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March 3 is the twelfth annual celebration of Employee Appreciation Day. Even better, in 2017, Employee Appreciation Day falls on a Friday, which opens up so many opportunities for recognizing your hardest working staff members.

So take some time to let your people know you appreciate them because your company couldn’t run without them. What’s more, your team deserves it, don’t they?

If you’re out of ideas on how to celebrate this Employee Appreciation Day, here are some ways to do it right.

Foooood

If you’ve got a little extra cash to spend on Employee Appreciation Day, consider bringing in food. Breakfast, lunch–it doesn’t much matter. If you want to go all out, bring in a breakfast burrito bar/station. Grab tortillas, eggs, potatoes, cheese, and extra toppings. Don’t forget the coffee and creamer!

Get Your Employees Personalized Certificates of Appreciation

There’s no better way to celebrate your employees’ accomplishments than by giving them a little token that they can appreciate for months to come.

Happy Hour

In most states, restaurants hold happy hours from 3-6ish. (if your state doesn’t celebrate happy hours, we are sorry) Take your team out of the office, find a chill pub, and buy everyone’s first round. This gets them talking and puts them in good spirits for the weekend.

Communicate Your Appreciation

Everyone knows you’re busy running the show, so you might not have time to plan some kind of employee appreciation event. If that’s the case, then take some time to express how much you appreciate your employees’ hard work. Be specific.

Catch Some Zzs

If your work can swing it, announce that your team gets an hour to sleep in come Monday morning. Instead of the 8-sharp start, have people report by 9 am.

Send Them to the Movies

Get some movie tickets for a Friday matinee and then send your employees out to have some fun during the middle of the work day.

Tell Them to Get Out

Your team can spend the time together or they can each retire to their own homes, but you have zero chance of anyone complaining about being told to go home a few hours early.

Let Them Pick

Call a meeting in advance, set the budget, and then have your team pick whatever activity you guys will do on Employee Appreciation Day. Whether you hit a bar, do lunch, go bowling, or just stay at home, when the group decides your chances of a popular celebration skyrocket.

Most importantly, your employees want your appreciation to be genuine and specific. Simply letting them know they’re doing a good job doesn’t cut it. Be specific about what parts of the job they perform well and they’ll appreciate your taking the time to notice.

You love spoiling your staff. Now, make it fit into your yearly budget! With a few simple steps, HR pros and administrative staff can add a well-planned line item to the expense proposal when budgeting for employee recognition. This will make your employees feel appreciated throughout the new year!

Calculate the Number of Employees

First, you have to know how many people you realistically are going to recognize throughout the coming year. In addition to active staff, don’t forget to factor in potential new hires and temp employees that you will pull in for special projects. You might also include independent contractors who dedicate ample time helping to grow your business!

Estimate a Realistic Budget Per Person

Start by getting a rough idea of how much you spent last year on employee recognition by looking at old receipts or accounts payable files. A simple estimate is a good starting point.

Then, do some research to learn the cost of your most popular recognition gifts, including certificates, plaques, trophies, gift baskets or gift cards. Add an extra 10 percent or so to pad for increases in costs of goods and unexpected expenses. Once you have an estimate, multiply it by the number of people you plan to recognize.

A Per Person Budget Might Look Something Like This

• 10+ Year Employees – $500 in gifts and recognition X # of employees
• 5+ Year Employees – $300 in gifts and recognition X # of employees
• Below 5 Year Employees – $100 in gifts and recognition X # of employees
• CEO or leadership recognition

Create a Separate All Staff Budget

After budgeting for employee recognition on an individual basis, think of the entire office as a whole. Set aside funds for a few all-company parties, include holiday gatherings, birthdays, celebrating company successes or employee milestones. Decide how many of these gatherings you can afford per year, and put a price cap on each to cover decorations, food, entertainment and party favors.

An office Recognition budget May Look Something Like This

• Company Wide Parties – $1,000 X 3 Parties
• Holiday Party or Event – $5,000
• Company Breakfast $100 X 12 months

Stick to Your Annual Spending Plan

Finally, the only way to make a budget stick is to actually follow it! When prepping for any employee recognition or company party, inform all planning committee members of the budget. To stay in line, you may need to get a little creative and shop around for the best prices, use coupons or shift your plans a bit to stay on track. Potluck, anyone?

As you work on your budget, and price gifts for your employees, stock up on the most popular way to recognize a job well done — a certificate of appreciation! Shop Paper Direct’s online store today so you can have several varieties of these go-to awards on hand.