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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.

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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

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.
Smiling woman with long wavy blonde hair wearing a black top and a pendant necklace against a black background.
Melissa York
SVP, Head of People & Culture
Lockton
 
 
When I joined Lockton, we didn’t have a recognition platform. It was the first thing I pushed for—because I’ve seen firsthand how important it is. People want to feel seen and validated.
Smiling woman with long dark hair wearing a purple blouse and white earrings against a black background.
Selia Wood
AVP, Talent & Engagement
Dubai Airports
 
 
High Flyer has given us a framework to consistently and meaningfully acknowledge employees, boosting morale and reinforcing the behaviors that drive success. Recognition now feels natural and embedded in our culture.
Smiling man wearing a blue suit jacket, white shirt, and orange tie against a white background.
Kan Ni
Vice President, Airport Operations Control Center, Dubai Airports
Americare Senior Living
 
 
We love to catch our team members doing great things! They can’t pour into others from an empty cup. That’s why we invest in recognition and take the time to celebrate our people.
Smiling woman with long brown hair wearing a navy blazer and light pink shirt in a bright office setting.
Sarah Mazzocco
Chief People Officer
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
 
 
Prior to Awardco, the recognition process was manual and time-consuming. Everything was done through emails and spreadsheets, with physical delivery of plaques and gifts. Important milestones were sometimes missed, despite our best intentions.
Smiling young woman with long blonde hair wearing a red blazer and black top against a black background.
Mallory Pence
Marketing Manager
Ampirical
 
 
The onboarding process was very encouraging. We weren't given the program and told to figure it out on our own—we've had someone to lean on the entire time, someone who helped us navigate this big, company-wide change.
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Ryan Zellner
Marketing & Corporate Communications Manager
 
 
Our partnership with Awardco's sales, implementation, and support teams has been the brightest point. They come to every situation with a solution and innovation mindset.
Anonymous
Director of Human Resources
The Nest Schools
 
 
Just managing our custom rewards felt like a full-time job with our previous vendor—it took all day every Friday. With Awardco, I don't have to do any of the manual fulfillment work anymore. I'm saving 6-8 hours a week, just managing orders.
Sara Beer
Director of Core Values
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.
Woman with blonde hair wearing a black and white patterned jacket, smiling with arms crossed against a light background.
Lynne Harkness
VP, People & Culture
Crumbl
 
 
I’ve been able to see how much recognition has changed since we started using Awardco. From an admin perspective, it’s become so much more manageable and has saved me countless hours. Birthdays, anniversaries, and new-hire milestones are all automated through Workday, new hires get points at 30 and 60 days, and employees are recognized automatically for birthdays and anniversaries.
Smiling young woman with long brown hair wearing a black top against a pink background.
Shannon Martell
Employee Experience Specialist
PMG
 
 
One of the best parts of myKudos [Awardco] is seeing others rally around a recognition post—commenting, reacting, and adding to the praise. I love scrolling through the kudos channel and seeing teammates from other accounts getting hyped up for the great work they’re doing. It really creates a sense of community across the agency.
Smiling young man with light brown hair and beard wearing a blue checkered dress shirt against a dark wall.
Colby Green
Paid Social Senior Associate
CloudFit Software
 
 
Awardco has provided significant time savings. Our previous program was clunky, manual, and time consuming. Now, with the automation capabilities available through Awardco, my team saves 5-8 hours a week!
Smiling woman with braided hair wearing a blue blazer and black top, outdoors with trees in the background.
Kymberlee Stephens
Director of Employee Experience and Wellness
Dubai Airports
 
 
The High Flyer program has created a culture where contributions—big or small—are celebrated. Everyone feels seen and valued, reinforcing our belief that success is a shared journey and that we grow together.
Mariam Al Shemsi
Head - Learning Design & Program Development, Dubai Airports
4Refuel
 
 
We were doing recognition even before we adopted this platform, but this platform made it so easy for our frontline leaders and middle managers to run the recognition program.
Professional 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

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.