How To Host a Memorable Staff Appreciation Week

Appreciation matters in the workplace. It’s great to consistently express your thanks through simple methods that are woven into a company culture of recognition, but going the extra mile with a grand gesture of gratitude can show your team how much you appreciate their hard work. Celebrating their efforts in a staff appreciation week over several days is a wonderful way to accomplish this goal.

According to a survey from Zippia, 80% of employees say they would work harder if they felt their efforts were better recognized. Another survey reports that 53% of workers admit they would stay longer at their job if they felt more appreciated by their boss. Employee engagement is key to any strong business, and these statistics underscore how showing gratitude leads to a happier workplace.

In this guide, we examine staff appreciation week ideas that are sure to bring your recognition and gratitude to the forefront. You know how integral your employees are to the success of your company, so you can never go wrong with celebrating their hard work!

12 Creative Staff Appreciation Week Ideas

Employee Appreciation Day is the cornerstone of any company-wide gratitude initiative. It’s the perfect day to give shout-outs to team members, provide thank-you notes for exceptional performance, and boost morale.

An entire appreciation week simply takes Employee Appreciation Day ideas and expands on them. If your staff is worthy of a week of celebration — and most are — here are some concepts to help you plan a memorable, exciting five-day jubilee.

1. Reward Them With Fun Experiences

Your team has been grinding to do a great job, so offer them a chance to unwind with some fun away-from-work experiences they’ll enjoy. Escape rooms, scavenger hunts, raffles, and ice-cream socials are among the most popular options, and these activities even work well virtually if your team is filled with remote employees.

These experiences allow your team to relax while having fun with their coworkers, which can also serve your company well in terms of team-building camaraderie going forward.

2. Host an Office Game Night

Office game nights are another one of the top epic staff appreciation week ideas. Team trivia, charades, icebreakers, classic board games, or even spoofing a beloved TV show are all fantastic, stimulating ideas.

With a countless number of options, you can plan different themed events during your week of festivities if you’re hoping to stage multiple game nights. Not only do these evenings let your team unwind, but they also promote friendly competition and group bonding that can strengthen your company.

For in-office gatherings, use a breakroom as a staging area for your office game nights. It’s easy to pack people in, plus you can use the room as a forum to show public recognition for milestones, work anniversaries, and catering.

Virtual parties/game nights are just as easy. With a bit of planning, you can take the same staff appreciation week ideas or games and turn them into a digital version.

3. Allow Personal Project Time

Your staff invests much of their time to help you, so why not reward their efforts with some free time to work on something for themselves?

Let them enjoy a small amount of time each day where they aren’t thinking about work. These breaks can be used however they want, including individual passion projects, DIY research about stuff they’re interested in, or even quick breaks where they can simply turn their brain off from work-related stress via social media or socializing on Slack.

4. Wrap Up Early

If you don’t want to schedule a personal break during the day but still want to reward your staff with extra time for themselves, wrap up work early. No matter if it’s working a half-day or letting people leave an hour earlier than usual, getting out of work without using PTO is always an exciting perk for any employee.

This idea will boost the morale of every member of your team, reduce burnout, and hopefully, improve retention. Plus, it’s a perfect way to wrap up your staff appreciation week on a positive note.

5. Treat Them to a Week of Lunches

Nothing says thank you quite like buying someone a delicious meal. So why not show gratitude to your employees by treating them to a week of catered virtual lunches?

Catered lunches pair nicely with the rest of your weekly staff appreciation ideas, and the beauty of doing it for an entire week means that you can pick different food themes for each day.

Catered meals for remote workers can be difficult, but Hoppier can solve these issues. We provide your workers with virtual gift cards, which can be used to purchase food from a long list of vendors that deliver to each person’s location. Our system is an easy solution to the hassle of catering, and it’s even more helpful if you’re coordinating a week’s worth of lunches.

6. Offer a Daily Assortment of Snacks

Similar to how you can offer your staff catered lunches, you can also give thanks by letting them pick out some office snacks to enjoy during the day. Enabling people to savor sweet treats and goodies is always a fun way to lift their spirits at work. You can also promote nutritious values by offering healthy alternatives during the week — or even year-round.

It’s not as easy to simply bring in snacks to the office anymore due to COVID-19 concerns and the rise of remote working, which is why Hoppier works perfectly in a post-pandemic world. When you’re letting them order lunch, encourage them to also select some snacks to enjoy throughout the afternoon. It’s a creative way for your team to enjoy treats, while saving you from delivery-planning stress.

7. Buy Them a Drink

Going out for workday coffee breaks or organizing after-work drinks are two established office traditions. Remote and hybrid work has limited the frequency of those fun activities, but you can reward your employees by organizing a modern spin on these classic events.

Consider planning (and paying for) virtual coffee breaks or virtual happy hour drinks as a way to show your appreciation, letting your staff unwind through customary office rituals that can bring people closer together.

8. Support Professional Development Opportunities

Ambitious workers always cherish the opportunity to learn from people. Though it’s seldom thought of as an employee gift idea, offering professional development or mentorship opportunities is a wonderful addition to your staff appreciation week ideas.

Consider hosting a one-day mixer for your team to connect them with people who can help them grow professionally. Think of it as a win-win day off without them having to use PTO or a sick day.

And if your company doesn’t have a mentorship program established, creating one would lead to positive employee experiences that last well beyond staff appreciation week.

9. Give Out Custom Awards

As much as staff appreciation week ideas should be dedicated to your team as a whole, it’s also important to focus on your employees as individuals. Giving out customized awards is a unique way to spotlight each member of your team, and it can make for a fun ceremony as people cheer for their colleagues and laugh throughout the event.

This idea not only presents an opportunity to dish out personal praise, but it also unites your staff even further through team-bonding in a jovial situation.

10. Send Them Gift Cards

If you want to give thanks to your team but aren’t sure what to get them, gift cards are always a safe choice. When evaluating staff appreciation week gifts, it’s often better to let your employees pick something themselves as opposed to buying a specific item that they might not want.

It’s best if you provide them with a gift card to a store or service that they’ll enjoy, so do some research into what interests your workers may have ahead of time.

11. Provide Them with Wellness Boxes

Wellness boxes are another reliable staff appreciation week idea. The entire week is about demonstrating to your team how much you care about them, and what’s a better corporate gifting idea to show you care than prioritizing their well-being? Even if they don’t use each item from your wellness package, there will always be something useful for them.

Recognizing the importance of your staff’s health and well-being can also play a significant role in building long-term loyalty with your employees through mental health awareness, self-care, and work-life balance.

12. Make Personalized Thank-You Netters

As cool as it is for people to get gifts, swag, or rewards for doing a good job, don’t underestimate the power of personalized thank-you letters. There’s just something special about reading a note made just for you. It may take time to craft the right words, but it’s easy to deliver them either in-person or virtually. And best of all, thank you letters are almost free to make! So if you’re looking for inexpensive employee appreciation gifts, thank you letters are a perfect inclusion.

How To Put Your Staff Appreciation Week Ideas in Motion

Armed with a few staff appreciation week ideas, you can start the planning phase. Admittedly, this is a far less exciting portion of the festivities, but a necessary part of a successful week. Follow the steps below to ensure your vision becomes reality.

1. Brainstorm Different Ideas

Planning several days of staff appreciation week ideas is not easy, so you should spend plenty of time brainstorming. Once you come up with a general list of ideas, it’s time to organize a schedule or template of events that spreads out fun over the course of five days. Going over possible activities, gifts, and themes in advance will help you structure a memorable week-long experience for your employees.

2. Get Input From Your Staff

Don’t assume that your ideas align with what your team wants. Ask your employees for staff appreciation week ideas, or if there are any particular activities and events they really want to see happen over the festivities.

Even though there’s nothing wrong with small surprises, your staff’s input is key before making any grand gestures.

3. Set the Budget

Now that you have a team-approved schedule in place, plan the week’s finances. Deciding to hold a week-long staff appreciation week means that you can’t blow the entire budget on Day 1. Put together a schedule and evaluate how much money will be needed to execute each idea, while also looking for inexpensive options to use wherever possible to keep costs down.

4. Craft a Flexible Schedule

Just because you have an idea of a daily schedule doesn’t mean that things will follow through exactly as planned. Projects can get in the way and prevent you from doing all of your planned activities. Additionally, certain events will run longer or shorter than you expect. Keeping a contingency plan and a flexible schedule throughout the week ensures that you’ll always be prepared for changes.

5. Deliver Dynamic Invitations

As everyone in the working world knows, first impressions matter. If you want people to get excited for your staff appreciation week plans, send a message (literally) to capture their attention and generate buzz.

Dress up your invitations with interactive features to wow your employees. It’s also important to keep office buzz going after the invites are sent, so be sure to hype up the week’s activities in advance.

6. Start and End Every Day Strong

It’s crucial to keep your team engaged during staff appreciation week, so aim to start and end each day of the festivities with something that puts a smile on their face. Those first few moments of work can set a tone for the entire day, so capitalize on that by making everyone feel happy early. And finishing every workday with a great gift or fun activity can help carry over those strong positive vibes into the next one.

7. Put in the Effort

Most importantly, show your team that you put in effort to make their week special. Planning and orchestrating a memorable staff appreciation week demonstrates how truly thankful you are for their hard work. After all, these employees are being honored because of their daily efforts to help your company, so you should reciprocate that effort to genuinely acknowledge your gratitude.

Hoppier: A Unique Tool To Show Appreciation to Your Staff

As mentioned earlier, Hoppier is a great way to spice up your staff appreciation week ideas. Whether you’re planning to provide full meals or just snacks throughout the week, gift bags, or wellness boxes, our simple system makes it easy to keep your employees well-fed and entertained. All you have to do is create an account, and then you can distribute Hoppier virtual cards to each of your workers.

Our wide variety of vendors gives your team plenty of catering options, meaning Hoppier can even be a one-stop shop approach if you want to use our system to provide delicious yet different meals each day of the week. And feel free to put as much money on the virtual cards as you think is needed, because we’ll offer refunds or future credits for any money left over.

Hoppier can also be used as a convenient prize or giveaway for any staff games that you play. Offering bonus virtual cards as rewards can help keep your employees motivated with friendly competition, while also being a welcome gift for all people involved.