There are many ways to create a positive work environment and engage employees, but none more fun than issuing employee rewards with an employee recognition program. Studies have found that recognition is a top driver of employee engagement, “when employees believe they will be recognized, they are 2.7 times more likely to be engaged.” Engaged employees are happy employees and happy employees are more engaged and productive.
If you are looking to add even more positivity to the workplace, consider adding funny employee awards into the office culture. Funny employee awards can make people laugh and provide an opportunity to award employees for not only performance, but also for what they do to make others laugh or bring positivity into the workplace.
Deliberately being funny can be overwhelming. No need to fret. We have you covered with some ideas for funny employee awards. Use them as a jumping-off point to start your own funny employee recognition program or improve employee engagement.
What are Employee Awards?
Employee awards are traditionally used to motivate and express gratitude for your team. Different companies choose to award employees in different areas. Some areas that are often rewarded are performance, goal achievement, customer service, personality, work anniversaries, personal achievements, and so on.
Employee awards are important to express appreciation for an employee’s contribution to the company’s goals as a whole. They go a long way toward improving employee morale and creating a positive and encouraging company culture.
Funny employee rewards do not always have to be silly. They can reward serious contributions in a more light-hearted manner. When the corporate world seems stiff and serious, lighten the mood while showing appreciation for your employees with funny employee awards.
How to Plan Employee Awards
When planning out funny employee awards, there are many things to keep in mind. Here are some key things to keep in mind when determining your funny employee awards:
Frequency of awards:
Awards should be given out often and in real time. If an employee hits a goal or milestone, don’t wait for the next team meeting or party to reward them. Act quick in order to create a culture of recognition. Everyone likes to feel seen and appreciated. Awarding employees in real-time is a great way to improve employee morale.
Be Considerate of Feelings
Often times being funny can be tangled with being rude. You do not have to be rude to be funny. Be sure to be considerate of your employee’s feelings when issuing funny employee awards. Consider each employee’s personality and what they think will be funny. If you ever feel unsure about a specific award, feel free to reach out to the employee to make sure they are ok with the award before you present it to the entire company.
Public acknowledgment
Let’s face it. When we accomplish a goal or have some type of accomplishment, it feels good. It feels even better to be acknowledged for it in front of your peers. Crank up that morale in the workplace by letting the whole company or team know what a great job an employee has done with a custom award.
If you want to take it up a notch, send the award recipient a group greeting card with their accomplishment and invite the whole team to sign the card.
Reflect Company Goals Through Awards
Employee awards can be a great opportunity to reinforce company goals that have been set and communicated. Align employee awards with specific goals the company has. Think about how individual employees are doing to help accomplish those goals and shout it from the rooftop. This helps reinforce the company’s goals while helping employees feel a connection to the company’s success. Win-win!
20 Funny Employee Awards
Everyday Work-Life Awards
Work Barista Award
The unsung hero at the office is the one who gets there in the morning and gets the coffee going. It is usually the same person every time, and where would we all be without that employee? If the purveyor of caffeine isn’t worth awarding, I’m not sure what is.
Break Room Frequenter
We all work hard, but everyone needs a break. When we head to the break room we are usually looking for a chat to go with our snack or drink. There always seems to be that one person in the break room ready to get their chat on. Let’s give a round of applause for the person who helps us justify our time away from the desk.
Never at their Desk
This person is known to be all over the office, and never at their desk. When you have a question for this person, you know it’s time to put on your sneakers and play hide and seek. It’s not that they are slacking, they just value face time more than digital communication.
PTO King/Queen
This award is for the person who uses all their PTO wisely. Sure, they may have a cold at their desk, but when they do use that PTO, they are traveling and posting to social media. They give everyone envy as they scroll their feeds.
Fitness Guru
Most of us are lounging and eating during our lunch break. We all know that co-worker who is using their time for a workout. We all look at them and say, “Oh, I should do that too”, and then (of course) we don’t. Shout them out for their commitment to fitness.
Running Behind Award
This employee award is perfect for that person who everyone (well, everyone but them, of course) knows is going to be at least 5 minutes late to every meeting on their calendar. They run chronically behind and we love them for it.
Heard Throughout the Office
Oh, come on, we all know every office has a staff member known as “the loud one.” You can hear them tell stories, type, laugh, and mutter, all throughout the office. If you are reading this and thinking, “My office doesn’t have one of those people,” buckle up for the next award ceremony, buddy. It’s probably you.
Appointment Professional
Appointments are a part of life, we all have them. This funny award is for that employee who always seems to have an appointment of some sort. They are usually late because they “had an appointment.” They rush out of the office at the end of the day because they “have somewhere to be.” Every office has one.
Company Swag All-Star
Everyone loves swag, but we all know that one person who takes swag to the next level. This award is for the person who rocks company swag more than any other employee. They wear swag so much that you start to wonder if they own any other clothes. Show the employee with the most team spirit some love with the company swag all-star funny award.
Emoji Ninja
Slack has become king in the workplace when it comes to communication. It is the main way for teams to communicate and it is used all day every day. There is always someone who seems to have the perfect emoji locked and loaded for the perfect response. They respond so fast with the perfect emoji that by the time you start searching for an emoji to respond, they have sent 4. It’s truly admirable. PS: GIF Ninja is also acceptable.
Work-Related Awards
Get ‘Er Done
When you want something done and done right, this is the person you give it to. Reliability is an important quality to have in the workplace and should be rewarded for sure. Take the time to recognize the person who can always be counted on to get the job done and to do it well. This is a light-hearted way to signal what your company values most.
Light Bulb Royalty
Every meeting has a person who can be relied on to have good ideas. This is worth awarding to encourage others to speak up in meetings and share their ideas. Not every idea is a winner, but the confidence to speak up is the only way a company will ever find good ideas from their employees. Give out the light bulb award to that person who is never afraid to speak up and has some great ideas.
The People Wrangler
Every corporate team encounters difficult people regularly throughout their careers. Whether it comes from the customer base or from within the team, it is important to have someone on your team who can manage the difficult people. We all know that one person we turn to to get help diffusing a difficult situation. They’re an important role to have on your team and worth awarding.
Always There When You Call
We live in a day and age where people are creating strict boundaries between work and home. However, corporate business does not always occur between 9 and 5. It is so helpful to have members of your team who are willing to step in when they are home to take care of pressing business. It elevates the success of your team and should be recognized.
The Wordsmith
Communication is key in the business world. Throughout the work day, you find yourself communicating nonstop through talking in person, phone calls, emails, Slack messages, etc. Sometimes it can be hard to find the right words to express what you want to say. From elegant emails to Monday motivation, this is where the wordsmith comes in. Your fun awards should include one for the person who can give you the right words to express your point in an educated manner.
Human Wikipedia
This is the perfect award for the person who always seems to have the answers. Now whether they are right or not is none of our business, but we respect someone who takes a shot at being the answer person. Often the corporate world is a fast-paced environment, and there are real-time issues that arise. Having someone who knows the product or company back and forth that you can turn to for a quick answer is invaluable.
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop
Motivation is an incredible quality to have in an employee. Someone who will get the job done on time and will not stop pushing until the project is perfect is invaluable to achieving the company’s goals. There is rarely a time when working on a project that you do not encounter challenges. The can’t stop won’t stop person will never make excuses. They will overcome the obstacles and get the job done.
Should Have Been an Email
Let’s be honest. Meetings have gotten out of control in the corporate world. Not EVERYTHING needs to be a meeting. They can be time-consuming and they take employees away from doing their actual jobs. Every team needs someone who isn’t afraid to call this out and encourage others to settle issues individually and not schedule a meeting for everything.
Early Bird Award
We all know that one person that is always at their desk when you get to work. They seem to be the same person who is in a meeting first. This shows respect for the workplace and for the company’s goals that should definitely be awarded. If we are being honest, most people run late these days. Let’s recognize the people that respect the company’s and their coworker’s time.
The Hypeman (or woman)
It is easy to be happy for ourselves when we do something that receives recognition or achieves a goal we have set. It is not always as easy to be happy for others when they do so. This award should go to the person who is happy for everyone around them for their successes, whether they are currently successful or not. This shows character and is another invaluable trait to have in your office.
Laughter is the Best Medicine
Employee engagement is key to any company’s success. If you are looking to increase employee morale and encourage your employees to be productive, employee recognition awards are the way to go. While you are at it, why not make them funny? Make your employees laugh while awarding them for the individual ways in which they contribute to your team.
Everyone likes to feel seen and appreciated. It helps us know that our hard work is not going unnoticed. Fun awards encourage employees to keep doing what they are doing, ensure the company’s success, and keep up that employee engagement.
Looking to start your own funny employee rewards program?
Share awards with the whole team using group greeting cards.
