Virtual Recognition Ideas: Best Way To Appreciate Your Remote Employee Team

 As the team leader, sometimes you might feel like a superhero by managing everyone plus your own tasks without going crazy. Yet, without your team and all their hard work, it would be impossible to make things happen.

Your team’s passion and results keep the company going, and therefore showing appreciation and recognition is crucial.

According to Snappy Gifts data, 3 out of 5 employees believe employee recognition and appreciation are more important while working from home.

In remote teams, virtual recognition can go beyond a simple ‘’you’re doing a great job’’.

Words matter, but simple gestures and gifts are also another way of making your remote team feel valued. If you’re looking for ways to celebrate wins virtually or simply upgrading the way you appreciate your team, here are 10 virtual recognition ideas that are perfect for remote teams.  

8 Virtual Recognition Ideas For Your Remote Employee Team

1. A personalized mug! 

Thinking of virtual recognition ideas can be frustrating when you’re unsure what each employee in the team likes. However, you can go with the old reliable: A mug! 

A coffee-fueled remote worker is a happy worker! Whether most of your team enjoys coffee or tea, a personalized mug is a great way to put a smile on everyone’s faces.  

2. Virtual lunch 

What about inviting everyone for lunch (or dinner)? Imagine you just had great success; what better way to gather around and celebrate it? In a regular onsite environment, usually, the plan involves hitting the bar next to the office or going to a delicious restaurant.

But just because you’re in a remote team, this doesn’t mean it’s impossible. You can give everyone a coupon to get their favorite food via delivery, order it, and gather around in a video call to eat and celebrate. 

3. Snacks

The world would be a sad place without snacks. Whenever you handle a stressful task, or you’re on your work break, snacks are a great way to come back to life.

Whether it’s a piece of chocolate, peanuts, or some fruit, most people snack during their working day.

Another way of telling your team how much you value their work and how they solve problems when everything’s on fire is by sending them a basket with their favorite snacks!  

When reading a good source of remote work news or academic articles regarding remote working, you’ll see that most of them mention all the benefits for both employers and employees of telecommuting. 

Yet, not just because you’re working remotely instantly means you’ll experience all those benefits. Most remote employees need the necessary equipment to work productively. 

Office gadgets such as ergonomic keyboards, second monitor, mouse pad, camera, microphone, headsets are necessary! They help reduce the risk of injury and increase the speed at which employees can complete tasks. 

Let’s be real for a minute when working from home; who wears formal office clothes? Although you can pretend you’re formal via Zoom, everyone knows you’re wearing pants! 

And the truth is that one of the perks of working remotely is that you get to wear comfy clothing. So why not give your team fun slippers?

That way, they keep their feet comfortable (And this gift is even better if you give them slippers from cartoons or movies they like). 

Giving your team gifts is great, but also consider giving them experiences. When you’re managing a virtual team, it is harder to come up with creative virtual recognition ideas, but you don’t need to break your brain. You could organize a virtual party!

Tell everyone to gather on Zoom with a drink (or coffee) on their hands and celebrate! You could even do an award show and give all your team members awards for things they’ve done for the team. 

Not everyone is into gaming, but if your team is, this is the best present you can give to them: a gaming marathon. 

There are thousands of online games you can play with your team members, and to make the experience even more fun, you could connect via Zoom to talk and laugh while playing simultaneously. 

 8. Virtual pub crawl 

If you’ve seen all the remote team recognition ideas above and want something different to show virtual recognition to your team, doing a virtual pub crawl is the way to go. Now, you might be thinking, what on earth is a virtual pub crawl? Regular pub crawls are basically about doing a tour in different bars, so how can you take this experience virtually?

All you need to do is gather the crew with drinks on Zoom or any other virtual conferencing tool.

Every 15 minutes (or the time you think is best), you mute yourselves and visit a different website you add on the chat. Then you return to the call you drink and talk about the website.

It sounds simple, but it’s a great way to have a different experience with your team. 

Showing Your Virtual Team You Care

With so much going on at work, we tend to forget to show appreciation to our virtual teams. A simple "Thank you" or "Your doing a great job" can brighten someone's day. But sometimes, it's even better to go a little over the top and send them gifts or plan out thoughtful activities that make them feel valued and more engaged in your company. 

At the end of the day, what would your life be without your team? 

Virtual recognition will increase your team's level of engagement and allow you to build a deeper and stronger relationship with all your employees.