You know what's worse than forgetting someone's birthday? Celebrating it in a way that makes them uncomfortable.
The problem with most workplace birthday celebrations isn't that teams don't care. It's that we treat birthdays like company policy instead of personal moments. Someone picks a format — surprise cake in the break room, public Slack announcement, standing ovation in the all-hands — and everyone gets the same treatment, whether they want it or not.
Some articles point to religious and — heaven forbid — legal consequences of getting birthday celebrations wrong. Those are extreme cases, but they show what happens when we forget that birthdays are deeply personal.
The best teams understand this. They know that while some people light up with the energy of being celebrated publicly, others would rather have a quiet acknowledgment from the people they work closely with. Or nothing at all. There's no right or wrong preference. They're just different.
So here's the fix: ask.
When someone joins your team, ask them how they'd like their birthday celebrated. Not as a formality, but as a genuine question. Then write it down. Honor it.
Some people will opt out entirely, and that's okay. Others might say a simple card signed by the team is perfect. Some will want the whole celebration — cake, decorations, the works. For distributed teams, this might mean a digital card that everyone contributes to, or a quick video call with just their closest teammates.
The point isn't what form the celebration takes. It's that you've taken the time to see each person as an individual, not just another name on the calendar.
When you make birthdays about the person, not the policy, people feel seen.
HuddleCard was designed to make this easier. It handles the coordination — the reminders, the message collection, the delivery — so you can focus on the thoughtfulness. Companies like Thermo Fisher, Planet Fitness, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center use it because it helps them celebrate each person the way they want to be celebrated.
Get started today for free.