Which category does your company (or team) fall into when it comes to celebrating successes?
Do they:
- Celebrate quietly or not at all, or
- Celebrate for everyone to see and hear?
You might think that, as long as employees get recognized for their work, it doesn’t matter which category you fall into.
However, it really does.
Celebrating success is vital for employee engagement and long-term loyalty. It can even make the turnover numbers in your company dwindle down.
But why? Let’s take a look.
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Why celebrating success at work is vital for your business
Not that long ago, I went out for a coffee with a friend and, after a few hours of chatting, the topic of work naturally came up — as it always does. I asked him whether his new job was as fulfilling as he thought it would be.
Now, for context, 9 or so months ago he landed a job in his dream company. He was as excited as I ever saw him — thrilled he’ll get to contribute not only to his career but to the world by helping the company do what it does.
So, when I asked him how he was doing, I was expecting the complete opposite of what he actually told me — he said he was borderline miserable, and explained why:
“I don’t even know whether my work contributes to what we do or not. I feel like less than a cog in the machine — I feel as if my being there makes no difference at all.”
I realized then that no matter how much good his company did or how successful it was, he felt as if he wasn’t contributing and, thus, as if he didn’t matter.
So, why should he even try?
Having a successful company is important — it’s the goal everyone strives toward.
However, even more important is to take the time to celebrate success, as that:
- Empowers employees,
- Affects retention and job satisfaction, and
- Increases productivity and engagement.
Gallup’s findings from their 2024 report State of the Global Workplace show that employee disengagement costs the global economy $8.9 trillion — a staggering 9% of global GDP.
Unfortunately, despite high costs, it seems that not many companies are aware of how important engagement is and how celebrating success can increase it.
Retain your employees one celebration at a time
While parting ways with my friend that day, I asked him what he planned on doing and he told me he was already looking for another job.
This didn’t surprise me at all — according to McKinsey research, there are 3 significant reasons people leave a company:
- Leadership that doesn’t show they care,
- A lack of sustainable work expectations, and
- Lack of career development and advancement potential.
By not telling my friend whether and in which ways his work mattered, his company was essentially telling him they didn’t care.
What’s more, they also showed they can’t engage him, which means his current workplace wasn’t ideal for growing — after all, you can’t grow if you don’t apply yourself.
Letting your employees become disengaged can be a costly mistake. Low engagement teams have high turnover rates — 18 to 43% higher than those in engaged teams, according to Gallup’s report The Benefits of Employee Engagement.
People who feel their work matters are less likely to leave the company they are working in because they feel attached to it. Their own success is tied to the success of their company.
Thus, when the company publicly shares and celebrates successes, the employees also feel they contribute to them — even if they didn’t personally have a hand in the success in the first place.
This public recognition, along with individual recognition, can reduce turnover by 31%, as, according to Deloitte, recognition programs can make that much of a difference. What’s more, they can also increase your business’s chances of being profitable by 12 times.
Although I can’t vouch for the profit, I can tell you that celebrating success worked for my friend’s company — they managed to get him to stay.
A couple of months after our initial conversation, he seemed once again enthused by his work in the same company. He told me he found out that the project he was working on had greatly contributed to a major success for the company.
His work mattered!
He was no longer a gloomy disengaged employee, all because of one (in the grand scheme of things) small win for the company.
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How are you going to celebrate success with your team? Try Pumble, for better team communication.
💡 Pumble Pro Tip
When it comes to engagement at work, employee recognition matters as much as celebrating success. To find out how to best show your employees their efforts are noted and appreciated, read this blog:
Other ways celebrating successes makes a difference
It’s great that my friend’s company didn’t lose his talented self. But here’s the issue:
- He didn’t find out about the win until 3 months after it happened, and
- It was mentioned in passing, during chit-chat at one meeting that had nothing to do with the project.
The news delighted him nonetheless, but imagine how big of an impact they’d have if they were specifically delivered to him and his team members with the goal of celebrating that success.
It’s clear that hearing about his company’s success made a difference for my friend. However, he was in a unique situation — he was desperately clinging to the company because of the work they did.
So what his company did might have been too little, too late for most people.
Instead of banking on your employees to figure out their contributions matter, it’s much better to get ahead of this problem and share successes publicly.
And, in case retention isn’t enticing enough, here are 2 more benefits your company can enjoy thanks to celebrating successes in the workplace.
#1 Celebrating success empowers employees
Cultivating a culture of celebration can seem counterproductive on an individual level. It might seem boastful and arrogant to constantly share what you’ve done well.
However, on a company level, sharing wins — big and small — can actually empower others.
People tend to work harder when they think their efforts aren’t wasted. Even seeing someone else’s efforts not go unnoticed can empower people.
But even if it doesn’t, celebrating success with everyone helps employees become aware that their company is doing well, and that, by including them in the celebration, the company recognizes them as a vital part of its success.
This creates a stronger bond between employees and higher levels of loyalty.
Now, you don’t have to celebrate huge milestones to enjoy the benefits of this. Even sharing small wins and recognizing the people who made them happen can make a difference.
#2 Celebrating success increases productivity
People who are engaged work harder — there’s no doubt about it.
According to Gallup, on average, companies that have engaged employees differ from those that have disengaged employees by:
- 41% in quality,
- 18% in productivity, and
- 23% in profitability.
Now, there are plenty of ways to improve employee engagement, but public celebration of success is one of the easiest ones.
Drawing attention to success paves the way for future advancement both on an individual and company-wide level.
To put it in simpler terms, employees who are aware their contributions will be recognized are willing to put in the work to improve their performance. That, in turn, drives company success as a whole.
💡 Pumble Pro Tip
Interested to know how you can drive employee engagement — aside from celebrating success? Read our full guide to find out:
How to celebrate success in your company
Although you now have a better understanding of why celebrating wins, no matter how big they are, is beneficial, you might not yet know how to do it.
I’d definitely advise avoiding the route my friend’s upper management went with.
You don’t want your employees to find out about the company’s success at the water cooler. That’s especially true if you run a remote or hybrid company or team — the water cooler option is off the table, given that you don’t have one.
What I’m trying to say is that you don’t want this to be something that happens without you knowing about it. It should be a conscious decision you make for the good of the company.
So, celebrating success should:
- Happen on time — soon after a win (not 3 months later),
- Go through official communication channels, and
- Be company- or at least team-wide.
So, let’s say your company just had a win.
You should:
- Plan out the announcement,
- Mention people responsible for the win,
- Highlight their major contributions,
- Mention all other people who weren’t directly responsible but whose work also contributed (especially important in cross-functional teams), and
- Make the announcement publicly.
Free team communication software
To celebrate a win quick and easy every time, have your team use Pumble.
Celebrate success with Pumble
Next time your company or team does something well or achieves a big win, don’t be shy — celebrate with everyone.
Those working on-site can celebrate in person — at a meeting, or during a brief office-wide announcement — while those working remotely can have a virtual get-together to do so.
However, no matter whether you work in an office or remotely, you should always leave a paper trail of the celebration — i.e. send a public message for everyone to see.
If your team uses a business communication app like Pumble, you can use a company-wide channel, like the #general channel or another, team-wide channel to do so.
Even if you’ve already celebrated during a virtual meeting with the entire team, take the time to drop a message in a relevant channel and @mention people who contributed to the success.
An app like Pumble can help you celebrate success in a multitude of ways:
- You can set reminders so you don’t forget to share good news and schedule messages to ensure your announcements go out at the right time,
- If you don’t like the idea of sending a simple message, you can send a voice or a video message to the team, and
- You can even invite external parties like clients or contributors to share in the success with you via Pumble’s guest access.
No matter which option you choose, Pumble will ensure your company- or team-wide celebrations never get forgotten — thanks to unlimited messaging history.
Celebrate successes in style — try Pumble today!
