame, too - but that doesn’t make it less important. It was created by Bob Nelson, one of Recognition Professionals International’s founding Board members, “as a way of focusing the attention of all employers, in all industries on employee recognition" and first arrived on calendars in 1995.

Recognition and appreciation are scientifically proven to increase happiness and general well-being. The same is true for people at work. Studies show that recognition and appreciation are growing in importance as drivers of employee happiness and engagement, which, in turn, can result in increasing the productivity of employees and the company as a whole. So more and more companies and organizations start using the day to thank their employees.

Here are some popular ideas for employers how to celebrate Employee Appreciation Day. You can thank your staff members for all their efforts

- by taking them to lunch or having lunch brought in. Or, come up with a creative afternoon snack activity, such as a build-it-yourself sundae bar with live music or other fun activities;

- by going on a team building outing. Create a list of interesting, unique and fun team building events (within your budget) and then let your team decide where they’d like to go and what they’d like to do. There is a chance that your employees will still be talking about how much they had enjoyed that day even years later, and your organisation can reap a range of benefits of the event: greater collaboration between employees, less stress, better communication and improved productivity;

- by giving them presents. There are so many appropriate gift ideas and not enough space to list them all. You could hand out a gift card to each employee and share something you appreciate about each person when you present the gift to them;

- by giving them time off;

- by not forgetting to continue your appreciation efforts throughout the rest of the year.

When an employee goes above and beyond on a project, tell him or her how much you appreciate their efforts. When the team achieves a difficult objective or metric, celebrate the accomplishment. Give spot awards for outstanding work.

Richard Branson once said, “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” Make employee recognition and appreciation an on-going part of your leadership style.

Source: forbes.com | wikipedia.org

In 2026 Employee Appreciation Day in USA falls on March 6.