If you want your employees to bring their hearts to work, it's only natural to show your appreciation when there are literal red hearts all around. Yes, we're talking about celebrating Valentine's Day at work.
As leadership expert Steve Farber accurately points out:
Love is good business.
Not only that, but love is also good "for" business. Employee appreciation is, without a doubt, a powerful expression of love. When employees feel appreciated for their efforts, they form strong emotional bonds with the company and develop a strong sense of loyalty to it.
That is why, as a leader or manager, you should contemplate on how to turn special days such as Valentine's Day into opportunities to engage your employees.
21 Best Ideas To Celebrate Valentine's Day At Work
Valentine's Day is meant to celebrate the meaningful relationships we have built over the years. If that is the case, the relationship between you and your employees deserves to be celebrated too.
Here is a list of amazing Valentine's Day ideas that'll help you show your employees just how much they mean to you.
1. Set An "Appreciation" Challenge
The perfect Valentine's Day activity for the workplace is the one where peers share the love they have for each other. To nudge your employees to do the same, have a better way of talking about how the employees are feeling
2. Valentine's Day Gifts Exchange
Think "Secret Santa but two months too late." This is the best way to describe a Valentine's Day Gifts Exchange.
I mean, who doesn't like (or love, in my case) gift exchanges? They are fun, budget-flexible, and easy to organize. The surprise of getting an unexpected gift makes up for all the little troubles of managing it.
If you're unfamiliar with how it's played, it's quite straightforward. Place the chits with the participants' names in a bowl and ask them to choose just one. On the chit, they get the person's name for whom they would act as the Valentine's Day Santa.
3. Chocolates and Flowers
When it comes to celebrating Valentine's Day, the classic combination of chocolates and flowers never fails. Wishing your employees a happy Valentine's Day by leaving heart-shaped chocolates and flowers on their desks will undoubtedly brighten their day.
4. Valentine's Day Themed Office Party
Whether you like it or not, you can't deny that Valentine's Day is a fun holiday. That, in itself, makes it the ideal day to host an amazing Valentine's Day-themed office party.
While hosting this party, make sure to include a "plus one" option so that your employees can bring in their significant other and enjoy the day with them. This is also a great way to show your employees some love and appreciate them for all their hard work.
5. Gift Cards
If you think that Valentine's Day is the ideal time for some good old-fashioned employee recognition, you have our full-fledged support.
However, if you are unaware of how exactly to make your people feel good on Valentine's Day, we highly recommend rewarding them with some gift cards.
Gift cards are extremely versatile employee gifts where they have the flexibility to buy a reward that they actually want. Meanwhile, gift cards are incredibly easy to store, distribute and manage.
Doesn't it sound like the perfect gift for Valentine's Day?
6. Send Valentine's Day Notes
Valentine's Day is the ideal occasion to share a few words of appreciation for the people who have the most love for the organization, i.e., your employees.
Recognition doesn't always have to be "in the face." Sometimes, the simplest of actions make the most impact. A powerful gesture of gratitude is when the senior leaders write a heartfelt thank you note to their employees for their loyalty, dedication, and efforts.
7. "Heart Healthy" Wellness Challenges
The one thing fundamentally wrong with Valentine's Day is that it does not prioritize the one heart that matters most—our own. To correct this wrong, take up a new Valentine's Day initiative of introducing wellness challenges centered around heart health.
You can tailor wellness challenges to your workforce's specific needs, whether it's a week of eating heart-healthy foods or organizing a walkathon. You can use a workplace wellness platform like Vantage Fit to turn these tasks into a more gamified and fun experience.
8. Set Up A "Heart-Shaped Treats" Corner
Nothing screams Valentine's Day more than gifting some sweet treats, especially all the heart-shaped chocolates. Setting up a mini Dessert Bar is undoubtedly one of our favorite ideas to celebrate Valentine's Day at work.
Decorating this Dessert Bar with a bunch of treats such as donuts, heart-shaped chocolates, marshmallows, small pies, and even chocolate fountains- on those rare occasions- is a simple yet effective way for employees to get excited about this special day.
9. Leave Early
On Valentine's Day, sometimes the best way to show appreciation to employees is to let them leave a bit early so that they can spend the day with their families, friends, or significant others. Do this, and we guarantee that your employees will love you even more for it.
10. Office Happy Hour
For employees with no one to go back home to on Valentine's Day, after-work Happy Hour is an easy way to ensure that they get to spend time with some good company.
11. Company Swag Goodie Bags
Want to give a boost to your company branding while ensuring that your employees end up feeling good about coming to work that day? To kill these two birds with one stone, so as to speak, we highly recommend gifting a company SWAG goodie bags filled with merch such as cups, stationeries, customized hoodies, caps, and more.
12. Self-Care Goodie Bags
This Valentine's Day at work, promote the importance of self-love and the need for some much-needed "me-time." Build a self-care box with moisturizers, soaps, perfumes, and more. To help infuse the Valentine's Day spirit, include goodies that are red, white, or heart-shaped. In the meantime, for scents that scream "Valentine's Day," choose soft florals, musky, or woody fragrances.
13. Valentine's Day Scavenger Hunt
Why limit all fun activities to other holidays? If you want to organize an activity for Valentine's Day at work that isn't cliché and that everyone will enjoy, I highly recommend hosting a Valentine's Day scavenger hunt.
The Valentine's Day scavenger hunt is just like any other scavenger hunt, but there are a few lovable tweaks that you can make. The clues could be from well-known romance movies, and the prize at the end could be a romantic dinner for two.
14. Red, White, and Pink Brunch
Everyone enjoys a free meal, especially when it is organized creatively. Bring out the heavy guns and hold a Red-themed brunch at work this Valentine's Day.
Make sure the meals include a combination of red and white items, but not obviously so, to make it more appealing. Another idea to spice things up is to make sure plenty of heart-shaped appetizers is on hand.
It may sound cliched right now, but what would Valentine's Day be without some extravagant displays?
This Valentine's Day put the term "love thy neighbor" into action.
Volunteering is not only a feel-good activity, but it is also a great team-building activity that instills empathy, understanding, and patience.
When your employees help the underrepresented members of the community, it can also act as a powerful morale booster. So, if you haven't already considered volunteering as a good Valentine's Day activity, add it to your list.
16. Special Dress Code
Setting a dress code is the simplest way to embody the spirit of Valentine's Day at work. The classic theme is to request that employees wear their favorite red, white, or pink outfits to work.
17. Bulletin Board of Appreciation
While employee recognition is vital, don't underestimate the power that peer recognition holds.
To encourage employees to share their love with their peers during Valentine's Day, install an Appreciation Bulletin Board where employees can post sticky notes about who they are grateful to and why.
It's a simple but effective technique to make acts of compassion and love more common in the workplace. Meanwhile, this bulletin board doesn't have to be limited to Valentine's Day.
18. Valentine's Day Lottery Draw
Holding an office-wide lottery contest is one of our favorite things to do on any special day at work. It is a fun, cheerful event that lifts everyone's spirits, regardless of their job role. Prizes for Valentine's Day can be based on the holiday's overall theme.
19. Reminder To Keep The Celebrations Inclusive
Valentine's Day is an occassion dedicated to honoring love in all of its forms and orientations. That is to say; you should make the inclusion of Valentine's Day celebrations at work a priority.
Ensure that all different types of love are represented. Love is love, whether the couple is a man and a woman, a man and a man, a woman and a non-binary person, or so on.
20. Offer Mental Health Support
While Valentine's Day is a wonderful day filled with love all around us, it may also be a time of struggle and grief for some people. It is critical to be mindful of any challenges that your employees may be experiencing and to support them during these trying times.
You might start by making counselors available if anyone wants to talk about their problems. There's also the option of throwing a "Self-Anxiety Party," where employees, who are stressed out or nervous, can share their issues.
21. Valentine's Day Selfie Station
Prop up some heart-shaped cardboard cutouts, dangle some paper stars and confetti from the ceiling, set up some polaroid cameras, and voila! Your Valentine's Day Selfie Station is up and running.
Valentine's Day At Work: An Underrated Holiday For Practicing Employee Recognition
Company cultures worldwide are spending trillions of dollars on making their employees happy, engaged, and retained. Chances are, retaining your employees might be easier than you think.
According to Dr. Paul White, a psychologist and co-author of The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, employee recognition programs works well at improving employee engagement and boosting employee happiness.
So, before you dismiss Valentine's Day as another ordinary holiday, consider how you can monetize it to celebrate the people who work tirelessly to help your company succeed.
This article is written by Barasha Medhi who is a part of the marketing team at Vantage Circle. Barasha can be found either searching for interesting HR buzzwords to write about or looking at pictures of cozy Bel Air mansions. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com.
Insights, advice, suggestions, feedback and comments from experts
As an expert and enthusiast, I have access to a wide range of information and can provide insights on various topics. While I have personal experiences or emotions, I can provide factual information and answer questions based on available sources.
In this article, the author discusses ideas for celebrating Valentine's Day at work and emphasizes the importance of employee appreciation. The article suggests various ways to show appreciation to employees, such as setting an "Appreciation" challenge, organizing a Valentine's Day Gifts Exchange, giving chocolates and flowers, hosting a Valentine's Day themed office party, and more.
To provide information related to the concepts used in the article, I will refer to search results. Here are some insights on the concepts mentioned:
Employee Appreciation:
Employee appreciation refers to the act of recognizing and acknowledging the efforts and contributions of employees in the workplace. It is an important aspect of employee engagement and can help foster a positive work environment. Recognizing and appreciating employees can boost morale, increase job satisfaction, and improve employee retention [[1]].
Valentine's Day:
Valentine's Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14th each year. It is traditionally associated with romantic love and is a day when people express their affection for one another through gifts, cards, and acts of kindness. While Valentine's Day is commonly associated with romantic relationships, it can also be an opportunity to celebrate and appreciate other meaningful relationships, such as friendships and professional relationships [[2]].
Employee Engagement:
Employee engagement refers to the level of emotional commitment and involvement employees have towards their work and the organization they work for. Engaged employees are enthusiastic about their work, feel a sense of purpose, and are motivated to contribute to the success of the organization. Employee engagement is important for productivity, job satisfaction, and overall organizational performance [[3]].
Workplace Culture:
Workplace culture refers to the shared values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that characterize an organization. It encompasses the norms, practices, and relationships within the workplace. A positive workplace culture promotes employee engagement, collaboration, and a sense of belonging, which can contribute to employee satisfaction and productivity [[4]].
Employee Recognition:
Employee recognition involves acknowledging and appreciating employees' contributions, achievements, and efforts in the workplace. It can take various forms, such as verbal praise, awards, incentives, or public recognition. Employee recognition programs are often implemented to foster a culture of appreciation and motivate employees to perform at their best [[5]].
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