vendor guide
Looking for alternatives to over-priced, generic
work anniversary catalog and appreciation points vendors?
You’ve come to the right place!
Numbered gifts
Different types of numbered gifts make sense for different types of employees. Here are some of our favorites along with who they’re best for.
Smiling Tree Gifts
If your employees have desks, and especially if they work on site together, these custom engraved wooden blocks from Smiling Tree Gifts make amazing annual gifts.
We recommend engraving the tray with your organization’s purpose. Putting your logo on the top of the block makes sense. If you happen to have only three or four core values, they make great options for engraving the other sides. Another available option if you have more core values is to get a set of core values specific blocks to serve as the “foundation”.
GSJJ
If you have a lot of customer-facing, patient-facing, or public-facing employees, then custom-made enamel pins from GSJJ will help your employees communicate credibility to those they interact with every day.
Their ability to create any design will allow the pin to communicate the uniqueness of your culture and show that your organization truly values years of service.
BrickEngraver
If your employees have desks, and they work on site together, and your culture leans more Lego than wood, then custom Lego blocks and minifigures from BrickEngraver can be a lot of fun.
We recommend engraving the tray with your organization’s mission or purpose. Unlike in the picture, we recommend putting the employee’s name on the back of the minifigure and your organization’s logo on the front. This gives it more of a “team jersey” feel, and promoting teamwork is good. Also, you’ll want to consider getting core values blocks as well.
Stickers for name tags
If engraved pins are still too much money, then the lowest cost option is stickers that can go on existing name tags or lanyards
These endearingly homemade looking “bubble” stickers from Recognition Engraving & Awards range from 1 year to 50 years.
Group e-cards
If you can get enough people to participate, group e-cards are a very economical and meaningful gift.
Kudoboard
Kudoboard is a great option for group e-cards. Being electronic, it’s very remote worker friendly, but we also love that they can be printed as books or posters if you want to make them tangible.
The one downside to Kudoboards is that you need to buy a package. This is fine for HR, but not as good for a colleague just wanting to do something nice for their best friend at work.
GroupGreeting
GroupGreeting is another great e-card vendor.
They lack book or poster printing, but they do allow you to buy individual cards for $5.
Organization-branded clothing
Company-branded clothing helps employees feel like an integrated part of a team accomplishing something big together.
It’s symbolically very appropriate as a work anniversary gift, as it represents the employee and company together.
Swag.com
There are a lot of organizations out there that will print your logo on clothing and other swag.
What we like about Swag.com is their commitment to high quality, which is important for a work anniversary gift coming off as special and not simply checking the box.
For organizations with a lot of colocated employees, ordering in bulk and distributing it yourself probably makes the most sense. If your employees are remotely scattered, then they can create “kits” and distribute them for you.
Kotis Design
Kotis Design is one of the best-rated swag vendors.
We especially like their focus on HR use cases.
Recognition platforms
Recognition platforms aren’t inexpensive, and at many organizations they can come across as inauthentic, but here are a couple options that stand out for how they handle work anniversaries.
O.C. Tanner
O.C. Tanner has a fairly innovative option for work anniversaries called Yearbook. It is an actual paper booklet customized to your organization with a generic congratulations letter from your CEO, but then individualized messages from each employee’s manager and colleagues. There is of course an electronic version, too. Their technology captures the messages for each work anniversary, and adds them automatically.
O.C. Tanner also can produce interesting custom gifts that reflect your organization’s name, culture, mascot, etc.
Workhuman
Workhuman was the original pioneer (then called Globoforce) in social recognition.
Their Service Milestones offering embraces involving colleagues in celebrating work anniversaries.
What to do if you’re a manager of someone having a big work anniversary at a company that does nothing
If someone on your team is celebrating a 10-year, 20-year, or 25-year anniversary,
and your organization isn’t going to do anything,
then the post-forgotten-anniversary lack of motivation is your problem to solve.
Alphanumeric Art (on Etsy)
This team sign-able, framed, and custom printed gift is very economical.
It won’t go down as the greatest 20th anniversary present ever, but it will help you avoid the they-didn’t-do-anything motivation implosion for less than $50.
Cameo
If you know them well enough to pick someone semi-famous that they’ll love that’s also in your price range, then this can be a fun work anniversary gift.
Enlist someone funny from your team to help you come up with the perfect customized message that makes the celebrity seem like they really know the recipient and/or your team.
Maximize meaningfulness
while minimizing cost and effort
If your employees work close enough together and know each other well enough that they can
come up with three words to describe each other, than this is an amazing option.
workiversary.com
What words best describe your colleague?
Let them know with this creative alternative to boring, generic work anniversary certificates.
Bonus features include getting to have a meaningful conversation with the employee on their work anniversary and boosting team positivity.
Do you love a work anniversary vendor that you think we should recommend here?