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

4Refuel
 
 
Employees look forward to seeing their monthly Safety All-Star points. Those conversations happen in lunchrooms, dressing rooms—it becomes part of our culture.
Roshan Varghese
Sr. Director, Environment, Health & Safety
4Refuel
 
 
Often, you're on the road for an entire shift, and you may not necessarily interact with a lot of other colleagues… And so being recognized helps you feel more connected with the team.
Christopher Whilsmith
Certified Refueling Professional
NIBCO
 
 
People like to be recognized for what they’ve contributed. They’re proud of their work—and they should be.
Ashley Martin
President & CEO
All Access Staging and Productions
 
 
Awardco has helped us make recognition more worthwhile by improving employee morale and showing them that we care—recognition is more meaningful, so it's become more valuable to our employees.
Mason Ongarato
HR Software & Employee Benefits Expert
 
 
I love how simple Awardco is to use, both the main platform and the admin side, with how many reporting features it has to offer.
Anonymous
HR Generalist
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
NIBCO
 
 
Awardco has definitely helped us do recognition even better. Recognizing someone you work with, even if you don’t see them every day, has been empowering.
Ashley Martin
President & CEO
PMG
 
 
We’ve made myKudos [Awardco] a key part of how we work at all levels—whether you’re a people manager or an individual contributor. MyKudos is just as powerful when peers recognize each other, creating a culture of appreciation across the organization
Mary O’Brien
Head of Programmatic
Amur Equipment Finance
 
 
We recently pulled an in-platform report to check on usage, and then we reached out to people individually to improve adoption—especially managers. Since then, engagement has been significantly higher, and our culture of recognition is growing—even our executives are recognizing.
Hannah Fagan
Human Resource Leader
Lockton
 
 
When I pitched Awardco to our leadership team, I shared the risk of losing connection as we grow. I framed it as a strategic need. Their response? ‘Stop talking. Just do it.
Melissa York
SVP, Head of People & Culture
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
4Refuel
 
 
It’s really meaningful to see CRPs who are out on the road by themselves, along with employees working from home, still interacting and connecting through the platform. It’s almost like our 4Refuel Facebook—bringing everyone together no matter where they’re working.
Lynne Harkness
VP, People & Culture
WOW! mobile boutique
 
 
We didn't want or need a bunch of bells and whistles. We needed an efficient platform that would empower the recognition and reward programs we wanted to run. Awardco has worked so well—and continues to work so well.
Michael Cioffi
Director, Marketing, Communication, and Experience
PMG
 
 
I really appreciate how myKudos [Awardco] offers different ‘classifications’ of shoutouts, so no matter how someone went above and beyond, there’s a way to recognize it. We work with some incredible people, and it’s important to celebrate them however we can.
Colby Green
Paid Social Senior Associate
Hertz
 
 
Using Awardco has given us the confidence that we've partnered with someone that knows what they're doing. We're not only saving a lot of time, but we're building the confidence of our employees as we express our appreciation to all of them worldwide.
Annasuela Fritz
HR Projects and Recognition Manager

Celebrate any special day

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