Employee Recognition Best Practices for Employee Appreciation Day

Picture your workplace in your mind. Then, fill it up with all of your coworkers. Do you have that mental image? Good. Now think about this: 

Only two in every ten employees feel truly recognized and appreciated at work. 

The rest (78%) aren’t getting enough of the positive feedback, high-fives, gifts, and other forms of appreciation they need to feel good and perform well. To put this in perspective, imagine eight in every ten coworkers in your mental image fading from color to black and white. Yikes!

Closing that appreciation gap is a worthy quest for every HR professional or office manager. In this blog, we’ll give you the tools (aka employee recognition best practices) that you need to build a bridge, starting with tips for a successful Employee Appreciation Day. 

Why Is Employee Appreciation Important? 

To put it simply, employees who feel recognized at work are happier, and that makes them better workers. Research done by Gallup and Workhuman shows that employees who feel recognized at work are: 

• Less likely to burn out
• Less stressed, worried, and sad
• More likely to perform well
• More likely to feel they’re paid fairly
• More connected to their coworkers
• Less likely to look for a new job
• More likely to have “thriving” wellbeing

The best way to get those benefits is by recognizing your employees with gifts, positive feedback, and other types of appreciation year-round. But Employee Appreciation Day (coming up on March 7) is a great opportunity to sneak some extra positive vibes into your workplace—or, if you’re new to this, a great place to start. 

What is Employee Appreciation Day? 

Employee Appreciation Day is an unofficial holiday created by Dr. Bob Nelson, a management consultant and the author of the book 1,001 Ways to Reward Employees. It falls on the first Friday of March every year. Although the day started out as a bit of a PR stunt to sell books, it stuck around—probably because employers recognized the benefits of appreciating their employees. 

“Employee Appreciation Day presents a valuable opportunity to enhance morale, engagement, and retention,” Maria Medina, an HR Knowledge Advisor with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) told The FruitGuys. “To achieve the most significant impact, it is essential to celebrate the day thoughtfully, ensuring it leaves a lasting positive effect on employee well-being and engagement. By recognizing employees in meaningful ways, employers can make them feel seen and valued, not only on the day of celebration but also beyond.”

Employee Recognition Best Practices for Employee Appreciation Day (Or Any Time of Year)

Many companies give out gifts and host celebrations on Employee Appreciation Day. Almost every type of recognition is great—see the “What Not to Do” section below for the exceptions—but you can maximize the wellbeing boost your team gets by following these employee recognition best practices. 

Pair Perks with Feedback

Perks like gifts are a great way to recognize employees. In a 2023 survey, 57% of workers reported taking holiday gifts as “a sign of their employer’s gratitude and appreciation” and 78% felt more satisfied with their jobs after receiving them. You can make gifts even more effective by pairing them with personalized feedback. 

“Recognition has the greatest impact on an employee when it is tailored to their specific achievements and contributions,” Medina said. 

Try including a personal note with your gift (at The FruitGuys, we have a message option on every fruit and snack box that makes this easy) or asking managers to give the gift along with a compliment in a one-on-one meeting. The same 2023 survey found that 65% of people would put more effort into their work if they felt like their managers appreciated them.

Survey Before You Buy

If you’re not sure how to celebrate your employees for Employee Appreciation Day, birthdays, or work anniversaries, send out a quick survey to ask. You can ask them to rank categories like “food gifts,” “office parties,” and “extra PTO,” or choose specific options in one category (e.g. Would they rather have a box of fresh fruit or a box of tasty snacks?). 

Get creative with what you include on the list. Think about experiences your team might love. Would they value meeting a potential mentor? Or gaining access to extra personal development training? Those things count as appreciation, too. 

“Monetary rewards may motivate some employees but not others; not all employees will be driven by the same things. An employer may take creative liberty to design a recognition program that provides employees options on their recognition and rewards preferences,” Medina said. 

Offering multiple options and letting employees choose is a foolproof way to choose gifts that resonate and make a positive impact.

Include Everyone

However you celebrate, make sure everyone on your team is included. It can be a real bummer for employees if they miss the fun—like the manufacturing worker who posted on Reddit that all of the Employee Appreciation Day donuts were gone before their shift started. 

If you want to send our handwritten thank-you notes, ask each manager to write them for their team so everyone gets one. And if you bring in a donut breakfast or pizza lunch for Employee Appreciation Day, make sure there’s plenty to go around and send gift cards for food delivery to hybrid and remote workers.

Encourage Multiple Types of Appreciation

Workers need to feel recognized by their managers, but peer-to-peer appreciation is important, too. When employees get valuable feedback from their peers, they’re 57% less likely to burn out. You can double up by asking teams to write messages on their coworkers’ birthday cards, for example, or creating an “Appreciation Wall” in the office where coworkers can post compliments about each other while they eat their free Employee Appreciation Day lunch.

Use Celebrations to Build Connection

Celebrations like company lunches, off-site movie nights, or workplace farmers markets where employees can pick out free produce can do double duty. They show appreciation and help build connections between coworkers. Consider adding a collaborative element like this to your appreciation playbook for an extra employee wellbeing boost. 

Keep the Good Vibes Going

This probably goes without saying, but don’t limit recognition to Employee Appreciation Day. You’ll get the best results by giving gifts, sharing feedback, and shouting out employee achievements all year long. For example, one of the businesses that The FruitGuys delivers for sends our Organic Basics Box (fruit and vegetables) to its employees biweekly throughout the year to show appreciation for their work.

“Consistently acknowledging employees fosters a positive workplace, enhances engagement, and improves retention. A strategic approach—through formal programs, peer recognition, or daily appreciation—ensures employees feel valued year-round. While Employee Appreciation Day highlights this commitment, ongoing recognition is essential for lasting impact,” Medina said.

This list of “7 Times a Year to Give Employee Appreciation Gifts” can help you get started. 

With these employee recognition best practices in mind, here are five ideas for celebrating Employee Appreciation Day with your team.

5 Meaningful Appreciation Ideas for Employee Appreciation Day

Employee Gifts

Physical gifts can have a huge positive impact on job satisfaction. To make them more meaningful, survey your team to find out what they want (as noted in the list of employee recognition best practices above), or choose one vendor and let your employees pick a gift from their lineup. 

Here at The FruitGuys, we can make this easy by creating a customized ordering page for your employees where they can choose their favorite fruit or snack box. To learn more about that or put in a gift request for Employee Appreciation Day, click here. 

Lunch Catered or Delivered

Everyone loves a free lunch! To make this gesture more meaningful, let your team choose what they’d like to eat. You can give everyone a set amount to buy their own lunch, bring multiple food trucks or a catered buffet to the office, or send remote employees gift cards for lunch delivery from a restaurant of their choice. 

Time Off

Steve Jobs once said that “the most precious resource we all have is time.” If you have the budget for it, giving your employees some of their time back can be a rave-worthy appreciation gift. Consider closing the office early on Employee Appreciation Day or offering an extra full or half day of floating PTO in gratitude for their work. 

Cash

Money is always a popular gift with employees. The only downside is that it can feel impersonal. If you go this route for Employee Appreciation Day, pair the bonus or gift card with something personalized like a note or a physical gift that you know they’ll love. 

Personal Notes or Conversations

Time off, extra cash, and even gifts can be out of budget depending on where you work. But you can still show your team recognition on a shoestring budget. Give each employee a handwritten note or have a thoughtful conversation about the impact of their work, what they’re doing well, and how you can support them. 

Now that we’ve covered employee recognition best practices, let’s talk about a few popular recognition tactics you’re better off avoiding. 

What Not to Do for Employee Appreciation Day

You might think that doing something on Employee Appreciation Day is always better than nothing, but that’s not the case. A 2022 survey of 1,500 employees found that for 31% of them, a “bad gift” actually left them feeling unappreciated. Here are a few popular ideas to skip this year. 

Trinkets and Swag

Unless your team has told you they want these items, skip them. The same survey referenced above found that just 2% of employees would choose swag for a gift. Likewise, trinkets often end up in the trash. 

A Mass Thank-You Email or Video

Impersonal recognition can be worse than no recognition. On the same Reddit thread about Employee Appreciation Day, one user wrote that their company’s choice to send a mass email and a video thank-you message from senior leadership felt “a little superficial and completely disconnected.” Another wrote that they received, “[A] company-wide email from the CEO, aka nothing.” You can still send an email or make a video, just make sure you pair it with something personal. 

Posting and Ghosting

Last but not least, please don’t post about Employee Appreciation Day on your company’s social media without doing anything for your team. This is a form of wellness washing and can do more harm to your company culture than good. 

A Quick Summary

“To avoid mistakes in celebrating Employee Appreciation Day, managers should place their focus on company-wide recognition, personalized recognition, inclusivity, and alignment with company values,” Medina said.

There you have it—a comprehensive guide to employee recognition best practices and how to implement them! If you still have questions, you can find more stories about office culture and employee appreciation here, or review the FAQs below. 

Employee Recognition Best Practices FAQs

1. When is Employee Appreciation Day? 

The date of Employee Appreciation Day shifts year-to-year, but it always falls on the first Friday in March.

2. Who celebrates Employee Appreciation Day?

Companies, specifically HR and office managers, typically celebrate Employee Appreciation Day with their employees. Companies of all sizes can join in the fun. Employers in the US, where Employee Appreciation Day began, are more likely to celebrate the day than those in other countries, although the idea has spread worldwide.

3. Are employee appreciation gifts tax deductible?

Yes, but it depends on what you gift. Check out our article “Are Employee Gifts Tax Deductible?” for a deep dive into what counts and what doesn’t. 

4. How effective is employee recognition?

Done right, employee recognition is an extremely effective way to increase engagement, reduce burnout, and increase retention. Of course, the effectiveness will vary from employee to employee and company to company, but sticking with the employee recognition best practices outlined above will give you a boost. 

5. How do I create an employee recognition program? 

This varies from company to company, but you can start planning your year-round appreciation by identifying key times to celebrate your team throughout the year.