How to Use HeyTaco to Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day

Employee Appreciation Day is celebrated annually on the first Friday of March. In 2026, it’s on March 6^th. We use this day to heap a little extra gratitude on the teams who remain dedicated to our organizations. 

If you’re looking for new Employee Appreciation Day activities and gift ideas, we’ve got plenty. Right now, we’re going to explore ways you can include HeyTaco in your celebrations. Use them to build connections across remote teams, start a new ritual, or simply take everyday appreciation up a few notches. 

Why is peer recognition good for Employee Appreciation Day?

We usually think of Employee Appreciation Day as an important time for top-down recognition, and this is correct. Above all else, it’s a holiday where organizations express gratitude to their teams. 

However, it’s still smart to include peer recognition in your Employee Appreciation Day celebrations. Peer-to-peer recognition is more specific and believable, adding extra authenticity to those expressions of gratitude. People receive recognition for the stuff managers didn’t see. 

Most importantly, teams get to participate in building on the positivity that gratitude brings. It’s more fun for everyone and strengthens bonds, especially when you use existing team rituals (like HeyTaco) to celebrate.

Using HeyTaco on Employee Appreciation Day

Ready to light up those leaderboards? Increase everyone’s daily taco limit for the first Friday in March, and let’s make some five-star appreciation from scratch. 

🌮 Taco Power Hour: A fast-paced blitz of recognition

Pshhh, you guys do gratitude every day. You’re naturals at dishing out appreciation on the fly. We can knock this Employee Appreciation Day thing out in an hour, max, leaving no one undervalued. 

Taco Power Hour is a higher-energy, concentrated way to celebrate. The time is restricted to one singular hour, preferably earlier in the day. Here’s what you’ll do.

1. Announce Taco Power Hour in advance. Get pumped; we want to build anticipation. Lay out the purpose (Employee Appreciation Day) with a few preliminary words of gratitude. If you’re tying recognition to core values, add this reminder. 
2. Include a five-minute countdown. Give everyone fair warning that Power Hour is set to begin. 
3. Have managers and leaders start the show. They should be at the ready with tacos and messages highlighting employee achievements, exceptional teamwork, and other positive qualities and contributions. 
4. Stay hyperactive. Use reaction GIFS, praise other people’s praise, and keep the excitement going. 

Taco Power Hour is fast-paced and energetic. It works when you build momentum early in the hour and make a measured effort to sustain it throughout. The intention is to light a spark that keeps the good vibrations thrumming throughout the day. 

🌮 Taco Power Day: An all-day gratitude fest

If Power Hour seems a little too chaotic, or staggered schedules and workflows vary availability, host Taco Power Day. 

This more relaxed approach is also your pick if you’re still trying to increase participation. Hybrid teams or employees with demanding roles appreciate the option to chime in at their leisure. Low-pressure events are easier for many to adopt as rituals.

1. Notify everyone at least a day in advance. Encourage everyone (but especially leaders) to take their time drafting sincere and specific messages of appreciation.
2. Add a challenge or friendly competition. For example, rewarding the person who writes the most thoughtful message, gives the most tacos, or increases their recognition participation the most. 
3. Increase daily taco limits and start the show. Unlike Power Hour, you don’t need to come out swinging. However, managers should still chime in earlier and appear in the chat throughout the day.

This more reflective, flexible celebration holds the door open for deep insights and all-day engagement. Employee Appreciation Day comes just once a year, so it’s worth it to recall the bigger accomplishments and qualities of an individual. 

🌮 The Taco Truck: Serving up tacos team by team

This virtual version of a traveling taco truck delivers digital tacos to siloed roles and departments who don’t see much action outside of their bubble, as well as remote employees in general. 

The celebration helps people get to know one another and their respective jobs a bit more. It also puts the spotlight on their unique skills and challenges. 

1. Create an itinerary and be ready to moderate. Each department, team, or role gets its allotted time in the spotlight. How long it takes is totally up to you and the size of the organization, but an hour is typically enough.
2. Tell everyone what’s going down. Let them know the taco truck is making various stops during this celebration. 
3. Roll out the appreciation in a timely fashion. Accounting, marketing, engineering, and more. Share an inside look at members of each department with fun facts about their role or background, inviting others to deliver tacos of recognition.
4. Let’s hear from the manager. The team leader shouts out individual strengths and achievements, thanking their employees for specific contributions.

HeyTaco is adopted more rapidly by some departments than others. This brings everyone together for an inclusive celebration that makes the whole organization feel like part of the same team.  

🌮 Our Friday Fiesta: Top your tacos with gratitude and other core values

What makes a taco, a taco? This appreciation activity assigns values to various toppings, challenging people to identify which of their employees or peers most personifies guacamole (that extra special something).

The key consideration for this celebration is the recipe. Include enough toppings (recognition categories) to give everyone a chance for their moment. 

1. Define your categories. For instance, creativity is our protein, positivity is our salsa, integrity is a grilled veggie, and guac goes above and beyond. And gratitude? That’s the tortilla that holds us all together.
2. Pre-plan something for everyone. Once you write your recipe, collaborate with managers to sort employees into each category as insurance that no one gets left behind. 
3. Don’t forget the Taco Tags. As you lead the team through their toppings, don’t forget to use Taco Tags to connect their positive qualities and achievements to the values being recognized, as well as have those tags tracked by HeyTaco. 

This virtual taco bar appreciates individual strengths. Use Employee Appreciation Day to celebrate positive qualities that aren’t necessarily at the top of the company’s mission.

It’s also memorable, even if silly. Once you assure an employee they’re the queso on top of the company taco, they’ll remember that every time they enjoy it IRL.

HeyTaco tips for Employee Appreciation Day success

It’s easy to customize any of the above ideas to your company’s routines and rituals. That said, there are a few factors you shouldn’t neglect.

• Leadership participation. Leads must set the tone and celebrate at least as loudly as everyone else. Leaving it all up to employees doesn’t send the message that it’s the company that appreciates them on this day.
• Encourage more considered comments. Everyone loves HeyTaco because it’s light, fun, and celebrates the small stuff. But on this day, don’t shy away from storytelling. Be specific, share memories, and make it stand out as more special than daily recognition.
• Take cues from how they use HeyTaco. If the team is already working toward a collaborative reward or gets super involved with what’s happening on leaderboards, include that in the celebration.

Ready, set, celebrate!

Whether you’re gearing up for a powerful hour or taking the taco truck on a tour of each department, create happier workplace memories on this Employee Appreciation Day. If you try one of these ideas or create a new taco-themed ritual with your team, let us know all about it!