Celebrate More’ is probably not a top priority on your People Roadmap for next year. Yet! We believe it should be. And because it’s the season of celebrations… let us make a case to do more of this in 2026 🥳.
On our side, we’re busy preparing for our end-of-year Big Friday. A day filled with reflecting on everyone’s highlights, and celebrating the achievements of colleagues and the company.
We discovered (using TeamBooster) that ‘Celebrate’ is our team’s #1 core strength.
FYI - most teams that complete TeamBooster find out that Celebrate is one of their lowest-scoring topics.
With us, 95% of the team said it’s our highest scoring trait. And we’re not surprised, as it’s really part of our culture. It’s how we stay engaged, get excited, laugh, and create a feeling of belonging.
And that’s what celebrations tend to do, in any organisation. Celebrating achievements, small and big, is a sure way to increase engagement and improve tenure. Low cost, often high impact. It can be the easiest thing you do in 2026 to improve your culture. It's definitely worth investing some extra time in.
In case you need a business case:
Data* proves that a culture of celebration isn't just ‘nice to have’. It can directly impact the bottom line - and a lot of your people kpi’s:
80% of employees say that recognition improves their engagement.
Employees who feel unappreciated are twice as likely to quit in the following year.
Teams that rarely celebrate accomplishments show 56% lower engagement scores and 28% lower productivity metrics compared to companies that celebrate often.
Organizations with a formal recognition program (which includes celebrations for milestones) have a 31% lower voluntary turnover rate.
83.6% of employees feel that recognition (a key component of celebration) positively affects their motivation to succeed at work. *Gallup / Richard Reid / OC Tanner / Aon Hewitt
The Celebration-Box 🎁
We have a box filled with random gifts in our office, just in case we have an unexpected celebration that requires a card or a present!
It’s filled with smelly candles, cute socks, champagne, 7people swag, good books and funny cards.
Things to celebrate according to Team7:
Birthdays: Everyone receives a card and a gift, and a decorated desk. Often a bit of cake, sometimes a song. This is arranged by the person whose birthday was prior. This way, every teammember is responsible 1x per year to organise the birthday of a colleague.
Leavers - When you leave us, you get a leaving party. We celebrate your contributions to the team and the company. Leavers get presents, thank-you slides and drinks. It’s really important that people leave feeling valued, and that we appreciate what they have brought us - instead of just crying about their departure.
Great Client Feedback - When a client gives us a positive testimonial, we shine the spotlight on the consultant who made that happen. It’s recognition for doing a great job, and we make sure it doesn’t stay with that client.
Anniversaries - We celebrate every anniversary, not just at the 5th or 10th year. We reflect on contributions and achievements in the past year during our monthly. Team members also receive a voucher for a treat (such as a massage or facial) to help keep the team young as they grow with us.
Team Targets - When we smash a target, we earn as a team. This year we ‘earned’ a trip to Marrakesh for everyone (coming up in April ‘26) and a few extra days off. No individual targets, we’re all in it together.
New House / New Baby / New Cat / New Lover - Anything new that took effort will result in a celebration. This way, we know what is happening in each other's lives.
Company Milestones - Existing 5 years, getting to 7777 followers, winning an FD Gazelle or finally having more insta-followers than insta-posts on our account.
Besides having fun, a key reason to celebrate often is to build that resilience muscle. Because no year is without challenges. Our year had plenty of lowlights and sad moments. But celebrating often makes sure we can tackle whatever comes at us, and stay positive.
