Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Our lives have been more difficult than ever for the last two years andwe have all learned to appreciate our families,colleaguesandothersmore. So, how can you bring the festive, appreciative spirit into your workplace and make this Thanksgiving party count?
🦃Read on to find best Thanksgivingoffice celebration ideas and advice as well as some messages that you can use to inspire thankfulness in the office.Before you start, get theseSecrets for MaximizingROIof Employee Recognition in 2021 and Beyond.
10ThanksgivingOfficeCelebration Ideas
Holidays present great opportunities toshowcaseemployee recognitionto your whole workforce.Thanksgiving is one of such holidays when you canenjoy the festive spiritin the office. Moreover, we are reminded to be thankful and appreciative of what we have on Thanksgiving.Therefore, it presents a perfect opportunity toencourage your employees to appreciate one another.
Here are our 10 Thanksgiving office ideas.
1. Send Thank you notes
One of the easiest ways to celebrate Thanksgiving in the workplace is to write a heartfelt, sincere message to your colleague.Therefore, encourage your peers to appreciate each other for their help, calm nature,bringingexpertiseto the team or for other reasons.Also, sending Thank you notes is a simple, yet effective way to appreciateemployees that work remotely.
🦃You can use theseemployeeappreciation quotesfor inspiration, and you can alsodownload our appreciation cardsto print out and give to your coworkers in person.
2. Launch a “Thank you” themed employee recognition program
What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? Ask your employees toparticipatein anemployee recognition programthat celebrates kind colleagues andhuman side of workplaces.Itwill fill up your social wall with messages of gratitude and make for an awesomesocial recognitionmoment!
3. Have a cooking competition
Thanksgiving cooking competition or choosing the best mealmade by your employees is traditional, but fun way of celebrating Thanksgiving.In general, events involving food are great for socializing, and in theoffice,it isa great wayto promoteemployee healthand include some competitiveness in the mix!
🦃Fun fact:more and morecompanies are offering food at work to encourage mingling among employees. In 2014, 20% of companies offered some refreshments at work, while in 2018, 32% did soaccording to Indeed.
4. Give employees time off
Getting extra vacation time is one of the most popularemployee benefitsat the moment. As Thanksgiving is a holiday that is spent around family, give your employees a day or a few days off.After all, youremployees will come back to the office rested and refreshed!
5. Invite employees to volunteer
Cooking,cleaningor serving food in public kitchens isa great wayto give backto your community. Why not organize volunteering for employees? You can also organize your own event – have a tent in front of your office building and invite employees to bring food to share to less fortunate.
6. Donate
On this Thanksgiving, you can pick a charity of your choice and invite employees to donate some means to it.Donations do not always have to be financial – you can also find some local charities to give canned goods,clothesor other supplies to.
7. Host the best Thanksgivingfamily photo contest
Here is anotherway your remote workforce can join in on Thanksgiving fun. Host the best Thanksgiving family photo contest! Create several categories,like the cutest dog, the funniest family picture, best out-of-the-box celebration and more. By doing this, you will stir up conversation andget your employees to know one another better.
8. Offer a healthy Thanksgiving lunch
With rising healthcare costs,employee wellbeingis one of employers’ biggest priorities right now. Why not make Thanksgiving an opportunityto teach your employees to take care of themselves better? You can either offer a healthy version of Thanksgiving lunch to your employees, orinvite a nutritionist to give a healthy cooking class to your employees.
9. Organize a Thanksgiving art workshop
Organizingart workshops for your employees can be therapeuticaland help your employees relax in the office a bit. Moreover, you can organize a Thanksgiving art workshop for your employees’ kids. It will bea great wayfor your employees’ kids to meet and their families to get closer!
10. Swap recipes
This Thanksgiving, you can organize recipe swapping for your remote and in-office teams. Encourage employees to share their family recipes for Thanksgiving dinner and ask for pictures of recipes being made into reality!
How to Make Thanksgiving Celebration in the Office Successful
If you have been to an in-office party, you areprobably awareof how it can feel forced. Sometimes, office parties are held pro forma and can be genuinely uncomfortable. So howcan you create a festive office atmosphere and make your employees feel excited about your company’s Thanksgiving celebration?
Here are some of our tips.
Prepare early
Ad hoc preparations will steal away your time to carefully plan and communicate the details of your Thanksgiving celebrations and actions. However, if you start preparing early, more of your employees willparticipatein your celebrations. Moreover, you can even use anemployee surveyto figure out what kind of Thanksgiving celebration would your employees prefer!
Start with senior leadership
Here’san interesting statistic: managers account for 70% of variance inemployee engagement. On the other hand, only2.6% of management are highly engaged.In other words, you have much better chances toengage your employees and inspire them to appreciate one another if they have an example to follow coming from your leadership.
Therefore, explain to your leaders and managers to support you and publicly thank their teams and coworkers this Thanksgiving!
Practicerecognitionall year around
One of the best employee recognition practices is continuity. In other words, do not let employees recognize and be recognized only on Thanksgiving,Employee AppreciationDayortheirwork anniversaries. Employee appreciation should not be siloed around certain dates.
🦃Instead, you should encourage your employees to practice appreciation all year around!This will make your celebration more sincere and less like just another office party to get over with.
Create festive atmosphere
Thanksgiving calls for cozy atmosphere, autumn colors and comfort food. Make your employees feel like home by decorating your office with pumpkinsoroffering pumpkin spice latte. Play lively music in the background andprovideplenty space for employees to cozy up and talk to one another!
Build on the firm foundation
HRProfessionalsknow that all the employee appreciation efforts and shiny office parties fall flat if company does not approach employee satisfaction from ground up. In other words, you should ensure that your Total Rewards strategy is adequate before investing too much in your Thanksgiving celebration.
Why You Should Celebrate Thanksgiving in Your Workplace
Thanksgiving is a perfect holiday to highlight how much your employees’ happiness matters to you as an employer. It is a holiday that revolves around being grateful for the many things you have. Therefore, you can show your appreciation for your employees’ hard work by introducing new employee perks, or announcing new employee bonus schemes.
Here are just a few reasons to use our Thanksgiving office ideas in your workplace:
- Improving employee experience. By creating a positive experience during Thanksgiving celebrations, you are adding to your employee experience efforts.
- Signaling a positive company culture. An inspiring, motivational company culture in which employees feel safe is what every employer aims for. By creating an inclusive Thanksgiving celebrations, you will be doubling down on improving your workplace culture.
- Increasing employee retention. It’s as simple as this: when employees feel appreciated for, they are much less likely to leave. Yes, celebrating Thanksgiving alone will not directly affect your retention rate – but it will help to make your employees feel like a part of a workplace community.
Wish Happy Thanksgiving to Your Employees
If you are struggling tocome up withappreciation messages to send to your coworkers this Thanksgiving, here are some of our ideas. You can also check outouremployee appreciation emailsfor moreinspiration!
- This Thanksgiving, I am reflecting on the things I am most grateful for.Among them are you, my fellow employees! Your commitment, creativity and professionalisminspireme to work harder every day. Thank you for making this office sucha great placeto work at. I wish you and your families a happy Thanksgiving!
- Thank you so much for yourhard workin resolving our customers’ issues every day. I really appreciate your sincere wish to help them, andI know this attitude of yours will help you achievegreat thingsin your future career! I am grateful to have you on my team. Happy Thanksgiving!
- This time ofyearhelps me realize how people like you make my life better. Yourassistancethroughout our joint projectsandyour support for my ideasmean the world to me. I amtruly gratefulto have you as a colleague! I wish you a happy and abundant Thanksgiving.
- I am sending you my warmest wishes this Thanksgiving! You were working so hard last quarter and really gave your best.I believe our companyis happy to have you, and I know I am grateful to have you as a team mate. All the best and I hope your turkey is amazing this year!
- This Thanksgiving season gave me an opportunity to spend more time thinking of what I am thankful for. Well, I realized that my time at the office wouldnot be the same without you. Your bright personality reallymakesmy days. Thank you for being an amazing officebuddyand happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
- Happy Thanksgiving! This year, you are on my list of things to be grateful for. Sucha great additionto our team! You aretruly amazingand yourhard workinspires me so much. I hope you spend a nice couple ofdays off with your family.
🦃We wish you a successful and joyful Thanksgiving celebration both in office and at home! At the end, check out on which datesyou can organize more employee appreciation events to make your recognition efforts continuous. Getouremployee recognition holidays calendarand start planningall-year-round appreciation in your company.
