Camaraderie

5 Company Celebrations That Strengthen Workplace Culture

2025-02-15T13:07:09-05:00

Celebrating — one of the nine high-trust leadership behaviors — is how leaders create a workplace where employees feel connected to one another.

What you celebrate as an organization can send a powerful message to employees.

Does it feel like the company cares when someone hits their 10-year work anniversary with the organization? How do employees acknowledge and honor each other’s lives outside of work, from birthdays to weddings?

When you celebrate, you are expressing your values.

“The most important things to celebrate are the values of the organization and how people help the organization achieve its purpose,” says Michael C. Bush, CEO of ��[�ʘ��®.

Great workplaces reinforce their values and expected behaviors when honoring employees for their contributions. When behaviors are celebrated and properly incentivized, a company transforms its workplace.

Plus, employees want their workplace to be fun, an experience which is the No. 1 driver of well-being for every generation, from Gen Z to Baby Boomers. That doesn’t mean that companies should put a ping-pong table in every office. Instead, it suggests that employees are looking for connection.

“Unfortunately, the research shows that many people don’t have a friend at work, but for those who do, they’re more likely to stay with an organization,” shared Jen Fisher, chief well-being officer at Deloitte in an appearance on the “Better” podcast. “They’re more engaged, their work product is better, because we are meant to connect with other human beings.”

Great workplaces use celebrations to build connection between co-workers, where everyone is invested in collective success. Here are five things you should celebrate to build trust with employees:

1. A healthy variety of milestones and anniversaries

It should be standard practice to celebrate anniversaries and personal achievements, but the celebration itself can be regionalized or even personalized.

At NVIDIA, teams around the world celebrate tailor celebrations for new hires, retirements, baby showers, and more to local tastes. In Germany, teams might go for beer and sausages. Canadians don’t pass up the opportunity for drinks al fresco in the summer. In China, employees follow the Lunar New Year custom of exchanging gifts in lucky red envelopes.

Great workplaces also celebrate collective achievement, like when NVIDIA’s Durham engineering site celebrated its 25th anniversary. The company hosted an open-house with more than 500 employees, both past and present, celebrating with their families.

By honoring both current and former employees, NVIDIA sent a powerful message about the work of the company, its respect for employees, and the deep meaning everyone involved takes from their efforts.

[Certification Nation Day on Oct. 16, 2024 is a great opportunity to celebrate your company's great culture. Don’t miss it! Get inspired from how companies celebrated last year.]

2. Shared company values

Celebrations are crucial for employee well-being, with ��[�ʘ��® research showing that fun is the No. 1 driver of well-being for every generation. That could be why some great companies are throwing a party to highlight their commitment to employee well-being.

At DHL Express in Europe, a four-day event brings together more than 3,000 employees from every country in Europe to participate in well-being activities. Attendees can participate in soccer and cheerleading competitions, or take part in yoga, kayaking, or rock climbing programs.

Well-being is not the only value companies want to celebrate.

At Deloitte, the consulting firm emphasizes its commitment to local communities by celebrating a nationwide day of service each year it calls “Impact Day.” Tens of thousands of Deloitte employees volunteer at more than 1,000 local community projects.

When bringing employees together, carefully consider your purpose and how a party or festival can reinforce your core values as an organization. You can also celebrate your culture and the value your employees bring to the workplace every day, as ��[�ʘ�� Certified™ companies do on Certification Nation Day. Or, use social media to engage employees and celebrate achievements like making a Best Workplaces™ list.

For example, NVIDIA celebrated being named No. 3 among the Fortune 100 Best Workplaces to Work For® in 2024:

3. Belonging and inclusion

Employee resource groups (ERGs) can program celebrations that honor the unique traditions and gifts of different cultures. Celebrating these cultures helps strengthen the bonds between employees, ensuring higher levels of inclusion and camaraderie across the organization.

At NVIDIA, there are nine ERGs that serve to increase awareness of different demographics in the workplace, from Asian and Pacific Islanders to women in technology. The ERG for Black employees, the “Black NVIDIAN Network,” hosted in-person and virtual events to celebrate Black innovation, culture, and leadership. “Women in Technology” celebrated Women’s History Month with skill-building sessions and workshops.

Great workplaces can partner with ERGs to offer fun moments for connection, too. At Visa, ERGs partnered with the return-to-office team to host ice cream socials where employees could connect and learn about the different ERGs at the company.

4. Innovation and progress

Great workplaces work hard to ensure people are celebrated for trying new ways of doing business. Events that focus on innovation reinforce company values around learning and growth, and allow team members from across the organization to connect and deepen relationships.

Atlantic Health System showcases compelling new research from faculty and team members at its medical centers during its annual “Research Day,” now in its 25th year.

At American Express, a two-day hackathon called “GrowthHack” brings technology and product teams together to collaborate on new ideas. More than 1,300 participants across 205 teams participated in the 2022 event, competing for three grand prizes.

Other business units at American Express host their own pitch competitions, à la “Shark Tank,” bringing people together for fun collaborative events that develop business acumen and potentially identify new projects worth pursuing.

5. Individual excellence

What unique skills and talents on your team deserve their own special celebration?

At Nugget Market, an inter-store competition known as “Bag-Off” lets associates compete for the title of “Best Bagger.” Winners go on to represent the company at the National Grocers Associate Best Bagger Championship.

Last fall, the entire company was invited out to an airfield for a Top-Gun themed party with parades, costumes, fighter jets, and more.

The grocery chain based in Davis, California, takes pains to make the event as inclusive as possible, inviting warehouse and kitchen teams to join the party, even if they don’t have baggers on their teams participating in the competition.

Before rounding up your employees for your own bagging competition, consider what skills might make more sense for employees in your industry. A Bag-Off is nicely aligned with a grocery retailer, but there might be other competitions that perfectly align with your organization.

Benchmark your culture

Discover what employees value about working at your company and how you can boost retention rates and increase productivity and performance with ��[�ʘ�� Certification™.

How DHL, Salesforce, Mastercard, and Others Get More Employees to Volunteer

2024-12-04T09:12:40-05:00

Research shows that volunteer participation is highly effective in improving employee well-being.

For companies worried about falling levels of well-being in the workplace, one important place to focus is on employee volunteering programs.

Research on the impact of popular workplace wellness offerings and programs found that the only kind of program with a tangible positive impact on well-being was volunteering.

“It instills a bit more social meaning … into people’s jobs, especially if you’re working for a big corporate global organization [where] it can feel like you’re just making money for ‘the man’ and spinning paper sheets around,” explains William Fleming, sociologist and research fellow at the University of Oxford and author of the study.

A lack of social connection is one of the main factors driving lower levels of well-being in the workplace. New research suggests that loneliness in the workplace is more widespread in the workplace than previously imagined, and less visible than you might think. For example, remote workers might be at a higher risk for loneliness than on-site workers, but there are still plenty of on-site workers with chronic levels of loneliness.

Learn strategies from other great workplaces at the For All Summit™ April 8-10 in Las Vegas!

In addition to the social connection found during volunteer activities, research also shows a link between volunteering and happiness on an individual level. When you volunteer, well-being improves.

��[�ʘ��® research also shows that volunteering is good for your workplace culture. When employees say they feel good about the ways their company contributes to the community, they are 60% more likely to report high levels of well-being.

How to increase participation in volunteering

Great workplaces like those that make the PEOPLE® Companies that Care list offer great lessons on how to increase volunteer participation across your organization.

Cisco, for example, boasts an impressive 80% participation rate in its volunteer programs, a feat which has earned it top honors on the Companies that Care list in 2023 and 2024. But they’re not the only company with innovative ways to get employees engaged with volunteer programs. Check out these ideas:

1. Make a volunteer day part of your annual calendar

While you might have missed the window to do something for International Volunteer Day on Dec. 5, you can create your own day to engage employees around giving back to their community. If you’re ambitious, make the day into a week of events.

DHL Group celebrates a Global Volunteer Day for a two-week period across its global workforce in September and October. Celebrating its 15^th anniversary in 2023, the program has had 3 million employees participate with 3.1 million hours of volunteer work over that time.

The company hosts approximately 2,000 activities each year, and employees can search for opportunities near them via DHL’s “myVolunteering” microsite.

2. Empower employees with opportunities that match their passions

For large companies, it’s often more effective to support projects that employees already pursue on their own than it is to build a volunteer program from scratch.

At Bank of America, team members can volunteer for causes that are local and match their personal interests as part of Global Service Month celebrated each April. Activities in the past include supporting veterans, caring for shelter animals, fighting hunger, or running races on behalf of a nonprofit.

Salesforce offers additional paid time off for volunteering, which allows employees to donate their time to causes that they choose.

3. Help employees use their expertise to give back

Salesforce also runs a pro bono program that allows employees to contribute their professional expertise to non-profit organizations. For example, employees can offer their skills in areas like marketing, project management, and software development to nonprofits that need support.

Visa created a mentorship program called “Bridge for Billions,” where its employees can meet one-on-one with small businesses from underrepresented communities around the world over a five-month period. Visa employees help their partners define a business strategy, develop financial projections, and create growth plans.

4. Use your technology to connect employees with opportunities

HR platforms that communicate and connect employees across the enterprise can also be leveraged for increasing volunteer participation.

At Mastercard, its internal talent marketplace “Unlocked” not only connects employees with job opportunities and gigs within the company but also hosts the application process for external volunteer opportunities like its “Racial Justice Pro Bono” program.

Salesforce built its own internal platform for volunteer opportunities called “Volunteerforce.” The platform matches employees with opportunities that fit their interests and schedule, helping workers find ways to give back.

5. Partner with your employee resource groups

Your employee resource groups (ERGs) can be essential communities to direct volunteer efforts. At Dow, its ERG for veterans works with Team Rubicon to deploy volunteers to areas affected by natural disasters like tornadoes and hurricanes.

ERGs can also become a community of committed individuals that boost overall participation. For First American Financial, its ERGs engaged in a friendly competition during National Volunteer Month in 2023 to donate items to food banks.

6. Use recognition programs to promote volunteering

Create an awards program to celebrate employees who go above and beyond to donate their time and resources to important causes in the community.

At First American Financial, employees can receive Caring Eagle Awards for their philanthropic efforts. First launched in 2018, a total of 36 individuals and 22 teams have been recognized to date.

You can also make philanthropy a part of your wider recognition efforts with rewards for employees to give to a local charity of their choice. Hyatt Hotels donated $1 for every digital message sent by employees during its global “Gift of Gratitude” campaign, incentivizing employes to share messages of gratitude with each other.

The funds benefited select nonprofits targeting issues from water conservation and the environment to fighting human trafficking.

Volunteering can have a profound impact on your culture, boosting pride in the workplace. You don’t have to wait until next year’s International Volunteer Day to get started. The best companies are finding ways to get employees involved all year round.

3 Leadership Lessons From Rugby That Apply to Any Business

2024-05-14T07:02:24-04:00

The international sport offers lessons in humility, collaboration, inclusion, and more that can drive success on the field and in the workplace.

Global business leaders could learn a thing or two from rugby.

For most Americans, rugby is an unfamiliar sport. The ball is shaped like an American football but isn’t used in the same way. It’s a contact-driven game but isn’t played like any other sport.

To me it’s second nature. In fact, in my decades of experience in a leadership role, I’ve found rugby to be the most fitting metaphor to describe the best way to approach organizational leadership. It has helped me hone strategies that ensure my teams can work efficiently and collaboratively across countries, cultures, and time zones.

There are three tried and true strategies I stick to when it comes to leading a business. They all ladder up to creating an environment that inspires employees to do their best work, and can be found on any successful rugby team:

1. An organizational structure that effectively distributes authority for decision-making

Teams work best when they feel empowered to make decisions while seamlessly collaborating with others. Out on the rugby pitch, it’s the same. While every rugby team has a captain, several other leaders on the field are critical in making on-the-spot game-time decisions. Oftentimes, leaders are interchangeable on the field. It’s this flexibility that gives teams the upper hand.

We see this in the business world, too. Roles and responsibilities are interchangeable, giving more freedom to the team at large to make decisions, even if it’s not within their direct field of expertise. Fostering an environment that encourages team members to pivot, collaborate, and try something outside of their comfort zone is vital to ensuring the organization can react to quick-turn opportunities or challenges.

We’ve been hearing “it’s all about teamwork” for decades now, but seeing it in practice is an entirely different reality. Adopting a flexible approach to authority distribution enhances team management in dynamic environments.

2. Strong relationships that foster collaboration

No team, rugby or business, is going to get very far without true collaboration. In rugby, that extends to mutual respect, on and off the pitch. Players call the referee “sir” or “ma’am” on the field of play. Decisions are accepted without tantrums, and opponents on the field can almost always be found sharing a beer at the end of a match — no matter how contentious.

Baseline camaraderie and respect are also essential in an office setting to avoid the trap of information silos and inter-team conflicts. Without effective collaboration, teams will duplicate work, leadership will make decisions with incomplete information, and organizational strategy will suffer.

In times of crisis, the risk is even higher. It’s important to stand up for what you believe is right while simultaneously maintaining strong and respectful relationships with your colleagues, or you’ll never be able to work together effectively in the long term. Attaining that balance isn’t easy, but it is possible.

3. A culture of inclusion where everyone can belong

With decades of experience working in global markets, I know all too well how important it is to ensure effective cross-cultural communication and understanding. Every country and region will have different expectations around workplace norms and communication styles, among other things. The sooner we accept that we are all different, and those differences serve the greater good, the stronger our collective offering. The power of diversity is made abundantly clear, simply by looking at the composition of a rugby team.

By its very nature, rugby is inclusive and diverse. The pitch is filled with a wide array of individuals: tall players, small players, fast players, and slow players — from all over the world. Each one of these individuals, of different shapes, sizes, colors, and ideals, band together to form a cohesive team that makes the game. The unique skills and perspective of each creates the strength of the team.

Any workplace will benefit from embodying that same spirit. Empowering employees to bring their whole selves to the office, and being intentional about holding space for colleagues to share more about their identities, are vital practices that foster productivity and a positive workplace culture.

A winning team, on or off the field

What most people need is affirmed leadership. Folks thrive when they know who to turn to, what the plan is, and how they contribute. With a dependable organizational structure, the encouragement to collaborate, and deep cross-cultural understanding, teams have the support system they need to do their best work.

I encourage all business leaders to reflect on their leadership style to pinpoint if there are any areas that require modification. Some small tweaks to your approach could be all you need to make sure your team is winning scrums and getting the ball across the try (goal) line.

Benchmark your workplace

Discover what employees value about working at your company, and how you can boost retention rates and increase productivity and performance with ��[�ʘ�� Certification™.