10 Best Practices When Sending Birthday Cards to Employees

Remember the time you found just the right card for a family member’s birthday? Or how great you felt when you were able to find just the right words to say to a loved one in their birthday card?

Just as you’d make it a priority to send birthday wishes to your friends and family, it’s important to recognize your employees on their birthdays, too. But with so many different types of corporate birthday messages for employees, how do you determine the best way to express your sentiment?

The following is a look at 10 best practices to use when sending birthday cards to employees.

1. Express thanks and gratitude

Birthday wishes from company to employee don’t need to be limited to just the birthday greetings alone. When wishing your employees a happy birthday, use the opportunity to say thank you to employees for their good work and dedication on not just that day, but every day of the year. An example of combining the two sentiments into one card might sound like this: “Warm wishes for a very happy birthday, and sincere thanks for your hard work throughout the year.”

2. Be creative

Employee birthday wishes are how you let them know that you appreciate their contributions to the company and care enough to remember their big day.

Oftentimes, simple, creative ideas such as having the whole department write birthday wishes for a coworker or decorating an employee’s cubicle with a happy birthday banner can let employees know how much you value them.

3. Make it meaningful

Corporate birthday messages for employees run the gamut from highly personalized cards to those that are more universal. Whatever card type you select for the employee you’re celebrating, make sure that the sentiment is meaningful to that individual. On the Hallmark Business Connections online card shop, for example, you can pick the inside card sentiment (on most cards) that you feel fits best.

4. Keep it light

Birthdays are a time for celebration! Give your employees reason to smile with a funny birthday card that will make their whole day brighter. “Hope your birthday brings you many happy reasons to celebrate!” is one example of a simple yet light and cheery birthday greeting.

5. Make it timely

While birthday card greetings are a good way to show employees that you care about their special day, it’s important to make these messages timely. If an employee gets a birthday greeting two or three weeks after their big day, it may not seem as sincere.

6. Include everyone

To make employees feel truly special and celebrated on their day, make sure to include everyone in the greeting card sentiment. An easy way to show that the whole team or department is involved in the celebration is by using a message such as: “Wishing you a great birthday and a memorable year. From all of us.”

7. Make it personal

While getting the whole team to sign an employee’s birthday greeting card is a good way to get everyone involved in the celebration, you can add an extra layer of personalization by ensuring employees receive different birthday designs. When shopping for employee birthday cards, consider purchasing assorted birthday cards so you always have a variety of cards on hand.

8. Use social media

Wishing an employee a happy birthday through social media is a fun and creative way to make someone feel special. An added benefit is it gets the word out around the office (or the entire company, especially if there’s more than one office) that there’s a birthday to be celebrated! Use a platform such as LinkedIn or your company’s own Intranet to serve up birthday wishes paired with a physical card.

9. Keep individual preferences in mind

SHRM recommends that companies should keep individual employee preferences in mind when it comes to birthday greetings and celebrations around the office. It’s wrong to assume that all employees want to have their birthday announced or celebrated. Consider asking new hires if they want to be included in birthday celebrations or announcements.

10. Remember birthdays

Celebrating employee birthdays is a powerful motivator. But it can just as easily be a demotivator if you forget them! When an employee’s birthday is overlooked, it may make the individual feel that they’re not valued or appreciated, which can have a big impact on office morale, productivity and engagement. The key takeaway? Mark employee birthdays down on your calendar, keep a stack of cards in your desk drawer at all times and be sure to celebrate!

Final Thoughts

Of course, there’s no one way to recognize employee birthdays. The above represents our top 10 list of best practices to use when sending birthday cards to employees, making each employee feel celebrated and appreciated on their special day.

Looking for more ideas of what to write? Read our 25 Staff Birthday Card Wishes That Can Delight & Inspire Employees.

And you don't have to wait for birthdays to send employee appreciation messages! Hallmark has greeting cards for a wide variety of sending occasions and makes it easy to recognize all kinds of important work milestones.