Making Employee Appreciation Day More Impactful for Everyone

Celebrating your entire workforce

Employee Appreciation Day is March 7, 2025. How can you honor your team in a way that remains meaningful to each person while keeping the entire business in mind? Our guide to planning a great Employee Appreciation Day event will walk you through the steps, from figuring out the best way to organize a meaningful celebration to handing out rewards everyone will love.

Lean on your team leads to help with planning

Planning a big event for Employee Appreciation Day requires accounting for everyone in the organization, which can mean anywhere from a few dozen employees to hundreds—or even thousands—spread across multiple cities. 

Turn to your team leads and workgroup organizers for help. They’ll be the ones who can give you the most information about what your employees have been up to—their accomplishments, contributions and the challenges they’ve overcome. You can also find out whether your team members have any special accommodations that they need met, such as dietary restrictions for the company gathering.

Include the entire organization

An all-hands team meeting is a great opportunity to highlight individual achievements or team milestones, letting everyone know how their accomplishments contribute to the organization's overall health and success. However, finding an appropriate time and place where everyone can attend can prove difficult, especially if you’re trying to coordinate it across multiple offices or cities.

First, try to find some free time in everyone’s schedule and set aside a block that works for the most people, remembering to factor in time zone differences if necessary. If your organization is based out of a single location and you don’t have a big enough room on-site to host everyone, consider renting a conference room or banquet hall at a central location so everyone can join. If you have a large, distributed workforce, a video conference call is a great way to bring people together without having to figure out the logistics of travel or lodging.

The most important goal is to make an effort to invite everyone in your organization. If a department or office gets left out, they will notice, potentially causing more harm to morale than if you didn’t plan an employee get-together in the first place.

Some employees won’t be able to attend for a variety of reasons. While these employees will miss out on some of the fun, don’t forget to extend any gifts or benefits handed out during the event to these people as well. Also, be sure to follow up with an email detailing what happened—with plenty of photos if you’ve got them—to reinforce just how meaningful your employees are to you.

Want to spice up your event space with some decorations? Read How Office Decor Shapes Employee Morale for some helpful tips.

Make the day special with personalized rewards

Every employee contributes to the organization in their own unique way—and Employee Appreciation Day should reflect that individuality. But how do you craft an event that feels meaningful to each person without getting too bogged down in the details—especially on a large scale?

One easy way to appeal to as many people as possible is to offer a variety of options.

Take lunch, for example. Everyone has their own favorite foods, and some may need special accommodations, like vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free options. Rather than picking one dish and hoping everyone enjoys it, consider choosing entrees from a few different restaurants and cuisines to provide the widest variety. 

Food trucks are great for this—you could hire a few and have them available in the parking lot during the day so everyone can find something that they enjoy. Depending on the size of your organization or how it’s distributed, you could provide gift cards to a food delivery app and let employees pick out what they want for lunch on their own. 

You can also take the same approach with your Employee Appreciation Day gifts. Some employees may enjoy a gift card, while others would prefer a donation to their favorite charity. Set up a list of potential gifts and allow employees to pick from their favorites. Creating an online form can make managing this process a breeze, even with hundreds of employees.

Looking for some gift ideas? Here are a few that will put a smile on your employees’ faces:

• Office plants help liven up any workspace while providing oxygen to keep your team focused.

• Gift cards to local shops or restaurants give employees a chance to pick out a gift that means something to them while helping small businesses.

• A donation to an organization that means something to your employees helps foster feel-good vibes while giving back to the community.

• An additional flex day off so your staff can spend some time with family, work on a personal project, volunteer for a local nonprofit or just get some much-needed rest.

• Commute benefits, like gas station gift cards or public transit credits, can help ease transportation burdens for those who need it.

Need some help deciding on what to eat? Read 4 Work Party Food Ideas That Employees Actually Want to learn more.

Gather feedback to improve future Appreciation Days

The goal of any event—but especially Employee Appreciation Day—is to ensure that everyone has a good time and feels included. However, you won’t know how well you achieved this goal unless you ask for feedback. Online forms are a great way to give employees the opportunity to share suggestions on how to make your event even better next year. 

The form doesn’t have to be that complicated. A few questions that rate their satisfaction with the event, food and rewards on a scale of one to five, along with a few open-ended questions for additional suggestions, are plenty to give you enough information to make the next Employee Appreciation Day a knockout.

Discover more ways to make appreciation a core value at your workplace by reading Creating a Culture of Appreciation with Walmart Business.

Make employee appreciation a regular activity

Making your team feel like they’re a meaningful part of the organization and honoring their achievements is a great way to boost employee morale, productivity and retention. 

Check out the Walmart Business content hub to learn ways to show appreciation throughout the year. You’ll also discover marketing tips, financial guides and much more. If you’re looking for affordable gifts and snacks to show how much you care, sign up for a free Walmart Business account—you’ll be able to subscribe to automatic delivery on must-have items at everyday low prices. Already have an account? Sign up for Walmart Business+ Core membership plan and enjoy a potential savings of over $500/year alongside exclusive rewards for your organization.¹

¹ Excludes most Marketplace items, freight and certain location surcharges.

² Restrictions apply. 

³ Savings based on 1 free $35+ delivery order vs. $9.95 fee and 1 free shipping order under $35 vs. $6.99 fee biweekly, plus 2% Walmart Business Rewards on monthly order >$250 (average value of $400).