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.

This is some text inside of a div block.
This is some text inside of a div block.
This is some text inside of a div block.
This is some text inside of a div block.
Automated Recurring Events

Automate birthday and holiday rewards with customizable gifts, messages, or points based on the holiday, tenure, region, or other metadata.

Custom Catalogs

Build custom catalogs from millions of global gift options, so every birthday and holiday feels personal.

Custom Reward Point Amounts

Create flexible reward structures with customizable points to match your culture—perfect for both small wins and big celebrations.

Localization for Regional Traditions

Celebrate globally with localized holidays, cultural events, and recognition tailored to your diverse workforce.

 

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

NIBCO
 
 
We’ve always had some sort of recognition program, but never anything all-inclusive where all associates at every location were engaged in the same program—until Awardco.
Woman with long dark hair with auburn highlights, wearing a black top, smiling against a gray background.
Dawn Bloch
Chief People Officer
PMG
 
 
Awardco checked all the boxes for us, from onboarding all the way up to senior leadership.
Smiling middle-aged woman with brown hair wearing a red cardigan, black top, and multicolored beaded necklace against a white background.
Pam Buyers
Head of Culture
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.
Smiling young man with light brown hair and beard wearing a white checkered shirt against a dark background with circular wall decor.
Colby Green
Paid Social Senior Associate
Dubai Airports
 
 
It only takes a moment to thank someone, but that recognition stays with them and inspires them to do even better.
Soosan Abidali
Office Manager, Strategy & Development, Dubai Airports
Ob Hospitalist Group
 
 
Our investment to leverage the Center of Excellence team at Awardco was the best decision we made. Katie didn’t just advise, she partnered. She brought deep healthcare expertise and helped us translate what recognition should feel like for clinicians into something that actually works for a deskless, clinical workforce. With her leadership, we built our Awardco instance as a true virtual haven: a values-based recognition experience designed with and for our teams, easily accessible, and directly tied to our mission. The result is an always-on program that makes it easy to celebrate the moments that matter — strengthening connection, belonging, and pride across the organization.
Smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing a black blouse, with a blurred green and gray background.
Megan Vera Weaklend
SVP of Marketing & Customer Experience
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.
Smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing pearl earrings, a matching necklace, a white top, and a black blazer in a blurred office background.
Monica Delgado
Senior Manager of Total Rewards
Lockton
 
 
We created ‘Celebrating Culture’—a program where we reward engagement at everything from costume contests to lunch-and-learns. Awardco makes it easy to motivate and recognize employees both in person and remotely.
Smiling woman with shoulder-length dark wavy hair wearing a green textured blouse against a black background.
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.
Smiling woman with blonde hair wearing a black blazer and white collared shirt against a gray background.
Pam Johnson
VP of Human Resources
4Refuel
 
 
We have an on-the-spot recognition program where leaders can immediately recognize a CRP for demonstrating safe behavior. That recognition is visible across the organization, which motivates others to do the same. Instead of focusing on what went wrong, we’ve shifted our culture to spotlight what’s being done right—and that’s encouraged everyone to follow that path.
Headshot of a man with short black hair wearing a gray blazer and light blue shirt, smiling against a gray cloudy background.
Roshan Varghese
Sr. Director, Environment, Health & Safety
Dubai Airports
 
 
I was really excited when I received my High Flyer award last week. I wasn’t expecting it, and it made me feel valued and seen.
Soosan Abidali
Office Manager, Strategy & Development, Dubai Airports
Americare Senior Living
 
 
When people join Americare, we want them to feel like they're part of something bigger than just a job, that it's part of having purpose because they get to make a difference in residents' lives.
Smiling woman with wavy blonde hair wearing a red blazer, black top, and a silver cross necklace against a blue-gray background.
Mary Eaves
Senior VP of Operations (Assisted Living Division)
ARUP Laboratories
 
 
There is never a good time to switch to a new system, but I also know that employees were eager for something new. Awardco has given us incredible power and flexibility with our recognition programs because of the millions of options to choose from, and the ability for employees to choose their own rewards has been a game changer. We know what we're getting, we know we're getting the best price, and our employees couldn't be happier.
Smiling woman with short blonde hair wearing glasses, a turquoise blouse, pearl necklace, and black cardigan.
Cheryl Vincent
Talent Development Manager
McCormick & Company
 
 
With AI becoming more prominent, recognition helps us maintain the humanity and connection that define our culture. It highlights where employees create true value, even as technology expands.
Smiling woman with long dark hair wearing a black blazer and red lipstick against a gray background.
Lola Fawole
VP of HR Americas
SEF Energy
 
 
Awardco allows everything to support our core values and our mission, which is very important to us because that strengthens our culture.
Lauren Long
HR Operations Manager
PMG
 
 
Recognition truly is a cornerstone of PMG’s culture because it fuels engagement, strengthens relationships, and reinforces the behaviors that drive our success. It allows you to immediately recognize big and small wins where that impact is immediately felt.
Smiling woman with light brown hair wearing gold hoop earrings and a blue and white striped shirt.
Mary O’Brien
Head of Programmatic

Thought Leadership & Resources

Employee celebration resources

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can organizations restrict birthday or holiday points to a specific catalog?
 

Where supported, organizations can restrict an award to a selected catalog or reward category. For example, onboarding or holiday points may be limited to company swag, while a birthday award may be available across a broader marketplace.

Catalog restrictions can help align the reward with the purpose of the program, the employee population, the company store, or the available budget. The restriction may apply to a specific award, point balance, employee group, or campaign.

The available catalog controls and employee visibility depend on the enabled product and setup. Organizations should confirm whether a catalog can be limited by country, population, category, provider, or event.

What types of birthday and holiday rewards can employees receive?
 

Depending on the configured marketplace and program, employees may receive or choose from:

  • Reward points to spend in an available marketplace
  • Gift cards or digital reward options
  • Company merchandise or a branded swag catalog
  • Curated holiday or seasonal reward collections
  • Travel, experiences, or local activities
  • Charitable donations or a campaign-specific giving option
  • Nonmonetary recognition, messages, or other configured experiences

The available catalog, country coverage, supplier inventory, currency, fulfillment, and point value can vary. Organizations should describe representative categories rather than guarantee a specific brand, item, event, price, or delivery date.

Can organizations choose which employees receive birthday or holiday rewards?
 

Organizations can configure eligibility around approved employee and organizational data. Rules may include location, country, department, employee type, employment status, hire date, or other supported metadata.

This allows a company to run one global program, separate programs by region, or different birthday and holiday experiences for selected populations. A seasonal program may also use different reward values, catalogs, or dates for different locations.

The available filters and rule behavior depend on the connected data source and enabled configuration. Organizations should define how new hires, employees on leave, transfers, terminations, rehired employees, and corrected data are handled.

Can birthday and holiday rewards be personalized?
 

Organizations can typically configure the message, branding, sender, reward value, catalog, visibility, notification, and other elements of the employee experience.

A birthday program might send a personal message with points or a selected gift. A holiday program might offer a broad marketplace, a seasonal catalog, company-branded merchandise, a local gift option, or a campaign-specific reward.

Personalization options vary by program. Organizations should confirm which fields, messages, branding elements, delivery channels, and recognition experiences can be customized before publishing detailed product claims.

Can Awardco automate birthday and holiday recognition?
 

Yes, where the applicable programs and employee data are enabled, organizations can automate birthday recognition and schedule recurring holiday rewards or campaigns.

Birthday automation may use an approved employee birth-date field to identify eligible employees. Holiday programs can be scheduled around a specific date, season, campaign period, or company calendar and may distribute points or another reward to a defined population.

Automation can reduce manual administration, but organizations should validate the source data, trigger timing, employee eligibility, campaign start date, and exception process before launch.

Celebrate any special day

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