Emily Stites
Recognising employees on Valentine’s Day is a surefire way to boost feelings of appreciation and morale for your employees, no matter where they’re working. Each year, my clients need ideas for recognising their people on Valentine’s Day, so here are some examples to inspire you to give your eCards some extra love this year to boost employee engagement.
What is peer-to-peer recognition?
Before we dive into the examples, it’s important to understand what we mean by peer-to-peer recognition. Peer-to-peer recognition is a great place to start to get your employees involved in building a culture of continuous recognition. eCards are an easy stepping stone because they’re easy-to-use, approachable and accessible across all channels to all teams in an organisation.
Employees can send a meaningful eCard to any person, at any time, to help build strong and solid employee relationships.
They’re convenient, customisable and provide an opportunity to connect your workforce not just to each other, but to your purpose, mission and values. They also contribute to creating a thank you culture which is built on trust and open and honest communication, all key elements of an engaged workforce.
The options are truly endless when it comes to the reasons for sending eCards and recognising employees.
| Reasons to Recognise Employees |
| 1. Saying thank you or keep up the good work |
| 2. Saying happy birthday or happy work anniversary |
| 3. Welcoming new employees to the team |
| 4. Connecting your hybrid workforce from any location |
| 5. Acknowledging someone for pushing the boundaries |
| 6. Boosting engagement for temporary or seasonal events |
| 7. Congratulating someone for a life achievement, like buying a house |
| 8. Recognising a particular team or department for a job well done |
| 9. Showing appreciation for demonstrating company values |
In the spirit of boosting engagement for seasonal events, let’s take a peek at how a few organisations celebrated Valentine’s Day this year and gave their eCards a little extra love.
1. Making appreciation digital
One of our clients, Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), originally had a manual process in place for its Valentine’s Day eCards or 'candygrams.' But the team realised it was time to make these recognition moments digital to reach more employees and make the experience more seamless. SNHU did a homepage takeover on its peer-to-peer recognition program, 'Shine' to encourage its 4,500+ employees to log into the platform and recognise one another.
By giving these eCards a dedicated spotlight on the homepage, SNHU was able to highlight the importance of recognition and timed it with a popular holiday. Within only a week of the candygrams being live, employees sent over 1,000 eCards and counting!
2. Encouraging employees to have fun
Work should be a fun environment for individuals, which is even more apparent as we continue living through a global pandemic. One organisation, HW Martin (Traffic Management), uses its peer-to-peer recognition platform to spread some positivity and joy amongst its workforce.
Not only are these eCards punny (who doesn’t love a pun?) but they encourage the 500+ employees to log in and send each other positive messages to fuel an everyday thank you culture – from happy birthday messages to words of encouragement.
3. Saying thank you more often
While many organisations include values-based eCards in their peer-to-peer recognition strategy, sometimes employees may want to send one another eCards 'just because.' Alcumus Holdings Limited recognises that eCards can be a powerful way to reinforce positive behaviours and boost teamwork amongst its 800+ employees.
Peer-to-peer recognition is extremely motivating for employees. This Valentine’s Day, remind your workforce that a simple 'thank ewe' can go a long way.
4. Bringing remote teams together
As teams continue working remotely, eCards are the perfect way to boost connections between various departments. And the peer-to-peer activity doesn’t end with eCard sending and receiving alone. Encourage employees to visit the social recognition wall to learn more about which projects are going on in the business and leave comments or reactions so they can join in on the conversation.
Just because those water cooler conversations aren’t happening in the office right now, doesn’t mean they can’t happen digitally.
Here’s a look at this one that the Reward Gateway team created last year for our 500+ hybrid employees, working in five offices across the globe.
Valentine’s Day is just one of the many holidays that can spark a celebration of appreciation in your organisation. If you’re looking for more inspiration, check out our Employee Appreciation Day hub to learn more about making a big splash that lasts throughout the entire year.
