Are you planning to hold employee appreciation events? Celebrating the hard work of your employees is one of the things you can do to improve a work environment. Simply organising an event isn’t enough. Instead, it should be a memorable and meaningful experience that they can cherish forever.
If this is your first time organising a memorable appreciation event for your employees, there are many things you should consider. One option can be hiring corporate event planners to help you get started. But aside from that, here are tips on how to organise an unforgettable event for your employees.
1. Personalise the Experience
When organising an employee appreciation event, avoid making a one-size-fits-all approach. Besides, every employee is unique, and they deserve to be recognised individually. You can incorporate personalised tokens and hand-written notes and mention each of their names.
Of course, it takes time to curate personalised tokens for your employees. Be sure to plan ahead of time so that you can find the right things and complete them before the event date.
2. Offer Meaningful Rewards
Aside from incorporating personalised experiences, offering meaningful rewards is also a must. Some of these rewards may include gift cards, an all-expense paid trip, additional paid leaves, and other experience-based rewards.
These options are recommended since a day or an event shouldn’t be enough to boost the morale of your employees and encourage them to become more loyal to the company. Besides, they should feel valued, so it’s best if they can take some time to recharge and recover from all the stress they encounter at work.
3. Create a Great Experience
As mentioned, simply organising an event isn’t enough to encourage your employees to become loyal to the company. Instead, make it an unforgettable experience in which they can feel how much they’re appreciated.
So, instead of a simple dinner party, you can try themed parties, team-building retreats, and escape rooms. The best way to finalise the type of event you’re going to host is by creating a poll or survey and letting the employees choose which type of celebration they want to experience.
4. Acknowledge Leadership
Every team has its leader, and don’t forget to include the leaders and thank their members personally. They can give a speech about how much they appreciate each of their members, mention the projects they work on together, and highlight individual tasks that made their members shine. For instance, if a team member made it possible to make a deal with a sought-after partner, it’s something worth mentioning that can also inspire others.
5. Incorporate Team Recognition
Aside from individual recognition, teams should also be given some time to be acknowledged. If there are five teams in your office, you can create various awards that each of them can accept. This part of the programme highlights their achievements as a team and showcases their collaborative efforts. As a result, each team will be more eager to do their best to achieve a better turnout for the next projects.
Of course, you can give them trophies, but you should also include gift certificates or cash prizes that they can use for their team lunch and other bonding activities.
6. Create a Fun and Relaxed Atmosphere
As mentioned, the team’s appreciation shouldn’t be done once a year. If you choose to hold the event on a weekend or a week-long celebration, don’t forget to add activities that are fun but also relaxing.
For instance, you can bring everyone to the beach and let them enjoy casual happy hour or picnics. Aside from that, you can also host a game night, and after the games, you can give them some time to appreciate the beach and enjoy their vacation.
7. Document the Moment
Of course, a memorable experience should be documented, so don’t forget to hire a photographer or videographer to capture these moments. When you hire corporate event planners, they usually work with vendors, so you can just request the services you need, and they can provide them for you.
8. Gather Feedback for Future Events
Since appreciation events shouldn’t be a one-time thing and should be done at least once a year, you should ask your employees for feedback to continue to improve these kinds of events. In doing so, you can be aware of their preferences and needs for future employee appreciation events. At the same time, if there are activities they don’t appreciate, you can replace them with those that they can enjoy more.
Final Thoughts
The everyday hard work that employees do for the company should be given recognition. And since employee recognition events don’t happen too often, giving them a memorable experience is recommended. By considering the tips listed in this article and hiring reliable corporate event planners, you can guarantee that everyone will enjoy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aliana Baraquio is a content writer for Pink Caviar Events Sydney, a full-service event management and decorative hire company located in Sydney. When she’s not typing out blog posts, you can find her watching anime series or baking cupcakes.
