How to celebrate a birthday in the office

Celebrating birthdays in-office is a great way to show that your employees are valued both in a professional and personal context. The pandemic has meant that many businesses have been focused solely on staying afloat over the past few years, so celebrating personal milestones, like birthdays, can make a huge difference to company morale.

The Harvard Business Review found that job searches increase by 12% just before birthdays, so what better way to show that you appreciate your employees than by celebrating their birthday with them?

Be organised

If you are going to celebrate employee birthdays, you need to make sure you do this for everyone in the office and celebrations shouldn’t be hierarchical. Throwing huge celebrations for management but sending out a birthday email for the new starters is likely to do more harm than good, so ensure that your celebrations are appropriate and proportionate to your business or team.

An easy way to organise birthdays is to create a calendar so that you can keep track and ensure that you don’t miss anyone out. While paper calendars are great, it’s also easy to add birthdays into whatever online calendar that your company uses daily. This will mean that you can ensure that birthdays are recognised by all staff members, as everyone will get a reminder on their personal calendar.

Make it personal

You don’t need to throw a big birthday celebration to celebrate every employee, but making them feel valued is important and this is easy to do by personalising their day. Instead of a generic birthday card, you may want to up the ante, particularly if you a celebrating a milestone birthday. If you have a 30th birthday being celebrated, a personalised 30th birthday card could be a great idea, especially if you get everyone to sign it or write a nice note inside.

Depending on the size of your team, you can use birthdays to find out more about the people that you work with. If the employee you are celebrating has a particular interest, such as sport, this could be reflected in a themed cake. This is a great way to remind everyone that lives don’t just revolve around work and people do have hobbies!

You should also think about what the employee would like. Some employees will relish in a big fuss being made out of them so get decorating their desks and don your party hats! For more introverted employees who wouldn’t feel comfortable with this, you can make them feel valued by giving them a gift card for something that they like – from a voucher for their favourite coffee shop or an online gaming voucher. If you are really stuck, you could try a gift card that can be used for a range of shops, which will guarantee a smile!

What to bring?

What’s a birthday celebration without food? One big birthday cake may not always be feasible for an office birthday, so feel free to get creative! From sugary treats like cupcakes to pizza slices for those with less of a sweet tooth, there are lots of ways to make your employees’ day special. For a milestone birthday, you could even organise a potluck which will get everyone involved! As many workers may now be remote, sending something to their home, like a box of pick n’ mix or a hamper, is really easy and will make them feel appreciated on their birthday, even if they can’t be there in the office.

No matter how you choose to celebrate, be sure to show your employees that they are valued members of the team and give them a little treat on their birthday this year!

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