You lead your team to do some amazing work, so why not celebrate everything they've achieved? An annual awards ceremony at work is a perfect way to present plaques or trophies for employees, honor them, and thank them for their hard work.
Not sure if an awards ceremony is for your company? It's worth considering, not only to encourage your employees but also to get the variety of other benefits that come with holding an awards event at work. So if your business doesn't have an annual awards ceremony, here's why it should:

1. Boost Morale
As a manager or business leader, you hear a lot about boosting morale. The outlook and attitude employees have towards your business reflects their morale, so keep that up for a good work environment. Low office morale can lead to poor performance and a lack of cooperation, which isn't useful in the workplace.
There are plenty of ways to boost office morale, and an awards ceremony for your employees is a great way to:
- Communicate: Communicating frequently with your employees is a given. But you should also communicate your appreciation and recognition of hard work. An awards ceremony lets you communicate to your employees that you recognize a job well done. In turn, they'll feel like their hard work doesn't go unnoticed and will get a boost in their morale.
- Praise: It's one thing to acknowledge hard work, but it's another to offer praise. Thanking your employees for successful work is a given, but taking the time and energy to praise them through an awards ceremony shows that you can go the extra mile. Having gifts to give employees at these awards ceremonies only elevates the praise. Receiving gifts is sure to make them feel happier and boost morale.
- Have fun: Work and fun can coexist, and to maintain healthy morale, you should try to combine the two on occasion. An annual awards ceremony at work is a time for everyone to get together and have fun. It gives employees something to look forward to and an environment to feel comfortable and have a good time in.
Holding an annual awards ceremony will also boost employee morale, as they have something to look forward to throughout the year. Doing the same thing every day in the workplace, while it does create a sense of normalcy and routine, can become a bit draining on morale over time. Mix up the schedule with variety through events.

2. Curate a Happier Staff
Morale motivates your employees and reflects how they feel about their jobs, but happiness is a more general feeling. A lot of the time, you can't control the outside and personal factors that impact your employees' positivity and happiness. But work has a significant influence on people's happiness. Because of that impact, you should lift spirits in the office in various ways, including an awards ceremony. They'll be happy to have something new to do — namely, gather for a celebration and receive recognition for their hard work.
Happy employees are better for your business. No matter the culture in your workplace, you want to create a place where positivity can thrive. That could help spark creativity and other benefits for your employees, which will also bring those benefits to you. With happier employees, you could see fewer sick or late days and a general boost to positivity in the workplace.
When you encourage workplace happiness, you could even create a cycle of positivity. Engaging with happy people makes others feel happier, and the cycle continues. Your employees may even get the opportunity to become better friends with their coworkers during an awards event, which also boosts workplace and general happiness.
3. Increase Productivity
Of course, you are running a business, and that means you want high productivity levels from all your employees. A happy staff, according to a study, experiences a 20% boost in productivity thanks to rewards and incentives. Being happy helps employees put in more effort, so use an awards ceremony to help increase your team's happiness and productivity.
When your team is motivated to work smarter and be more productive, everyone sees a benefit, including:
- Your employees: Productivity is an obvious essential for every workplace. It helps your employees complete projects within deadlines and jump onto other assignments. If your company has a flow of projects from one team to another, you could even see better turnover times between your happy employees, which could help reduce stress and encourage cooperation.
- You: With an improved workflow, you may have time to focus on your own projects since you won't feel the need to carefully oversee what your team is working on. Productivity is great for your profits, since time is money, after all.
- Your customers: Because productivity means a quicker turnover time with the potential for high-quality results, your customers will also reap the benefits of a productive team, which reflects well on your business and brand.
Your recognition also serves as approval for the direction your team is headed. That gives them the confidence to continue doing the job they're doing. It also reinforces to other employees the type of work you're looking for, inspiring everyone to get on the same level of productivity and success.
Annual awards ceremonies and frequent recognition of positive behaviors and skills will continuously show employees what you value and what they should strive to achieve, so don't make it a one-time thing.
4. Get Free Publicity and Marketing
If you've been getting your publicity and marketing through paid advertisements and other methods, consider a new way. Host an awards ceremony for a publicity boost that comes as an added benefit. Publicity builds name and brand recognition for your business, which is essential for any industry. Bring in new customers or make a name for yourself in your community and industry when you host an award event. You can even keep the publicity consistent with an annual event.
Awarding your employees can give you a bit of a publicity boost on a smaller scale. Local businesses you hire to help host will discover you, but you can extend your reach. Hosting an annual awards ceremony for your industry as a whole — or on a smaller, local scale — gets your business's name out there. It shows that you work with others in your industry and have a passion for being an industry leader, both of which reflect well on your business.
To make the most of your free publicity from an awards ceremony, brainstorm your business and brand goals. Are you looking to promote something with this ceremony? Or do you want to boost morale and show your company off as a happy and productive place to work? From there, you can choose what you honor at your event, whether it's for particular achievements or general recognition. Others in the industry will notice what you're doing, which will benefit how they view your company. That recognition can help expand your business opportunities.

5. Attract New Workers
With the morale and happiness you've curated, others are sure to be interested in joining your team. Prospective employees may even be drawn in by the free publicity you gained from awards ceremonies. Potential employees will take notice of your company because an awards ceremony puts a few things on display that job-seekers search for:
- Values: You show your dedication to your employees with awards ceremonies. You also display what sort of leadership qualities and other skills you value for your workplace. Job-seekers will appreciate that you recognize and thank your staff for what they do and want to become a part of that environment, especially if they have the particular skills you awarded.
- Culture: Awards ceremonies represent a sense of camaraderie, fun and celebration within your company that's sure to attract potential employees. They'll see that you balance productivity with fun.
- Brand: Job-seekers often place higher value on companies that have a strong standing in the community or the industry. They're looking for chances to climb the ladder, and when you lead the way in industry awards, that reflects well on your workplace.
Even if you aren't currently looking to expand your team, you never know when your business will grow. Maintaining your publicity and attracting potential team members could be helpful in the future.
6. Keep Employee Retention Rates High

Happy employees and high morale are the perfect formula for keeping retention rates high. A study on employee engagement found that satisfied employees were 87% less likely to resign than employees who felt disengaged from their work. Awards ceremonies help you get in some engagement and appreciation that will encourage your employees to stay on board.
With high retention rates, you'll see plenty of benefits for your business and operations. Among those advantages are the fact that you'll be able to:
- Cut down training time for new hires.
- Reduce your costs.
- Give your customers a better experience.
- Maintain high workplace morale for your employees.
- Create an office of company experts.
High retention rates are beneficial for your employees, as well. They'll bond and make friends with their coworkers over time, which makes them happier in the workplace. If everyone stays on your team over time, those friendships will strengthen more than if you had a rotating team of new hires.
7. Form a Positive Team Culture
Workplace culture is different for every industry and business, but in general, you want a positive team culture. Individual happiness and morale is a great start to developing a positive workplace culture, which reflects everyone's shared values and attitudes about the work they do and the company in general. When you form a positive team culture and strengthen it through the beneficial power of awards ceremonies, you'll see that your staff reflects the qualities of a positive culture:
- High-quality work: Better attitudes can lead to better work. Through increased productivity and happiness on a team level, the work your staff completes will likely get better and better, thanks to the annual awards ceremonies you host.
- Collaboration: Connections and collaborations are vital parts of a positive team culture, and they're essential for almost every workplace. You want everyone to work together and to be happy about working together. Awards ceremonies will give your team a positivity boost and help them make workplace connections that lead to collaboration.
- Range of personalities: When you honor different employees, you reflect the diversity of personalities and skills you have on your team. It can be reassuring to other team members to see that you build a team with various abilities, and that helps them build confidence in their coworkers. That confidence will translate to collaboration and a positive attitude.
Your staff will develop or see those traits thanks to annual awards that serve as a reminder. Presenting awards also serves as positive feedback for your team. That feedback is necessary to maintain a positive team culture where everyone will strive to work together to succeed and get recognition.
8. Empower Staff and Create Leaders
Giving awards to your employees inspires confidence, and confidence goes a long way in the workplace. Empowered employees can develop essential skills and bring their benefits to the workplace through:
- Engaging in new projects.
- Stepping out of their comfort zones.
- Setting and achieving new goals.
- Developing better communication skills.
- Motivating others in the workplace.
- Becoming spokespeople for your business.
Awarding leadership plaques for employees will further encourage leadership qualities. That creates a cycle of confidence where your team wants to take on more leadership opportunities. When they succeed, they'll get a boost in confidence and the cycle will continue.
Because your company also has a high retention rate thanks to your awards ceremonies, you'll have an easier time creating leaders in your workplace. Employees will improve their skills and get to know the business more as they work. They'll feel more confident in their abilities with awards you've granted them in the past. You'll have a wide pool of team members to choose from when promotion opportunities arise or you need leaders to take charge of new projects.

Explore Award Options at DIY Awards
As you plan your event to celebrate and honor your team, don't forget to have gifts to give your employees. At DIY Awards, we'll help you create plaques for your employees that show them how much you appreciate their hard work, leadership abilities and more.
Customize your optical crystal awards with a personalized message to make the perfect work awards ceremony gifts. Feature the names of the people you're awarding, their accomplishments and your company name and logo. Use our customization tool or contact our team for help creating your design and to get stunning plaques for your employees.
Order your employee recognition, achievement, leadership and other awards today to celebrate and honor your team. Nothing will express your appreciation like the long-lasting, meaningful gift of a plaque from all of us here at DIY Awards.