How to Celebrate Employee Birthdays in the Workplace
Many people are eager to celebrate their birthdays. And if someone’s birthday falls on a weekday, they’ll be spending a precious chunk of that day at work.
So the question isn’t, “Should companies celebrate their employees’ birthdays?” Rather, companies should be asking how they should celebrate employees’ birthdays. Being thoughtful about birthday celebrations—even if it’s making the decision to not throw a party for those colleagues who would rather not acknowledge their birthdays—can make a difference in how an employee thinks about their workplace.
That’s because birthdays are one of life’s epiphany moments, along with other major milestones like work anniversaries and class reunions. You might be surprised to learn that birthdays are actually one of the three days that employees are most likely to quit their jobs. With retention on our minds, employers shouldn’t take birthday celebrations too lightly. These events are opportunities to better engage and appreciate employees.
Share these ideas with your team with a PDF! Download our resource How to Celebrate Employee Birthdays in the Workplace!
Jump straight to our list of birthday celebration ideas
Why are birthdays epiphany moments?
Epiphany moments are dates or events that cause people to reexamine their life choices. What makes birthdays a natural time to reflect on our lives and career? For many people, adding another year to their life prompts internal reflection. It’s a day when people often take a step back and evaluate the progress of their lives—the good and the bad.
Reaching a life milestone
Many people have a rough idea of the roadmap of their lives, like being a certain age when they get married, or be promoted to a leadership role, or buying their first home. That’s what makes birthdays a great time to reflect on the previous year of their life. Did they reach their goals? What was the highest high and lowest low of the previous year? In this way, birthdays are a time to contemplate current circumstances.
Catching up with friends and family
People love to celebrate with others, so birthdays are typically a time for loved ones to gather and celebrate! Playing catch-up can prompt a number of questions about job status, relationships, and health—you know how families get! 😉
Employees could consider whether they were venting the same work grievances last year. Did it improve or is it still the same? Since birthdays are such a milestone, these questions seem heavier—and their answers more meaningful.
Comparison with others
There always seems to be a teenage wunderkind in the media, or a new youngest billionaire ever. As we get older, it’s natural to feel anxious about our accomplishments, especially in comparison to others in the same peer group.
How do you celebrate work birthdays?
There are so many ways to celebrate employee birthdays and provide recognition on team members’ special days. You can host a work party—virtual or in-person—, get everyone to sign a card, shout them out on your employee recognition platform—the possibilities are truly limitless.
However, the trick is to find the perfect delivery and approach for each coworker. Some may prefer sharing some delicious cake with the entire office. Others might want a thoughtful card. Certain employees may appreciate personalized gifts, like a bag with their name on it.
Whether you want to celebrate in-office or virtual birthdays each month, you need to know your employees and their preferences. Figure out what works best for each person and set a price to spend on each celebration. This will ensure that everyone gets the same level of recognition, whether they want a box full of gifts, recognition, cake, or something else entirely.
How celebrating office birthdays impacts company culture
Celebrating birthdays in the office can make your entire team feel united. They will get a chance to celebrate one another and make genuine connections. Once you establish a trend of celebrating your staff, people will be more interested in participating. After all, seeing coworkers recognize their special day will encourage them to do the same for their friends and teammates.
3 benefits of recognizing employee birthdays
How can you apply knowledge of how birthdays can be an epiphany moment to the workplace? The simple act of recognizing an employee’s birthday is first and foremost a nice thing to do but also contributes to the employee experience in a number of ways.
1. Reduce turnover
According to a study published in the Harvard Business Review, job search activities jump 12% just before birthdays. Giving an employee special attention on their birthday makes them feel valued and recognized, and employees who feel appreciated are less likely to quit their jobs.
2. Enhance employee engagement
Showing appreciation on an employee’s birthday makes the individual feel rewarded and increases their emotional commitment to the company and its goals. This increase in employee engagement results in improved work motivation and dedication, positively impacting your company’s bottom line. Research shows that engaged companies see 23% higher profitability and 18% higher sales.
3. Increase happiness and productivity
Receiving a little bit of extra attention on your birthday from your employer and co-workers makes you feel cared for and part of a team. This promotes happiness and reduces stress and burnout. According to research, happy employees are 12% to 20% more productive than their unhappy counterparts.
Share these ideas with your team with a PDF! Download our resource How to Celebrate Employee Birthdays in the Workplace!
Characteristics of a successful employee birthday program
Since the stakes are high, employee birthdays should be celebrated with special attention to detail. The secret? Automation, combined with the right level of customization. A successful employee birthday program has the following characteristics:
Personal
Writing HAGS is fun in middle school, but now, you should really put more thought into a personal message than just “HB." Include appreciation for recent work they’ve done, a funny anecdote, or the impact their presence has made on your life to make the birthday-person feel extra special.
Consistent
When celebrating birthdays in the workplace, it is important to ensure that no employee gets left out. It may be worth adding employee birthdays to a central calendar during the onboarding process instead of simply leaving the dates in your HRIS. Also, be sure to include remote workers in birthday celebrations, too. Key people, such as managers and team members, should receive notifications of upcoming birthdays. Employee reward platforms are great tools for automating birthday reminders and notifications, offloading HR managers from this responsibility.
Considerate
For religious reasons, not all people celebrate birthdays. Also, some people may just not like their birthday publicly celebrated. When onboarding or getting to know your team members, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to ask how they like to celebrate their next trip around the sun. If they hate calling attention to themselves, a low-key birthday email might be a better idea than a decorated, scheduled event. If they have a specific birthday tradition, it may be thoughtful to bring that tradition to the workplace.
Tailored
At Bonusly, we champion the idea of “voice and choice.” For a meaningful experience, employees should have the ability to choose their own rewards. When providing gift cards or organizing birthday lunches, be thoughtful about your employees likes and interests—or even ask them for exactly what they want! This way, you can be sure that they’ll enjoy their special day. Employee reward systems let the employee redeem their rewards at a store of their choice.
Discreet
Not everyone likes their age to be public knowledge and sharing someone’s age without their permission could lead to workplace lawsuits. Be sure not to publicize the employee’s birth year or age when celebrating their birthday. So (although tempting) stay away from cards with “40 today!” on them and steer clear from age jokes or references.
10 ways to celebrate employee birthdays at the office
Here are 10 ways in which you can make employees feel special on their birthdays:
1. Decorate their workspace
Break out the balloons. 🎊🎈🎉
A simple but surefire way to make an employee feel celebrated is by decorating their workspace. Streamers and confetti are always fun, but again—make sure the employee is alright with the attention and potential clean up! It’s also a great idea to take the person’s interests in mind. If someone really loves dogs, plastering their desks with pictures of puppies in birthday hats sounds like an excellent idea.
Are you a fully remote or hybrid team? Then come to your next team meeting with a celebratory Zoom background to make the birthday-person feel celebrated.
2. Give employee rewards
If your organization uses an employee reward system, you can automatically share rewards on their birthday and invite co-workers to do the same.
3. Organize a team happy hour or birthday lunch
Schedule some time for fun on someone’s birthday! Eating together is a simple way to build stronger team bonds, and being able to celebrate someone at the same time is the *literal* birthday candle on top.
If you're fully remote or hybrid, see if you can send them a gift certificate or credit towards a local lunch of their choice. 🍔
4. Write a note
Nothing beats receiving a personal note on your birthday. This can be a fun greeting card, but can also be an email or kudos in an employee recognition program. Remember: make it personal and meaningful!
5. Share company swag
Birthdays are great times to give out company swag, such as T-shirts, hoodies, caps, and mugs.
Share these ideas with your team with a PDF! Download our resource How to Celebrate Employee Birthdays in the Workplace!
6. Give gift cards
Gift cards are always a good idea, especially if they’re tailored to an employee’s wishlist or interests. A week before their birthday, ask them to make a few choices from a gift card list from retail stores, local restaurants, bookstores, or movie theaters. Then—this is important—make sure to tell them, “Treat yourself.”
7. Donate to charity
Allow the employee to select the nonprofit organization of their choice, and donate to it in their name for a meaningful and rewarding gift. Bonusly customers can donate to countless organizations directly through our platform.
8. Give them the day off
Many companies with flexible schedules offer to give employees time off on their birthdays. As much as we love our coworkers, allowing someone to spend their special day doing what they want is a big boon to creating a great employee experience.
9. Create a surprise video montage
Celebrations don’t always have to involve banners and boxes of gifts, although these are greatly appreciated. You could also create virtual content, like a video montage, of the person and their coworkers. Personalized videos are one of the best ways to make your team feel united, as they will think back on the past year and all the great times they had collaborating in the office.
Encourage people to contribute photos and clips of their coworkers. This will make the video montage a collaborative process that gets the entire team involved.
10. Order a personalized gift
Personalized gifts and decorations will certainly make the person being recognized feel special. For instance, you could order a monogrammed bag or a new waterbottle for their desk.
Personalized gifts don’t have to break the bank. You can find highly customized items for a great price by shopping around. However, don’t just purchase the first customized item you see. Think about the person’s interests and find an item they will actually use in the office or at home.
3 ways of celebrating an office birthday remotely
Office birthdays aren’t just for in-person teams. Your remote workforce need to be celebrated, too. There are lots of great ways to connect with remote workers, such as arranging the delivery of cake or choosing a fun birthday-themed Zoom background.
Here are a few other creative strategies for celebrating your remote workers:
1. Virtual happy hour
If a gift or cake delivery is out of the question, consider hosting a virtual happy hour. Schedule a time for everyone to join a video call and encourage attendees to bring their favorite beverage. You can make it more festive by having a theme. You know how everyone loves a good theme! Just make sure you find a good time for the happy hour if you have a global team or are working across multiple timezones.
2. Online gift exchange
Organize an online gift exchange to make the birthday person feel special. Use platforms like Drawnames or Elfster to set up the exchange. Each member can buy a gift for the birthday person. Set a budget to keep it fair and ensure everyone participates. Gifts can be physical items sent directly to the recipient’s address or digital items like e-books and gift cards.
3. Virtual birthday card
Create a virtual birthday card that everyone on the team can sign. Collaborative tools like Google Slides or Canva can be used to design the card. This low-priced option can make everyone feel united and is one of the best ways to celebrate birthdays on a budget.
After everyone has signed the card, deliver it to the person who is celebrating the birthday. Make sure to start designing the card the month before so you have plenty of time to make it look perfect.
How to host a successful office birthday
Deciding what to do for your birthday person is only part of the process. If you want to make sure the office celebration is a big hit, you’ll also need to:
Plan ahead
Don’t wait until the last minute to plan the birthday event. Start by setting a date and time that works for everyone, especially the birthday person. Some people take the day off for their birthday. Check the PTO schedule to ensure the person will actually be there on their special day.
If their birthday falls on a weekend or they’ve taken the day off, schedule the party for the last workday beforehand. Create a checklist of tasks such as sending out invitations, ordering supplies, and organizing activities. A little prep goes a long way in making your employee feel special.
Personalize the celebration
Generic banners and balloons aren’t necessarily taboo. However, you should take a few steps to make your employee feel special on their day. Consider what they like when planning activities and decorations. For example, if they have a favorite color, choose balloons and banners that show you pay attention to their preferences.
If they like a particular type of food, arrange for a meal or snacks that the person will enjoy. Personal touches show that you’ve put effort into making the day special for them. They also create a more meaningful and enjoyable experience for everyone.
Involve the team
Don’t plan the event solo. Get everyone involved in the celebration to boost morale and foster a sense of community. Assign team members various roles like creating decorations or ordering supplies.
Encourage everyone to contribute ideas and participate in the activities. Team involvement not only distributes the workload but also ensures that the celebration is a collective effort.
It’s best to assign the most important roles to people who know the person well. If they have a work “bestie,” lean on that person to order food and pick decoration colors. They can provide valuable insights about what the employee likes and doesn’t like.
The takeaway
Any of these celebration ideas are guaranteed to make the employee feel good on their birthday. Of course, companies shouldn’t limit employee appreciation to just birthdays. To be truly successful, companies should continually recognize their employees throughout the year. Employee recognition and rewards programs like Bonusly are a great solution and even include automated birthday awards.
It’s always fun to make someone’s birthday a special day! You’ll make employees feel especially valued and also reduce turnover, enhance employee engagement, and increase productivity. 🤩
Share these ideas with your team with a PDF! Download our resource How to Celebrate Employee Birthdays in the Workplace.
