How to Celebrate Success at Work

For many of us, celebrating success at work can feel like a foreign concept, but bringing a different attitude to the table can be a huge boost for employee engagement and morale.Celebrations shouldn’t be consigned to our personal lives; they can be part of our professional ones too. Most people understand the joy of celebrating things like birthdays, weddings or other big personal milestones, yet struggle with the idea of making a fuss when it comes to achievements at work.Open your teams up to a whole new level of well-being and professional satisfaction, by creating an environment where all achievements are worthy of celebration.

What Are Examples of Celebrating Success at Work?

So, what is it about celebrating success that makes it worth the effort? There is a wide range of benefits around taking the time to acknowledge and praise professional milestones, large and small. Some big benefits include:

Uplifting morale and motivation
Reinforcing a positive work culture
Helping to create a sense of worth and belonging
Inspiring further efforts and ambition
Driving productivity and encouraging career development
Contributing to a high-performance culture
Reducing churn by ensuring that employees feel valued
Building trust – 90% of employees recognised by a boss trusted them more, according to Forbes

What’s more, according to research from McKinsey, the feeling of being valued is far more important to employees than other benefits. The majority of companies are struggling to get their head around this.Feeling that you have strong relationships with your manager and peers is among the biggest motivators for employees to want to stay in their jobs. Feeling a sense of belonging and being valued by their manager and the organisation were up there as the most important factors.

Why is Celebrating Success at Work Important?

It’s also worth thinking about the bias the human brain has for searching out problems and challenges. This bias is excellent for helping us solve issues and keep ourselves safe, but it also means that we tend to put a lot of focus on negative situations and areas that need improvement.Readdressing the balance to welcome more positive reinforcement can help improve mood overall and quiet that negative bias.

What Success Should We Celebrate at Work?

This can feel tricky at first, especially if you’re not in the habit of taking the time to celebrate at work, but there are loads of occasions worth commemorating. They don’t have to be big, either. Celebrating small wins along the way can help normalise the process and change opinions about celebrating overall. Here’s a little inspiration:

The first big win, completed project or successful sale for all new employees

Achievements that often slip under the radar, like laying the groundwork for a big deal

The successful handling of a tricky situation or problem

Work anniversaries and birthdays. This can be a nice and easy one if you use Mo to track your employee’s special occasions

Any behaviour that closely aligns with company values or exemplifies the kind of culture you want to foster

Positive reviews or feedback from customers, clients and partners

Tips for Celebrating Success at Work

While celebrating success is undoubtedly a good thing, you can improve the effectiveness of your efforts by bearing a few important tips in mind.

Create a Celebration Strategy

Start by identifying opportunities for celebration and put time into considering teams and individuals who often go unrecognised. Consider seniority too, someone more junior might need more positive reinforcement than a seasoned executive. Always ensure that when you give recognition, you outline exactly what has been achieved and why it’s worth celebrating.2. Get the Timing RightIf you want to foster the kind of culture that is quick to celebrate success, you need to be consistent in your efforts. Celebrate achievements all year round and offer easy ways for colleagues to celebrate each other – peer-to-peer recognition can help build momentum and increase team bonds. Keep things timely too. Don’t wait for an employee awards ceremony in 3 months’ time. Recognise accomplishments when they happen.3. Consider the Person Being RecognisedIf you want an impactful programme for celebrating success, it’s essential to consider the personality type and needs of the people you’re planning to celebrate. Not everyone likes a public shout out. Others love nothing more than a moment in the limelight. Tailor your celebrations to suit individuals and they’ll land better.4. Show Top-down Recognition Peer-to-peer celebrations and recognition can be powerful, but the most impactful appreciation comes from managers. According to Gallup, the most memorable recognition is often from an employee’s manager (28%), followed by a high-level leader or CEO (24%).

How to Celebrate Success at Work

Get your strategy off to a good start by choosing clear goals and benchmarks for what success means and tailoring these for different teams. Success for the sales team will be very different to a win for HR.Celebrate growth and learning as well as lessons from failures. Be sure to reward employees for great work with recognition platforms like the one we have at Mo. Remember to recognise both individual and team contributions and look for ways to connect celebrations to your company’s mission and vision.Provide regular positive and constructive feedback to acknowledge progress as well as celebrate exceptional work. Small wins celebrated consistently can be more effective than splashy one-offs.Mo can help you stay on top of this – our Assistant feature provides timely prompts to appreciate team members who haven’t been acknowledged. Our Boosts also make it easy to build recognition into your day-to-day rhythms.

Mo's Assistant feature helps you celebrate success at work

Easy Ways to Celebrate Success at Work

Once you’ve identified opportunities for celebration, it’s time to start thinking about the various ways to do it. Acknowledgement is about a lot more than a pay rise (not that those aren’t appreciated too). Here are just a few ways you could make a difference and truly recognise employee achievements.

Personalise recognition through handwritten notes and conversations

Organise team-wide celebrations like lunches and virtual parties

Balance spontaneous acknowledgements with planned events

A public shout-out in all-hands employee meetings

An extra special treat, like a paid day off or late starts for a week

A small gift (it’s easy to gift with Mo, thanks to our reward credit system)

Set up a public praise wall using features like Mo Moments

It’s also an excellent idea to invite your employees into the process and ask them for their input in planning to create meaningful celebrations. Use Mo’s challenge feature to source ideas from employees and offer them a way to vote on their favourites.

Celebrations to Avoid at Work

Watch out for a few common pitfalls, such as:

Throwing a tone-deaf party after redundancies or news of stagnant wages

Only ever recognising the top 1% of employees and failing to recognise progress

Giving recognition to the head of a team without acknowledging the contributions of their direct reports

Only showing gratitude once a year and ignoring all of the achievements and hard work that go in every day

Organising a celebration outside of work hours for someone who has caregiving responsibilities

How to Celebrate Success for Remote Work

With so many organisations embracing hybrid and remote working, it’s essential also to consider the ways you’ll celebrate success virtually. Many techniques work equally well online as in the office, including gifts, digital shoutouts and 1-1 conversations. Others will naturally lose some of their impact – online parties are never the same as in-person ones.This is where the extra effort of a handwritten note or a small token of appreciation sent to the employee’s home can make a real difference. The extra level of attention and the personal touch is especially valuable when you’re not regularly meeting up face-to-face.

Mo is the Answer to Celebrating Success at Work

Mo is a culture and engagement platform that uses data insights to drive real improvement in engagement scores while reducing staff turnover. We strategically help people teams create great places to work through continuous, positive action.If you’re looking for ways to take action on measuring employee engagement, learn more about how to shift the dial at the manager level and transform insights into action. To find out if you’re eligible for our money-back guarantee, book a demo with our team.