Explore the new State of Recognition 2026 report

 

Employee Birthdays & holidays

Celebrate festive occasions with style

Automate celebrations, personalize rewards, and ensure no special occasion goes unnoticed—regardless of where your employees are.

Return on recognition

Why celebrate birthdays and holidays at work?

Recognition doesn’t always have to be tied to performance. Celebrating birthdays and holidays offers an easy, reoccurring, and impactful way to show employees they matter. These personal moments deepen engagement and help create a culture of care that resonates far beyond the workplace.

Performance
Stock market trading screen with financial graphs on laptop
69
%
of employees say they would work harder if they felt more appreciated.
69
%
of employees say they would work harder if they felt more appreciated.

It's simple, really: appreciation increases feelings of self-worth and personal value, which helps employees want to put in the effort. And it can be as simple as a "Hey, great work today."

Retention
Factory workers in safety gear discussing project during industrial meeting
31
%
lower turnover in companies with strong recognition programs.
31
%
lower turnover in companies with strong recognition programs.

Appreciation leads to greater loyalty. Why? Because when people feel seen and appreciated through recognition, they feel a stronger connection to their workplace. It's simple psychology.

Satisfaction
Smiling senior professional in blue blazer during office meeting
81
%
of employees believe personalized recognition improves their workplace satisfaction.
81
%
of employees believe personalized recognition improves their workplace satisfaction.

General appreciation is great, but personalized is even better, and it doesn't have to be overwhelming. Automation tools, integrations, and more make it easier than ever.

end-to-end flexibility

Never miss a chance to celebrate

Whether it’s birthdays, national holidays, regional celebrations, or company-centric events, make these meaningful moments unforgettable.

Employee Birthdays

Meaningful birthday recognitions

Skip the generic card—and the hassle. Make every employee birthday celebration feel personal:

  • Celebrate peers in a dedicated birthday feed with custom messages
  • Share birthday shoutouts to Slack or monitors for (optional) company-wide visibility
  • Send points or curated gifts employees will actually love
  • Utilize user profiles to give thoughtful, interest-based gifts

testimonials

What customers are saying

BPM
 
 
We use recognition as a tool to motivate and encourage our employees—everyone knows Awardco because we actively use it for any and all incentives for employees.
Monica Delgado
Senior Manager of Total Rewards
Dubai Airports
 
 
As a manager of a team of seven, I use High Flyer to recognize and thank my team each quarter. It makes them feel appreciated and motivated, knowing their efforts are seen.
Soosan Abidali
Office Manager, Strategy & Development, Dubai Airports
Southern Oregon Head Start
 
 
If we retain a teacher, that’s 20 students we get to serve. Going from 45% turnover to 8% means we’ve kept 85–90 more staff. That’s an incredible impact on both our children and our budget.
Amber Lease
Human Resource Director
Dubai Airports
 
 
The High Flyer program makes you feel seen. It’s not just a gift, it’s a sign of recognition that really motivates you.
Barkin Ozdemir
Content Development Manager, Brand & Communications, Dubai Airports
Pacific Life
 
 
We do a lot of remote work activities where you can win something. We do a lot of these contests, and I used to go to Amazon and send a $25 gift card to the winners, but now I do it through Awardco. It's in the system, trackable, and much more streamlined.
Amberlee Taylor
Sr. Communications Specialist
Lockton
 
 
It humanizes our organization. I can wish someone a happy birthday in Philadelphia from my desk in Houston—because I saw it in the Awardco feed. That’s magic.
Melissa York
SVP, Head of People & Culture
Ampirical
 
 
I could rave to millions of people that I think this should be the platform of choice.
Ryan Zellner
Marketing & Corporate Communications Manager
Dubai Airports
 
 
Recognition using the High Flyer platform has given us greater flexibility and alignment with our objectives. It allows us to acknowledge teams and individuals in ways that connect directly to our successes and values.
Kan Ni
Vice President, Airport Operations Control Center, Dubai Airports
America First Credit Union
 
 
Previously, every manager hand-wrote a message to their employees every six months thanking them for their hard work, and it was all tied in with the bonus distribution. It was very high-touch, very labor intensive, and we had the process down to a science. We liked the connections that formed between managers and employees as a result of this program, but after COVID-19 most of our workforce went remote. Our semi-annual tradition wasn't possible any longer, nor was it feasible.
Kent Streuling
SVP of HR
4Refuel
 
 
Everybody at 4Refuel understands how they make a difference. Whether you’re on a customer site or supporting from the office, you bring value every day.
Shawn McGuire
Manager, Communications - North America
Ampirical
 
 
Our client success rep helped us create a training and recording module of the platform to show employees how to properly use it. You rarely find a company willing to spend the time to make sure you're properly equipped.
Ryan Zellner
Marketing & Corporate Communications Manager
Lockton
 
 
You get the same feeling when you are recognized as when you are recognizing someone else. Awardco gives you that platform and makes it so easy to gain those feelings. I love seeing my team being recognized or my leaders recognizing the teams.
Tisa Penny
Engagement & Events Lead, 2025 Recognition Rockstar Winner
Alera Group
 
 
We do an annual engagement survey, and we do see a lot of comments from people saying they love to work here because of the people they work with. We get a lot of good comments about working with others.
Pam Johnson
VP of Human Resources
Colonial Pipeline
 
 
What we found most that sold us on Awardco over everyone else, not only was the platform very easy to use, but that partnership with Amazon is phenomenal.
Imran Merchant
Total Rewards Manager
PMG
 
 
Since joining, I’ve found myKudos [Awardco] posts to be a great way to learn what others are doing across the agency. I’ve even picked up ideas from shoutouts that I’ve been able to implement on my own accounts. It’s more than recognition—it’s a source of inspiration.
Colby Green
Paid Social Senior Associate

Celebrate any special day

Make birthdays and holidays stand-out events that employees will love.