Every year, the third Thursday in April marks National High Five Day. We love this holiday! It serves as an important reminder of the power of a high five. This simple gesture can express so much! It’s an incredibly fun and effective way to encourage a coworker, recognize a teammate, or simply say “hey, glad you’re here!”

We hope you’ll join us on April 18 to partake in some National High Five Day festivities. Here are five ways you can celebrate next week:

1. High Five EVERYONE!
We mean it. Strangers on the street, the barista serving your coffee, the mail carrier, and your teammates. Hand out high fives like it’s nobody’s business on National High Five Day. We guarantee you’ll spread some smiles in the process!

2. Learn more about Baudville’s new hi5 Service Awards
Baudville now offers service awards, which means you can turn to your friendly Baudville Recognition Specialists for all your recognition programs! Our Service Awards are part of our new brand, hi5 Recognition, so National High Five Day is a great time to learn more!

3. Hold a High Five Competition
Challenge your teammates to come up with the most elaborate, creative, and exciting high five your organization has ever seen! Have the participating teams perform in front of the entire team. Select a panel of judges to choose the winner. Give all the teams a high five gift for participating. Don’t forget to take pictures!

4. Decorate High Five Cookies
Bake sugar cookies in the shape of a hand, and bring in all the toppings: frosting, sprinkles, candy, even marshmallows, for a cookie decorating bar. Your team will have a blast decorating the cookies and enjoying a tasty high five. We made these high five cookies to celebrate our new service awards! They were delicious!

5. Create a Cultural Phenomenon
Did you notice a difference in your team’s attitude when you were passing out high fives? Make high fives a lasting part of your culture! Create team t-shirts that proudly proclaim “I brake for high fives.” You can implement a day-to-day recognition program using high five lapel pins or Team Tokens.

Want more ideas for National High Five Day? Check out these blog posts from previous years!

Ten Ways to Give a High Five on National High Five Day

National High Five Day: Time for a Little Hoopla

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

To quote my co-worker Dean-o, it’s finally Feel Good Friday! As Baudville’s only copywriter, I had my hand in everyone’s cookie jar this week, and now that it’s almost over I have to say, “whew, I’m full!”

Multi-tasking mania aside, it was a great week full of all kinds of inspirations and revelations. Here are my top five:

Carnevale – Midwest Style. Our downtown Grand Rapids transformed into a Fat Tuesday frenzy, complete with street musicians, dancers, and festive fare at 12 different area restaurants. What a joy to see our city explode with celebration. And what dedication – after all, it is February!

Creative Juicing Meetings. During these daily, early-morning meetings with Baudville’s creative group, one of our team members brings an activity that we all participate in. From still life drawing with Mozart, to writing six words stories, to building an iguana out of Legos, each project gets our minds flowing and sets the stage for a hyper-productive day.

{F}Score by Sally Hogshead. If you’re in the business of anything, you need to know how to fascinate your audience. Watch Ms. Hogshead’s captivating TEDX talk (it’s worth every minute), then take the {F}Score Survey to determine your fascination triggers – the unique personality and behavioral traits you have that allow you to influence others (including the people you work with)!

New Product Development. It’s design, development, and wordsmithing time at Baudville, which is like my Birthday, a Key West vacation, and a hot fudge brownie sundae all in one. In other words, I love when we’re in a new product cycle! You’ll have to wait a few months to see what brilliance we’re hatching this round; but if you want to see what came out of the last session, look here.

Robert Rauschenberg’s Synapsis Shuffle at Grand Rapids Art Museum. Presented so far only in New York and Paris, this interactive exhibition is a huge coup for Grand Rapids, Michigan! It opens March 3rd and will be curated by one lucky member of our community. While I won’t be that person, I am beyond excited that our fair city has this incredible opportunity!

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Allison is a self-proclaimed Copywriting Diva and has the certificate to prove it! She’s been writing for Baudville for three years and has worked in a variety of business settings for more than 18 years. Before becoming a professional writer 11 years ago, Allison worked as a department manager where she used Baudville products to motivate her team. She’s what we call a true believer! 

At Baudville, we’re fortunate enough to be hiring right now, which means we have all kinds of new faces walking our hallways. Whenever we have new employees on board, we always take a few minutes at our all-staff meetings to introduce them to everyone. There’s a fair amount of hoopla at these meetings, and I think a lot of our newbies leave them with their hair blown back a little. (I still remember my first one!) But, we only have these meetings periodically, so sometimes new team members can be here for weeks or even a few months before they get that big shebang welcome.

This got me wondering… about our new hires’ impressions of us and also about what we, as a company or as individuals, do to make people feel welcome here on a day-to-day basis. So, I asked them!

Terry told me: “The first time I met everyone here at Baudville, I was astounded with how nice everyone was to me. I have worked at companies previously where you had to ‘prove’ yourself in order to fit in. I am proud to be working at a company that chooses to lead by example.”

Mikki responded with: “When I was asked to join the Baudville team I not only thanked my supervisors for the opportunity; but also thanked myself for pushing towards a brighter future in my career. I have had more than just a welcome; I feel a close family already beginning for me here.”

Andrew gave his two cents: “I walked in and saw a ping pong table. I said to another person, ‘I want to play.’ And now I play just about every day at lunch! It reminded me of a time when I was researching Google’s work environment, and I said to myself, ‘I want to work at a place like Google’ … and now I’m here!”

Here’s what Midori said: “When I came on board with Baudville, they gave me a welcome gift in the Making the Difference theme. It made a difference to me to see employees thanking one another for helping them, or giving a Shout Out for a job well done, and to actually see management foster an environment where positivity is not only nurtured, but shared.”

And, finally, a word from John: “On my first day I was presented with some great Welcome to the Team gifts, which I loved. Come to find out we sell these each and every day. What a great way to welcome someone to your team.”

Well, all right! I’m sure glad to hear that everyone is doing their part. If you want the same enthusiasm from your new hires, simply:

Be helpful and friendly. Sounds obvious; but how easily do we forget, once we’re settled in and comfortable, what it’s like to be the new person? Encourage everyone to greet new people and introduce themselves. Take it another step by asking how it’s going and if they need any help.  

Include and involve. For us, that sometimes means inviting new employees to a game of ping pong; but it could also be to lunch, or to share their ideas in a meeting. Make them feel like they’re a part of your team – and they will be.

Get off on the right foot. Present new employees with a welcome gift filled with handy desk items they can put to use right away. This could be a Theme Gift Set, a Celebration Gift Set, or one of our new-ish Welcome Kits.

Remember, a proper welcome is more than a handshake. Done thoughtfully and with the involvement of everyone in the company, it can positively impact new hires and set the stage for a successful and long-lasting relationship. And that’s what you’re aiming for, right? 

Want to share how you welcome new employees? We'd love to hear about it!

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Allison is a self-proclaimed Copywriting Diva and has the certificate to prove it! She’s been writing for Baudville for three years and has worked in a variety of business settings for more than 18 years. Before becoming a professional writer 11 years ago, Allison worked as a department manager where she used Baudville products to motivate her team. She’s what we call a true believer

Love at the office? Under normal circumstances, this is probably not recommended. But the kind of love I’m talking about is mutual respect, admiration, and appreciation for the people we work with—and I’ve sure seen a lot of it around the ‘ville lately!

Like when I walk past our lunchroom and see the tables filled with people from all departments breaking bread together. Or pause at the Shout Out Wall to read all the sincere accolades Baudvillians are giving their peers. Or when I see people get truly enthusiastic when they give thanks and compliments to their co-workers.
 
There’s a heck of a lot of love here at Baudville, and it makes me really happy to know that we’ve built a family here that, well, feels like a family.
 
Does this sound like the kind of workplace you’d like to have?
 
If you want a little more love and happiness flowing through your hallways, look into our free tools to help you spread it around. Visit our Recognition Resource Center today and find free ePraise, Print & Posts, downloads, & more!
 
Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

How do you promote appeciation, respect, and unity in your organization? Tell us about it!

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Allison is a self-proclaimed Copywriting Diva and has the certificate to prove it! She’s been writing for Baudville for three years and has worked in a variety of business settings for more than 18 years. Before becoming a professional writer 11 years ago, Allison worked as a department manager where she used Baudville products to motivate her team. She’s what we call a true believer!

I don’t know about you, but I dread first days. Did I wear an appropriate outfit? Where do I sit at lunch? What parking spot isn’t claimed already? I calmed the butterflies in my stomach with a deep breath and pulled the glass door towards me entering the world of Baudville for my first day as the new Web Marketing Intern.

I was greeted by a friendly face, an enthusiastic hand shake, and a welcome on board. After the brief encounter I was whisked away by Kim, the person whom I would be annoying the next couple of months with my endless questions. First stop, my cubicle. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that the cubicle is larger than a lot of bathrooms I’ve seen! While I was being introduced to the employees who surround me, I marveled at how colorful and full of personality everyone’s cubicles were and contemplated what I can put in mine. Then off I was to tour the company, where I met Jeff in purchasing and determined my outfit was fine but slightly awkward, because he was basically wearing the same outfit!

Lunch already, I thought as Katherine and Kim asked me where I wanted to go. Company’s treat! At lunch I learned more about Baudville and even better, more about Kim and Katherine, two out of many tremendous co-workers. After a full belly it was back to the daily grind for me. Well kinda. I let Kim and Katherine tackle some work while I headed off to Human Resources to fill out paper work and learn about the history of Baudville. One of the forms included questions like what my favorite food, restaurants and hobbies were, so Baudville could get to know ME better!

A half-an-hour later it was 5 o’clock and time to go. On my first day, I met about 90% of the company. Now I know all the wonderful employees and don’t have to worry if I already introduced myself. I even had a great time filling out paperwork with Human Resources and going over the company handbook step by step. Other companies have told me to read the handbook on my own time. Cindy actually took time to make me feel welcomed and comfortable with the Baudville ways. Another plus, I was able to join the health and fitness competition late. A team took me in right away and I received an awesome free tee shirt. (Something every college student wants!) The cherry on top, lunch was on Baudville and restaurant of my choice.  My first day at Baudville wasn’t so bad… actually, can I do it again!

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Kendra is the newest Baudvillian. She is currently an advertising intellectual at Grand Valley State University, and is ecstatic about the change of atmosphere as Baudville’s web marketing intern. Watch out because this young professional just touched down at Baudville.