BE 628: Ready to Celebrate at Work? Find Out How!

This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 628. Ready to celebrate at work? Find out how. Welcome to the Business English Podcast from All Ears English.

Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business. For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American

hosts, Aubrey and Michelle, coming to you from Arizona and New York City, USA. Fluency is not about speaking perfectly, it's about communicating comfortably,

being able to share your ideas without stress, react naturally in conversations, and express your personality in English. If English still feels like something you have to manage

carefully, you're probably very close. to the next level of fluency. But progress becomes much faster once you know exactly where you stand. Take our free two-minute fluency quiz

and discover your English level today. Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y s-c-o-r-e. hello Michelle how are you today hi Aubrey I'm doing well

how are you I'm great I'm curious have you ever had a reason to celebrate at work oh yes actually um just recently um we announced on the All Ears English podcast that I had some big news that I had a

baby, and it was probably a big surprise for our listeners because I hadn't announced it, and now I have. And it's because the baby was early. And anyway, toward the end of the episode, we will give you

the All There's English episode. That's our other show. And we will give you that episode so you can listen to that where I share more information about that.

But one of the cool things was that Lindsay and I were both pregnant at the same time. So we were a true reason to celebrate, right? Yes, a true reason to celebrate.

Lots of All Ears English, Business English babies this year. Yes, I know. So fun that you were both. I got the news from both of you pretty similar, pretty close to the same time,

which is so exciting. Yeah. So yeah, stay to the end. Will, if you're not following All Ears English, you should be, but you might have missed that episode.

We definitely want you to check it out so that you can get all of the fun details about Michelle's exciting news. But yeah, it's fun to celebrate with coworkers, right?

It was fun for me to celebrate with you. I'm so excited for you and with Lindsay as well. And whether you work in person or online, this is such an important connection skill

to celebrate if someone has a birthday, if someone has a baby. There are all these fun occasions where you want to be celebratory, right? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yeah.

So again, this could be career-related, but it could also be, you know, holiday celebrations. And we're going to talk about what some of these days are and why they're so special

and how we celebrate. So this is obviously different all around the world, you know, depending on the country and the culture. So we're going to be talking about, you know, if you're

working for an American company or with American colleagues or clients. And if you we're also going to talk about if you're in the position to say something or sign a card,

you're going to have a couple of go to phrases for each celebration. So this is going to be really helpful because sometimes you will have somebody come around and say,

oh, we're all signing a card for somebody's brand. birthday or for someone's retirement, right? And so it's good to think about writing things as well. That's a good point because you don't want to just

sign your name. You want to say something, whether it's at least congratulations or happy birthday, but we're going to give you some great phrases for that. So yeah, be

sure to hit follow here, guys, so you never miss an episode. We have three new episodes every week. And yeah, I'm excited to dive into this with you, Michelle.

What a fun topic. It is fun. Party, party. So, again, this is for talking about work-related days, right? So, things you might celebrate after, excuse me, at

work. So, meaning you don't get the holiday off, right? Unlike Thanksgiving or Christmas, something like that. So, what are some things that we might celebrate at work?

Aubrey, what's the first idea we have? First, of course, is birthdays, right? If it is a co-worker's birthday in the US, this could be a smaller size.

Celebration with your closest friends, or it might be shared with a team, a few colleagues, or it could be the whole office, right? An open celebration, maybe a cake and snacks in the office,

maybe a few decorations. If you've seen the show, The Office, I can remember at least one birthday celebration where they have this party planning committee that's like

putting up decorations for it, right? And Seinfeld, there's also stuff about. I'm sure. Celebrating too many things at work, it's a hilarious episode.

Oh, right. So, yeah, but so it could be that people may like go out to lunch or whatever it may be, but you might see, you might have a group card, right?

Or a Slack message. So, or if it's shared privately with you is every once in a while, you know, you have somebody who sometimes it's awkward to be like, it

's my birthday. m. As you might mention it, like just to one person, or I mean , it shouldn't feel awkward. But a lot of times, I think that a lot of workplaces will

ask your birthday and maybe have the birthdays up somewhere or something like that. Well, you bring up an excellent point here, Michelle, because if it's a big company,

there's probably an HR department that might do something. But if it's a smaller company, maybe not. So I think it's a really good thing for other co-workers to find out birthdays,

remember birthdays so that someone doesn't have to tell you , by the way, it's my birthday. You can be the first one to send them a birthday greeting. And then yes,

put it in a Slack message or a group text so that other people know and can also wish them happy birthday. Exactly. So, I mean, let's talk about things you could say

or write. So, of course, something like, oh, happy birthday. I hope you have a great day. Or what else? Or have fun celebrating your birthday. Or just have a great birthday.

Yeah, all of these phrases are perfect. You want to avoid asking. their age or any overly personal comments, even if you know them very well, especially in a card

on a group text, group Slack message, where there are people there who don't know them as well. You don't want to get too personal. You want to keep it general.

Right. Yes, exactly. A second thing that might be celebrated would be work anniversaries. So the anniversary of when someone joined the company. And would you say that this is like every year?

Like, is somebody going to have a two-year anniversary, like a big deal? No, right? This is not always celebrated. Usually at key milestones, maybe one year, five years, ten

years. You might see like a Slack or Teams shout out or group message, maybe from a manager or another co-worker. It's usually pretty chill. It's not that big of a deal.

Just like, oh, exciting. So-and-so has been here five years. Everyone's like, awesome. Pretty chill. Yeah, right. So and sometimes there could be small rewards like a gift

card or company sweat. something like that. And here, if you know, you're talking about it, you're writing something, you could just say something like, happy work anniversary.

Or if you could say like, wow, three years already, time flies. You could really write that or I think say that. Or you might say, great having you on the team. I love

working with you. Anything like that would work for sure. There's a big difference between understanding English and participating in English. Understanding means you follow the conversation.

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Go to allersenglish.com. slash fluency score. That's allersenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e. All right, so number three is a company anniversary, right?

Maybe the anniversary of when the company was founded. Right, exactly. Especially maybe for like a small business that you've watched grow. So yeah, there could be a company-wide email or

announcement. And yeah, more common if there's a strong company culture and you might get some sort of message from the leadership reflecting on the progress.

There could be some sort of lunch or event or a little company souvenir. So of course, you could say something like, you know, happy anniversary to the team.

or congratulations everyone, or well done everyone. one. That would be great if it was on a group chat or a Slack channel, you could say those things. But if you're celebrating all together, you don't

really say something to just like one specific person, you know? Right, exactly. Because it's meant to be the whole team. This is when we keep it general.

And yeah, we're celebrating as a group, exactly. So if there is some kind of card, you could just say, Um, um, let's see. Go ahead, Michelle. I've lost my place.

Yeah, no, I know. I kind of, I kind of jumped around a little bit in there. But yeah, I think we could, we can move on to the next one. So the next one is celebrating a new promotion or a new

role. So again, that could be in meetings or an email or in Slack . Team members congratulate each other or whoever it happened to. There could be a small team lunch or informal celebration,

and of course, could say or write things like congratulations on the promotion or the new role. What else could you say? I like this next one. Yeah, you could say

well-deserved or you've earned it because yeah, that is it's acknowledging that you feel like they deserved that promotion or the new role. And if someone is joining your team, you

could say something like, oh, looking forward to having you on the team. So that's good. Yes. And then lastly, career-specific appreciation days, right? So for example, maybe

an administration or professional day. This recognizes admin staff, assistants, coordinators, office managers. This is often Wednesday of the last full week in April. So this is the type of

thing that not every company would celebrate these or recognize these, but you might work in a company that does. Right, exactly. So yeah, there could be a manager or a team appreciation

day, you know, that person might get cards or flowers or lunch or a small gift. shift. And you could do that personally or join a group office card. But yeah, it could be

a public acknowledgement. And you could just say something like, thanks for keeping everything running smoothly, or we really appreciate all your support, or we couldn't do it

without you. Yes. And then of course, there are also farewells. So if someone is leaving the company. Maybe they're retiring, taking a long sabbatical, or, you know, leaving on good terms.

There often could be some kind of celebration of going away , a goodbye party for that, or a goodbye card or group message. Yes, exactly. So yeah, you would do like a short farewell

gathering in person or online. And sometimes a manager may make a speech or a team send off. Yeah, I'm definitely thinking here like retirement parties or yeah somebody

somebody's leaving on good terms right it has to be on really good terms that you would, you know, maybe it's not retiring. Maybe you are going to another

company. But if you're on good terms, like, people should be okay with that, you know? And it was done well. It wasn't sudden. It wasn't for any negative reason, you know?

Definitely, right? So, you could have maybe just a kind of a farewell gathering, either in person or online. There may be a little bit of a speech or a team send-off,

something fun. And you could also fill out a card, right? You could write something like, it's been great working with you or wishing you all the best in your next role.

Yeah, or your next chapter. That's a good one. I like that when people say, oh, in your next chapter, and like in the chapter of your book, it's nice.

Or best of luck and stay in touch or you'll be missed. And just, you know, I would say avoid asking for like, if you don't, if this person hasn't been very

public about why they're leaving, avoid asking detailed reasons for leaving in group settings, right? Or Really at all. Like if it, you know, if the person hasn't shared where they're going,

and sometimes they might not, I wouldn't ask. You know, they'll tell you if they want to tell you. Exactly. Maybe if you're very close friends, but for most colleagues,

most co-workers, I agree, let them tell you if they want to give you any details, right? Yeah. Good point. Yeah. This is really interesting. There are so many, at least in American business

culture, there are a lot of reasons to celebrate. We love an excuse to celebrate, right? Whether it's a birthday, a work anniversary. And so you need these great

phrases, both for some kind of group message, whether that 's a group text or a Slack message, or written in a card. So all of these will give you this pl ethora of things that you could say.

Yes, exactly. And I just wanted to remind you that we mentioned that episode of All Ears English, that was episode 2694. We're ahead of schedule with Michelle's exciting news.

to that one um because we talk more about my baby and um just like real and also really good um vocabulary phrases that's what i was just gonna say it's vocabulary that's great for

work right to be ahead of schedule for something to happen um before you expected so yeah so very good there um but yeah the takeaway it just you know enjoy these celebrations

this is a good thing you know and and you know try and use these as ways to connect with your coworkers. And, you know, it really can mean a lot to someone to get a card or to get a small

gift or things like that. This is one of the best ways to connect with coworkers, right? And if you don't acknowledge it at all or ignore someone's birthday,

it's not the end of the world when it's a coworker. It's not like it's a family member, right? But it is going above and beyond to show that you care, to show that you

want to build a connection. So I think it's worth the effort to build those connections at work, definitely. Agreed, love it. All right, well, I'm glad we talked about this.

And guys, I'm wishing you a happy day at work. And maybe you hopefully have something special to celebrate soon. I know, right? Yes. Awesome. Thanks, Michelle.

I will see you next time. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high-achieving global professional. Want more from All Ears English?

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