Celebrate Customer Service Week with these In-Office and Remote Celebration Ideas

Celebrate Customer Service Week with these In-Office and Remote Celebration Ideas

Customer service staff support customers before, during, and after making purchases. They’re the frontlines of your business, helping customers make purchasing decisions, providing customer support and troubleshooting assistance, and, yes, occasionally dealing with irate customers. Theirs is a challenging job that can sometimes feel thankless. 

To recognize the essential role customer service plays in business, the Customer Service Group created Customer Service Week in 1991. By 1992, the US Congress had declared Customer Service Week a nationally recognized event, to be held annually on the first full week of October. The event is now celebrated in all fifty states and over sixty countries, and recognizes the efforts of customer service staff in industries as diverse as retail, healthcare, financial services, hospitality, communication, and manufacturing, as well as staff working for nonprofits and in government agencies. 

Ways to Celebrate Customer Service Week

You can show your appreciation of customer service staff in many ways over the course of Customer Service Week, from offering training, formally recognizing staff accomplishments, facilitating one-to-one meetings between staff and management, and giving gifts of swag such as custom baseball caps, embroidered polo shirts, and similar gifts. Below are some of the most common ways to celebrate your customer service staff, including Customer Service Week ideas for remote workers.

Start the Week with a Staff Breakfast

Begin the week by gathering staff and management together for breakfast. During the breakfast, announce your plans for Customer Service Week, including any scheduled speakers or training opportunities. If you’re planning team building events or special competitions, now’s a great time to get people to sign up for events. 

Make the breakfast more memorable by providing swag bags and gifts of coffee mugs customized with your company logo. Any of the three mugs below make excellent staff breakfast gifts:

•  Camper 14 oz. Double Wall, Vacuum Mug w/ Copper Lining
•  11 Oz. Traditional Coffee Mugs 15 Oz. Basecamp Zion Mug

For customer service appreciation swag bags, start with the bag itself, such as the reusable Standard Polypropylene Grocery Tote by Port Authority. Stuff the bag with customized goodies to both pamper your customer service staff and provide practical tools for their jobs. A sample swag bag might include:

• A Gratitude & Goodies Gift Box
• A Phone Removable Adhesive Computer Calendar
• A Round Push Pop Bubbles Stress Reliever
• A Fullerton SGC Stylus Pen
• A Black Magic Slim Calculator

Show Your Appreciation

Recognize individual employees during Customer Service Week. Adding a handwritten, personalized note of thanks to each swag bag shows you value your employees’ contributions to your business.

Training Opportunities

Employees value the chance to learn new skills and hone their existing talents — a LinkedIn survey discovered 94 percent of employees would stay at their current place of employment longer if the employer invested in their career. Customer Service Week is an ideal time to bring in outside speakers or to initiate in-house training opportunities. 

Trading Places

Pick a day during Customer Service Week where your C-suite executives spend a day in customer service. This is a popular activity, as it gives your executives a chance to experience the challenges of customer service firsthand, leading to a greater appreciation of customer service staff. For their part, staff appreciate a willingness on the part of executives to work in the trenches, if only for a day. 

Announce New Uniforms

If you’re planning new uniforms for your staff, Customer Service Week is a great time to unveil your employees’ new look. Keep comfort in mind when choosing uniforms, as customer service staff are often on their feet all day (or conversely, sitting at workstations answering customer texts and calling for equally long hours). Embroidered polo shirts are an excellent choice for casual work environments:

• Women's Performance Sport Shirt by Adidas
•  Heathered Sport Shirt by Adidas
• Eddie Bauer Performance Polo
•  Ladies Performance Polo by CROWN
•  Men's Corp Performance Polo
•  Ladies Corporate Performance Polo 2.0  by Under Armour

 

Top off your new uniform with custom baseball hats. Triple Crown Products’ selection of custom New Era baseball hats are attractive, durable, and look great with embroidered logos:

• Original Fit Flat Bill Snapback Cap by New Era
•  Melton Wool Heather Cap by New Era
•  Stretch Mesh Contrast Stitch Cap by New Era

 

If you're already happy with your team uniform, embroidered polo shirts and custom New Era baseball caps make great additions to swag bags. Embroider them with your logo and “Customer Service Week 2021” or similar messages.

Schedule Check-Ins

Schedule 1:1 check-ins during Customer Service Week, where staff can discuss challenges, issues, and opportunities with managers. Take some time during these meetings to ask about the staff member’s life outside of work, including asking after their families and inquiring about their hobbies or other enjoyable activities. The goal isn’t just to perform an employee assessment — it’s to get to know your staff better and find out what motivates them and keeps them engaged. 

Customer Service Week Ideas for Remote Employees

Not all customer service staff work in-house. After 2020 saw a pivot to remote work in response to COVID-19, many employees made the shift to remote work permanently. 

Just because your customer service representatives are scattered across the country doesn’t mean you can’t involve them in the celebrations during Customer Service Week. Here’s how to get remorse workers in on the fun:

• Mail swag bags to remote workers.
• Hold a virtual Zoom breakfast. Add a Coffee Lovers Kit Wheat Straw Coffee Bag to remote workers’ swag bags for the event.
• Arrange virtual training or customer service seminars.
• Schedule 1:1 Zoom meetings to touch base with remote workers, address issues, and help them make career development plans. 

 

Customer Service Week is a time to honor some of your hardest-working employees. Take the time to reward and recognize them, and they’ll continue to keep your customers happy while improving your brand reputation.