Company Celebrations to Keep Your Employees Engaged: Expert Advice

Wonder how to engage your employees with company celebrations?

Well, before doing this, let us first give you the reasons why it’s a must, not a choice.

Employee disengagement is like a contagious disease that spreads even more fiercely over the years. In 2023, it hit its nine-year high. Today, only 23% of employees are actively engaged at work, while others are disengaged. It strikes remote teams even harder. They are typically 182% less engaged than their in-office peers.

This article will help you find a “cure” for your workforce: engaging employees in corporate celebrations and activities.

Types of Company Celebrations to Boost Employee Engagement

Milestone Celebrations

Reached a significant signpost in your company’s journey?

Celebrate it with your team to better engage employees and let them feel a commitment to common goals and the importance of your corporate achievements and pivotal moments.

Here’s what you can dedicate your company celebration to:

• Sales win
• Project success
• Revenue target
• Historical marker in business development (e.g., moving online, coming to mobile devices, or switching to “green” initiatives)
• Company’s anniversary

For example:

Citadel treated roughly 1,200 employees and family members with a three-day celebration at Tokyo’s Disney resort in honor of the brand’s 30th anniversary.

Team-Building Events

You can celebrate your team’s achievements, bond your employees, and foster corporate morale simultaneously by organizing team building for employee engagement.

Off-site Team Building

Expand your team-building event beyond the office walls and engage your employees with off-site team-building by changing the routine location.

For example:

PlentyOfFish hosted an outdoor event, The Amazing Chase, as the team’s annual retreat organized by Outback.

Virtual Team-Building

If you aim to engage remote employees with company events, consider virtual team-building activities like these:

• Virtual campfire
• Online bingo
• Virtual beach staycation
• Virtual murder mystery
• Zoom cocktail party
• Virtual trivia championship, etc.

Get your remote team into the spirit of celebration with a holiday-driven virtual activity like St. Patrick’s Day Happy Hour or Oktoberfest Trivia.

For example:

Stemcell celebrated the holidays with virtually-hosted Holiday Hijinks to raise the team’s spirit and engagement.

Cultural and Diversity Celebrations

In fact, 68% of companies with highly engaged employees have a well-planned DEI strategy.

Corporate diversity and inclusion events should be intrinsic to your DEI plan. Create your DEI calendar and add diverse office holidays to it, among those:

• Black History Month
• World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
• Mental Health Awareness Month
• Race Unity Day
• Gender Equality Month
• International Pride Day and Pride Month
• Equal Pay Day, and others.

Then, various religious holidays may be celebrated by your employees from diverse cultures. Take Ramadan (Islamic), Easter (Christianity), or Hanukkah (Jewish).

For example, look at Cooleaf’s DEI holiday calendar.

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Personal Achievements and Recognitions

Four in five workers claim that recognition positively impacts their engagement levels.

Focus on employee recognition and organize company celebrations to highlight employees’ personal, professional, or social benchmarks:

• Birthday
• Graduation
• Promotion
• Marriage
• Retirement, etc.

Why not launch an employee spotlight series and congratulate your workers on special days for them?

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You can also send individual thank-you cards or personalized gift boxes to every team member on Employee Appreciation Day.

Expert Tips for Successful Company Celebrations

We asked company leaders and managers on how to engage employees more effectively in corporate events. And here’s what they said.

Create the Right Setting and Decoration

According to Danelle Ferreira, Crystal Specialist at AllCrystal, “A proper atmosphere lies at the heart of your company’s celebration success. That is why it is crucial to adequately align the setting and décor with the corporate event theme.”

To achieve that, Ferreira recommends paying extra attention to the following aspects:

• Place (indoor or outdoor)
• Dress code
• Activity type (for instance, Scream Pursuit for a Halloween-themed party)
• Colors
• Food and drinks
• Lighting

Suppose you plan a Bohemian, crystal-themed cocktail party. You may need to create a dedicated space with Bohemian vibes and dress up accordingly in Boho-style clothing.

Or –

Where would it be without pumpkins if it’s a team-building activity on Halloween?

Even if you engage your employees in remote team-building activities, encourage them to decorate their home offices accordingly to immerse in the event stylistics.

Make it Fun and Memorable with Sensory Experiences

“The best way to keep your employees engaged in company celebrations is by appealing to the five human senses (sight, smell, touch, taste, and sound) and striving for multi-sensory employee experiences. A sensory experience builds neural pathways in our minds, excites, and drives lasting memories,” explains Sam Browne, Founder of Findaband.

Naturally, every company celebration or event revolves around visual experiences (the sight sense). However, you can diversify your corporate activity list with other sensory, outside-the-box activities like these:

1. Touch → Guess What’s in the Box Game, Blind Drawing, Marshmallow-and-Toothpick Tower Challenge
2. Smell and taste → Cooking Masterclass, Aromas Workshop, Wine Tasting, Co-working Cafe
3. Sound → Karaoke Night, DJ Party, Dance Competition

For example:

The Intuit Indian Network team organized a corporate dance party for their Diwali holiday celebration.

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Share Your Celebration with the Community

Your corporate event may transform into an even more fun and engaging experience for your staff if shared with the community.

This strategic approach comes from Brooke Webber, Head of Marketing at Ninja Patches. She says, “By making your company celebrations more socially open and inclusive, you will demonstrate your societal values and engage not only your employees but also your community. More importantly, you can unite them around common values, for instance, via charity events or volunteer work.”

Indeed, you can celebrate diverse holidays with your team by implementing corporate volunteering ideas or engaging in charitable events. For example, it might be a “Wheelchairs for Charity” event on International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

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Overcoming Major Challenges in Organizing Corporate Celebrations

Challenge #1. Time Constraints.

No time to leave your office for long, X-day company celebrations and transfer your team to an off-site location?

Try fast team-building activities to increase employee engagement in less than 30 minutes:

• Icebreaker questions
• Copycat
• Birth map

• Quick escape room puzzles
• Or other small problem-solving exercises

For example:

It took Coca-Cola’s workers roughly half an hour to crack the code prepared by Outback without actually leaving the meeting room.

Challenge #2. Accidents and Injuries.

As an employer, you’re responsible for employee well-being during any corporate event, on-site or off-site.

Undertake security measures and send safety messages and reminders to employees before company celebrations and events to mitigate risks and prevent accidents. This proactive view of the safety problem can help you reduce the likelihood of workplace injuries and accidents and, consequently, worker’s compensation claims.

Conclusion

Corporate celebrations are the only treatment you need to fight disengagement.

So, why wait?

Organize company events that inspire and uplift your employees. From themed indoor parties to outdoor adventures, Outback can offer you a wide range of employee engagement event ideas and team-building activities.

Request a quote from Outback and let your next team-building event become a hub for excitement and fun.

Author Bio

Catherine Schwartz is an author who specializes in employee well-being and engagement.