How to Celebrate a Work Anniversary Remotely

If you’ve been able to hold the fort for more than a year without succumbing to the urge to find a new job, we congratulate you for being one amongst 78% of workers who stay long enough to reach this milestone. The Work Institute 2020 Retention Report pointed out that the number of employees leaving jobs voluntarily has reached 42 million in 2019. According to the same report, there was a demand of over 7 million job openings in 2019, leaving about 6 million unemployed. While the reasons for changing the job may differ, one thing’s for sure: both employees and employers suffer consequently.

Regardless of the statistics, it is vital to value the employees who do make it to major milestones for a company. It motivates them to work harder since their work is being recognized and rewarded with a touch of emotion in the corporate world. Celebrating a work anniversary shouldn’t deter you from experience. Read more to know about the various ways in which anniversaries can be celebrated remotely in memorable ways.

Well, one interesting way that has been used traditionally is to acknowledge employees and their work anniversary by sending broadcast emails. With PeerFives, you could simply share a message on the workspace team chat. It’s not the 1970’s anymore, so try not to be boring. Try something casual and quirky. We have a good one for you.

On this day in history:

November 10 (*this specifies the current date*)

2020: John Doe joins us in the capacity of Software Engineer at the Dallas office.

(*this becomes specific to your office colleagues*)

1994: William Higinbotham, also known as “The Father of Video Games,” died of emphysema.

1978: Infamous movie ‘Faces of Death,’ banned in 40+ countries, was released.

1977: Louise Joy Brown, first test-tube baby, is conceived

1919: Mikhail Kalashnikov, born November 10, 1919, invented the AK-47 assault rifle.

(*1919-1994: All of these are important dates in history* ) 

Games

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Let Jack have a little fun with his team. Design engaging generic games like superlatives, Never Have I Ever, “What I like the most about..”, or technical games like “virtual mock stock exchange,” “hackathon,” or you go above and beyond to celebrate anniversaries and celebrate them like they are festivals. Games are a fun way to bring a sense of competition which is healthy and can improve team chemistry.

Quizzes

Not all fun games have to be only recreational. Most employees love challenging games, and it’s your job to give them a challenge they will never forget. Organize quizzes that test your employee’s knowledge about the company, industry, relevant domestic and international affairs, and any topic they would be interested in being tested on. Quizzes work well to bring groups together and motivate them to work together to find solutions.

Gifts

The best way of celebrating a work anniversary is to share gratitude by delivering gifts. Every employee is known for one habit or incident; one could be known for consuming a lot of junk food or being a health freak, there’s always one with their head in a book, and that backpacker, you could customize the gifts as per their most observable habits. Unboxing gifts during video calls could be really fun and even help teams formulate a better understanding.

Peer Points

The office is quite boring without those victory high-fives. Every once in a while, employees need to be reminded how awesome they are and how much their work counts. Pandemic has changed how people show appreciation and share gratitude. Imagine being able to do that using emojis. Every time you want to appreciate someone, just tag them and post a ‘clapping hands’ emoji and see who collects the most points. If you work amongst a really competitive workforce, let them have a high-five competition; let’s see who gets the most high-fives.

Different departments of a company have different subcultures, which steam from the overall work culture of the office. The work culture should reflect the opinions of all layers of the organization without silencing the opinions of employees. Giving them the liberty to choose how they celebrate allows them to build coordination and boosts their chemistry. By planning together, they find out more about each other and, as a result, work better as a team. A temporary Slack channel can be created, and a budget can be allotted for the celebration they choose.

As your team starts to grow, they get crowded. All good companies want to recognize birthdays, work anniversaries, and accomplishments across, yet need to make sure that messages do not get lost and dilute the importance of the emails sent across. Every company has broadcast mails about various topics such as CSR activities, initiatives, and activities within the organization, changes in company policy, and other communications. A separate celebration channel makes sure that employees being acknowledged receive everyone’s undivided attention. Hence, making it easy for HR and management to bifurcate categories of communication shared.

Every employee is important to the role they play in the company; everyone’s presence contributes to the ecosystem at large. Work Anniversary is the best way to recognize everyone’s efforts. Irrespective of what the gesture is, when employees are recognized constantly and awarded for their contributions, the work environment is conducive to higher productivity.