Applauding employees who excel at their jobs makes your star staff members feel appreciated, cared for and recognized. Spotlighting your superstars also benefits your business—40% of employees say they’d put extra energy into their job if they were recognized more often. If you’d love to show your top crew members some appreciation, we offer a few ideas plus staff recognition gifts to help say thank you.
Throw a surprise party with fun party favors
A surprise party takes staff recognition to a whole new level. When star team members walk into work one morning expecting just another normal day at the office, they’ll be thrilled to discover an appreciation party is waiting. Offer a nice spread of snacks, like bagels and fruit or a charcuterie board. Pass out mug cake mixes for everyone to bake a mini cake in the breakroom’s microwave.
Get people engaged with a “Who Knows the Star Best” game. List several questions about your star performers (like how tall they are or what their favorite movie is). Whoever gives the most correct answers wins. Toast their success with champagne flutes filled to the brim with a bubbly beverage. Before the party’s over, pass out fun party favors, like mint tins or sunglasses.
Provide lunch (or a stocked lunch cooler)
Taking star employees out to lunch is a fantastic way to say thank you. They get quality one-on-one time with you as well as a chance to step away from work for a bit. Let them ask you a bunch of questions or simply sit back and relax. If an in-person lunch isn’t feasible, send them a box lunch in a two-tone lunch cooler. If they like to camp and backpack, they’ll love having their lunch packaged in a Chic Cooler Backpack.
Or offer them useful employee appreciation giveaways for everyday life. If they have kids in school, stackable lunch sets make packing school lunches easy. Besides being able to give their kids a cute lunch box, your team members will also appreciate the easy stack-and-store design.
Discuss their ideas and reward them with gifts
Plan one-on-one meetings with your best employees to discuss ideas they have for improving workflow and processes. This shows that you respect their ideas and take them seriously. Before you meet, give them a spiral notebook and soft touch twist pen and highlighter to record ideas and highlight their favorites. As a thank-you for their time, provide a staff recognition gift after the meeting, like a handy multi-tool or a ceramic kitchen utensil set.
You can also designate a star employee as “breakroom boss” for the day. They get to choose their favorite snacks and drinks for the breakroom, as well as their preferred background music.
Recognize off-the-clock efforts with employee appreciation giveaways
Your star employees are likely also stars outside of work. Maybe they volunteer at the local animal shelter or food pantry. Perhaps they’re budding painters or writers working on their next masterpiece. Or maybe they’re busy shuttling kids between school events. Whatever they do on their own time, let them know you see how incredible they are.
During your next staff meeting, give a shout-out to your stars. Or if your top employees prefer private recognition, write a heartfelt message in a card. Mention a few of the ways you see them rocking it outside of work. You can also provide a gift box filled with employee appreciation giveaways, like a new tea and coffee mug to use every morning (or any time of day). Or give them a poker chip set to help them have fun and unwind after a long day. If they have a favorite hobby, give them something that correlates with their hobby, like a dozen new golf balls or a colored pencil pack.
Show genuine appreciation
With ideas like providing lunch and discussing top team members’ ideas, your star employees will feel honored and appreciated. And with a few staff recognition gifts, your best team members will be more loyal than ever.