Inspiring Work Anniversaries
How to Improve Employee Experience and Strengthen Workplace Culture through the Untapped Power of Work Anniversaries
Great organizations empower and celebrate their employees, argues the enthusiastic business book Inspiring Work Anniversaries.
Filled with interesting and offbeat ideas, Inspiring Work Anniversaries by Rick Joi is a business book designed to create memorable and meaningful celebrations and strengthen team connections and effectiveness.
The book’s three conversational parts cover reasons for celebrating as a team, ideas for celebrations divided by roles, and general notes for improving workplace culture. All are concerned with fostering a sense of belonging in work groups. The book forwards arguments about the related benefits of such celebrations, including reduced attrition and absenteeism. Backed by statistics, it notes that there’s an increased likelihood of workers leaving their employers during their work anniversary months. Supporting advice, as on the importance of defining and communicating an organization’s purpose, is also included.
Assertive general observations, as of people’s interdependence on one another’s productivity for necessities like food and clothing, open the book’s sections. These reflections infuse its discussions about the time, money, and effort involved in celebrating work anniversaries with greater meaning, helping the book to be persuasive on topics like the sensibility of allowing employees to select their own upgrades for improved productivity.
But the book is sometimes vague and muddled, as with its unusual phrasing about “super-squozen” time and “limiting” company objectives that impede its flow. Although described with honesty and self-recognition, a chapter that forwards “wacky” ideas–including a chicken dance and anniversary frame for the head–goes over the top. And despite its admission about disregarding an editor’s recommendation to cut “a metaphor” about talking to school-age children, the long interjection remains; it represents a major detour to reaching the connected content about employee surveys. Even with concerted explanations, the comparison is unclear, resulting in additional questions about guidelines for these tools. With some of the strongest tips for honoring employees in the appendices, reversed numbering also prompts curiosity. Further, a few of the book’s tables include too-light, too-small type, weakening the delivery of their messages.
The book is interactive, with checklists and summaries at the end of its chapters to review central ideas and QR codes to access additional material, including a list of workplace-aware vendors and a speech-giving guide. Its useful appendices include lists as of the Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid and Top 10 Ideas for Remote Employees. And the book names flexible reading options, including suggestions to skip inapplicable sections, alongside its cross-references for custom navigation.
Inspiring Work Anniversaries is a focused business guide for corporate leaders who are looking to celebrate their employees’ contributions in practical, creative, and valuable ways.
Reviewed by
Andrea Hammer
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
