Birthdays, balloons and boys…

“Dearly beloved. We are gathered here today. To get through this thing called life. Electric word "life". It means forever and that's a mighty long time but I'm here to tell you, there's something else…" - Prince.

In a world of over a billion people, there are on average tens of millions of birthdays each day of the year. Think about that on your special day!

Monday I celebrated a birthday. Nothing big, just a birthday. I turned the corner, walked toward my office and there they were. Balloons, balloons, and more balloons. A red carpet and more balloons. I could not contain my smile. And there were folks on my team videoing the entire thing. What a great way to start the day, the week. Just wow! My “heart grew three sizes that day”.

When we were younger, most of us looked forward to having a birthday. The birthday meant having a birthday party, birthday cake, birthday friends, birthday presents, and some fun activities. When we were younger, birthday parties were where we decided who our special friends were; you know, the friends who would give you that birthday present that you left not-so-subtle hints about or those who loved chocolate cake as much as me (and I love me some chocolate cake). When we were younger, our birthdays were fun social events that we eagerly anticipated; so what happened?

We grew up and found things that seemed more important like work, home duties, family, life … the list goes on. For many of us it is still a fun day, just not THAT fun day. As we get older, the importance of this recognition is often overlooked. Well, I am here to tell you, there’s something else – age is a state of mind. We need to celebrate! My team and my family made it that fun day again!

Some recent studies are concluding that we need to celebrate more of our life events at work – the studies show retention is highly linked to making the work culture more personal in recognizing life events. 

From a recent study by WorkHuman: One way is through celebrating employees’ life events – such as getting married, buying a house, having a birthday, or having a child – in the workplace (this sentence almost made it seem like I was saying having a child in the workplace – but I used the dash correctly). This ties into a broader initiative by forward-thinking companies to create work environments that allow people to bring their whole self to work.

Three out of five organizations (60%) are involved in helping employees celebrate life events, and about one-third (32%) leave it up to employees/ teams/ departments to decide how or whether to celebrate. From providing space to share photos or news of life events, to giving gifts or providing a budget for celebrations, employees are more likely to be very or somewhat satisfied when organizations take an active interest in their lives outside of work. Dissatisfaction with how life events are celebrated is most prevalent when employees/ teams/ departments are left to decide how or whether to celebrate at all. Leaving celebration up to different teams or departments means employees can have vastly different experiences depending on where they sit in the organization.

Employees are nearly two times as likely to agree their company is a good place to work when they are very or somewhat satisfied with how life events are celebrated (64%). We celebrate at work. Teams decide how, but we celebrate birthdays, new pets, engagements, weddings, etc.

While HR may have traditionally shied away from activities that support work/life blending, these recent surveys make a business case for celebrating the whole human at work. Creating a community celebration of life events can help instill a sense of belonging and humanize employer brands, making them more attractive to potential and future hires.

Thanks to the ever-developing age of digital, we are accustomed to these real-time interactions in our daily lives. Social media ensures many of us get birthday messages from across the globe (whether sincere or not). Now, employees expect the same approach when it comes to recognizing them within the workplace. So let’s celebrate more. The last 10-15 years have been about recognizing everything – “everyone gets a trophy”. Although I am not a fan when it comes to recognizing everyone in competitions, I do appreciate recognition when deserved for accomplishments or life events, and in non-competitive situations. And birthdays. And my birthday…

I am here to tell you – my birthday celebration with old school balloons made it very personal for me and added to my “retention bank”. It made me think even more highly of my team. And like a great Dr. Suess book: you have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you have balloons in your office - in reds, greens and blues. 

As an added surprise, those that did not work locally sent very thoughtful and personal gifts (Clayton Kershaw bobblehead for a hard-core Dodger fan!). 8 out of 10 Millennials think they deserve to be recognized for more personal accomplishments and life events at work – a growing trend. And guess what… old dudes like me like it too.

So back to the balloons. I walk into my office on my birthday. Open the door. And guess what? Balloons. Balloons everywhere. All colors and sizes. I could not see the floor or even walk very well through the sea of balloons. And for added measure they wrapped my entire office in USA Today newspapers. I laughed. I loved it. It made me really appreciate the team we have. I texted my wife and boys pictures of my office. Not sure any material gift my team could have given me would equal the response from those balloons. It was P.E.R.F.E.C.T. (and to think of those “lucky” few who blew up ALL those balloons). 

As that old commercial said: cost of newspaper – free (because we work at USA Today); cost of decorations - $4.99; cost of balloons - ~$8.00. Making Dave smile, post on social media, text his family, share story for the week, and blog about it – priceless!

And lastly my boys (and my lovely wife). Sure, there were gifts and cards and cake and pie (chocolate cake and lemon meringue if you are wondering), but what really capped off my day were four amazing paragraphs (with really great meaningful photos from years gone by) from each that were heartfelt and meaningful to me as a husband and father. From my boys is was about teaching and guiding and role modeling, and from my wife it was about our journey together through all that life throws at us AND including this line, “…allowing us to share the best of times and holding tight during the tough times”. 

And that's what paying attention to a birthday is - it is a chosen opportunity to honor and appreciate a unique human being. What other day would we select? It's immaterial that millions of others share the day. Birthdays, balloons and boys. A great combination.

So, “Happy Birthday” to all of you celebrating a birthday this year.

Together. We. Win.