Administrative Professionals’ Day is coming up on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Today, we are sharing gift ideas for expressing appreciation to your office staff on Administrative Professionals’ Day.
There’s no question administrative professionals deserve to be honored for their hard work and dedication. When Ann Duffer originally founded our company in 1967, the business focused primarily on placing job seekers in secretarial and clerical positions. Our business and the role of secretaries or administrative professionals have evolved significantly since then, yet we’ve always recognized their value. Whether greeting visitors in english or spanish (thank you, Stephanie), accepting payments, scheduling appointments, organizing intake information from clients and customers, ordering office supplies, or the various other tasks they do, they keep the front desk operations running smoothly.
As Q1 concludes, it’s a prime opportunity to recognize the contributions of your administrative professionals. Regardless of your budget there are many ways you can spread gratitude.
Ideas for Expressing Appreciation:
1) Additional Time Off
Generally speaking, Q1 was a busy time of year for many businesses. You finalized budgets, assessed improvements to make, prepared and mailed tax forms, planned trainings and developments, and set goals, just to name a few. Depending on the size of your business or department, your Administrative Professional likely supports each of those tasks. Why not arrange for them to have a full day or 1/2 day off during one of your slower days/times? They’ll appreciate the time to recharge away from work.
2) Money or Gift Cards
While it may not seem personal, having extra cash or a gift card to spend can be a great bonus to your office staff. They’ll appreciate the flexibility to spend their gift how they choose. Cash or gift cards can be personalized by attaching handwritten notes expressing appreciation for the employee’s specific contributions or achievements. This personal touch can enhance the significance of the gift.
3) Thankful Tree
Gather handwritten thank you notes from each team member and attach each note to the small branch of a house plant, hanging plant, or small shrub. The employee will value unwrapping each note and the plant can be a meaningful token of appreciation.
4) Treasure Hunt & Lunch
If your employee enjoys adventure, try organizing an office treasure hunt where they follow clues to a grand finale prize. The final prize could be a menu to their favorite lunch place with a note that says, “Lunch is on me today!” Your thoughtfulness, creativity, and effort will provide laughter and fun memory-making experience.
Extending Appreciation Beyond One Day
It means a lot to celebrate employees throughout the year, rather than only during a particular day. In our office we organize small birthday celebrations, celebrate large milestones, and offer on-going professional (and personal) training and development. Sometimes we’ll combine development activities with an in-house luncheon, early closure on a Friday, or an organized outside team building function. We try to hold most outside excursions during working hours to be mindful of family obligations after work. We recently hosted a team building function with Legos that received rave reviews from our team. The Greater Fredericksburg area is full of career coaches, team building professionals, private event spaces, and uniquely fun recreational spots for celebrating employees and building team spirit.
Like other businesses, we are painfully aware of how the Covid-19 pandemic and recent inflation have our businesses, both financially and emotionally. Even during unpredictable financial times, a small thank you or the gift of time back to employees is all you need to show appreciation.
We’d love to continue this conversation with you. If you have additional gift ideas please comment below. If your business or department is interested in learning how our staffing services can support your business’ goals, please contact us.