ANNIVERSARY AWARDS
Work anniversary gifts and year of service awards that wow.
Show your employees they matter and turn work anniversaries into unforgettable experiences with Blueboard.
Most work anniversary gifts are actually demotivating.
Despite good intentions, traditional employee work anniversary gifts—like plaques, blenders, and branded swag—can leave employees feeling underwhelmed, or worse, bitter. But each anniversary is a critical moment in the employee experience that you can’t afford to squander. With Blueboard, you can mark these year of service milestones with personalized experiences that show your employees they’re seen and valued.
See how The Trade Desk crafted an anniversary program employees love.Trusted by innovative, people-first companies around the world.
Keep long-term employees motivated with Blueboard Year of Service Awards.
Blueboard makes it easy for you to celebrate employees for their time, energy, and continued dedication to your organization, in a way that means something to them.
Awards That Show You Care
Show your people you understand what’s most important to them with personalized, experiential rewards.
Automation That Saves You Time
Sourcing and sending meaningful employee work anniversary gifts can cost hundreds of admin hours, especially for larger teams.
A Program That Gets People Talking
Experiences are innately share-worthy, and this sharing builds employee morale connections and excitement.
DESIGN YOUR PROGRAM
How to build a work anniversary gifts program people stick around for.
Every work anniversary is an opportunity for you to improve the employee experience and boost engagement and long-term motivation. Here's how:
Work anniversary gifts should map to the length of an employee’s tenure. The longer an employee has been at your company, the more significant their year of service award should be, for example:
Year 1: A wine tasting experience
Year 2: Family day at an amusement park
Year 3: Glamping in Joshua Tree
Year 5: Learning to scuba dive in Mexico
Year 10: Crossing the Northern Lights off your bucket list
Companies tend to wait too long to give employee anniversary gifts and awards. Currently, the average employee tenure was 4.1 years and this number is much lower for Millennial and Gen Z workers. Consider:
Delivering an annual year of service award, starting on Year 1
Sending the reward on the actual employee anniversary date
Giving special rewards for big work milestones, like 5 or 10 years
While employee anniversary gift programs typically fall under the purview of HR, you should involve managers so they can personally express gratitude for their team’s contributions in a 1:1 setting. This helps:
Strengthen the manager-employee relationship
Show employees how much they’re valued
Give managers and employees a reason to celebrate
Imagine the possibilities for your work anniversary gifts with Blueboard.
Here’s a sample structure for inspiration as you think about the right work anniversary gift program for your organization, plus a sampling of available Blueboard experiences:
Year 1: Start celebrating.
With average employee tenure rates under 5 years, we recommend celebrating every work anniversary to inspire retention, starting on year 1, and annually from there. Blueboard Ivory and White Gold rewards are a perfect first employee anniversary gift.
Year 3: Grow your people.
Three years is a critical employee anniversary milestone, especially for younger workers, and a perfect time to help your employees invest in themselves. Reward your people with experiences that foster personal and professional development to inspire continued service and innovative thinking.
Year 5: Go big.
Most employees don’t last 5 years at one company, which makes this a big one. Celebrate accordingly with an impactful year of service award to match their contribution. A reward that’ll allow them to treat themselves and spend quality time with the people they love.
Reward examples:
In-Home Sommelier Experience
Enjoy artisan wines and cheese with insight from a professional sommelier.
Gone Fishing
Go open boat fishing and take in beautiful views with friends (license included).
Sea Salt Therapy
Treat your mind and body at a top spa with a 4-session package.
Reward examples:
Pen to Paper
Lean into your creative side with in-person art lessons, from watercolor to drawing.
Life Coaching
Build your personalized well-being toolkit in a 4-week life coaching program.
Get Outdoors with the Family
Enjoy a year’s subscription to a family outdoor learning box. Get outside and explore!
Reward examples:
Escape to Turks and Caicos
Relax on a beachfront resort in beautiful Turks and Caicos with a loved one.
Snowmobile the Canadian Wilderness
Fly to Vancouver, Canada, stay in world-renowned Whistler, and snowmobile!
The National Treasure Experience
Head to D.C. for a full-day VIP tour, boat cruise, and explore the National Archives Building.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Get even more resources to help you build a meaningful work anniversary awards program:
Blog
Best practices to launch an employee anniversary gifts program
Get 5 best practices and essential tips to help you launch a work anniversary gifts program that’ll positively influence employee tenure rates.
Guide
Work anniversary program planning guide
Go in-depth with this free guide and learn how to make work anniversary awards a key part of your employee retention strategy.
Case Study
How Precision BioSciences powers work anniversaries with Blueboard
See how Precision BioSciences builds hype around employee anniversary milestones with Blueboard Work Anniversary Awards.
Frequently asked questions about Blueboard Work Anniversary Gifts.
At what year should my company’s employee anniversary gifts program start?
Are work anniversary gifts taxable?
What are the best ways to get employees excited about work anniversary gifts and awards?
How does Blueboard work?
What types of experiences do you offer?
Do Blueboard Anniversary Awards expire?
How quickly can we launch Blueboard?
Does Blueboard integrate with any HRIS platforms?
Looking for the best way to reward, recognize and incentivize your top people?
Connect with our team for a personalized demo of our employee recognition and rewards platform and see our hand-curated experience menus.
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