Think of your career path like a long road. When you’re headed from one end to the other, over the course of 30+ years, you don’t just drive straight through without a single pullover or full stop to measure and celebrate how far you’ve come. Those breaks and acknowledgments of how much of your journey is behind you, and how much is left ahead, make the journey feel more special.
A career path is the same. Milestones originally referred to markers on a road telling you how far you had traveled and how far your destination was, but they’re just as meaningful in the workplace. Observing and celebrating employee milestones should be a priority for your company—but which ones matter the most? We’ve created this guide to help you explore all the meaningful moments in your employees’ lives, inside and outside of the office, so you can start recognizing and appreciating them too.
-> Want 15 employee milestone templates you can start using today? Download: [Template] Employee Milestone Samples
What employee milestones are
An employee milestone is any meaningful moment in an employee’s work or home life that you recognize in the workplace. We’ve got a list of 15 of the most common milestones coming up shortly, but they can really cover anything that is important to your company and your employees, whether they’re large or small.
Why celebrating milestones matters
Acknowledging and honoring employee milestones is important partly because it just makes your workplace a more fun and joy-filled place to be. When people are appreciated and applauded for their time, accomplishments, and key events in their lives, they feel seen and included, not just as a worker but as a person too.
These milestone acknowledgments are key to the employee experience. And since improving your employee experience could increase revenues by up to 50%, they’re critical to your bottom line too.
Celebrations don’t need to be big all-team affairs: for many of them, a quick but thoughtful note or post in the team Slack is perfect.
But many of these milestones are too easy to miss when things get busy if you’re relying on manual tasks and reminders to offer a quick congrats or reward. Fortunately, with HR technology like Bonusly, you can set up automated reminders to send a meaningful message right on time.
-> Want 15 employee milestone templates you can start using today? Download: [Template] Employee Milestone Samples
Employee milestone examples
1. Work anniversaries
There’s no better time to hold a celebration than when an employee marks one, five, ten, or more years with your company. And since these occur annually, they’re also an easy milestone to automate so you never miss one.
2. Birthdays
Everyone has a birthday, which makes it an easy and fun day to celebrate each year for each of your employees. You can mark this milestone with a treat if you’re all in the office, or a note (bonus points for hand-writing it) if not. And like work anniversaries, it’s super simple to automate sending a birthday note or award so there’s no excuse for forgetting.
3. Company milestones
Is your company about to mark a meaningful milestone, like being in business for a decade or reaching a certain revenue target or number of customers? Get all of your employees in on the milestone celebration: it helps them to feel like they’re an integral part of your business, not just an accessory.
4. Promotions
An employee’s move up to the next level of their career is an exciting time, and one that should definitely be hailed as a meaningful milestone. This celebration can also serve as a reminder to team members of what good work looks like, and show them how they can also advance in your company.
5. Retirements
And while getting ahead at work is a celebratory event, so is stepping away from it to retire after a long, successful career. This is a major transition—we spend most of our adult lives working—and it’s a reason to have colleagues come together to wish the retiree luck and happiness.
6. Life events
Having a baby, getting married, buying a home, earning a degree, or moving to a new place: these are all big, exciting life events worth celebrating for your employees. Just be sure to be inclusive with these celebrations to include all employees and their various milestones, as we don’t have to stick to the traditional ones these days.
7. First day of work
The first day on the job is equal parts exciting and nerve-wracking: it’s a major milestone, and also a chance to make a new employee feel welcomed and wanted. You can include the whole team too so they all get to know their new teammate and colleague.
8. Last day of work
This milestone is not traditionally celebrated, but why not make a positive change? An employee moving onto another position, whether it's in another department or at another company, might be a negative for your team but it’s a positive for the employee. Celebrating this event with kindness and appreciation for their hard work leaves a positive last impression, and shows employees who stay too that your company values them.
9. Community involvement
Your employees might be leaders or contributors in their communities, and this can be a great opportunity for recognition and celebrating who they are outside of work as well. If they’ve recently led a big event, spearheaded a project, or gotten an award for their community service, taking a moment to recognize this milestone at work is thoughtful and appreciated.
10. Project milestones
If an individual or team has hit a big milestone like completing a complicated or long-running project, celebrate those milestones! They provide a sense of closure and accomplishment for everyone involved. You can also add rewards if the project warrants it, but some good old-fashioned recognition like a thoughtful note can do the trick too for smaller or lower-budget projects.
11. Team achievements
For team-specific achievements, like hitting a sales target, rolling out a new employee benefit, or overhauling your intranet page, these are great opportunities for a whole-team milestone celebration. They provide a chance for appreciation, of course, but also for team bonding too.
12. Employee Appreciation Day
Employee Appreciation Day comes only once a year, but it’s a positive milestone to show some much-needed appreciation for your people every year. There are many ways to make it a festive day, so pick the one that works for your team and show your employees a little extra love.
13. Holidays
Of course, not all holidays are ideal for group celebrations: not everyone observes Christmas, for example. But more inclusive holidays like the 4th of July, Thanksgiving, or National Pizza Day (February 9!), could work well for a commemoration of another successful year in the books.
14. Great customer reviews
Did one of your team members, or your whole team, get a shout-out from a happy customer recently? This is a great milestone to celebrate together. Not only did your team delight a customer, but it shows how much your company values going above and beyond for them.
15. Professional development
If an employee has recently completed a big professional development opportunity, like earning a degree or a certification, it’s an exciting milestone to mark for them. Even smaller ones are a nice opportunity for a note or a heartfelt congrats—they’re taking the time to improve their skills and broaden their opportunities.
Takeaways
Making a commitment to celebrate employee milestones of all types and sizes makes your workplace a more positive and celebratory environment, one that recognizes and appreciates everyone for everything they bring to the office and beyond.
-> Want 15 employee milestone templates you can start using today? Download: [Template] Employee Milestone Samples
Automate employee milestones with Bonusly!
We hope this list is a helpful guide to never missing a milestone. If you’re looking to save time and automate rewards, recognition, milestones, and more, we’d be remiss to not point you to Bonusly. 😀
Take a look at Bonusly Appreciate today and see how our solution automates recognition, rewards, employee milestones, and more. Plus, our robust integrations guarantee that Bonusly will communicate with your existing HRIS and/or payroll system, making it that much easier to get started.
