- tbf work
- Work anniversary
Happy work anniversary.
What to write.
A good work anniversary message names the year, says one thing the person did, and stops. Here are messages for every milestone from one year to twenty five, for a colleague, your team or your boss.
Updated 18 September 2026
Work anniversary messages
Pick one, change a detail so it is true, and sign it.
Short
Congratulations on another year here, it hasn't gone unnoticed.
Happy work anniversary. The place runs smoother with you in it.
Another year done here. Well earned, and it shows in the details.
Cheers to another year of getting the hard bits right.
Marking a year on the calendar today. Good to have you here.
Your anniversary today. Still the person people go to first.
A year further along and still steady under pressure.
Happy anniversary at work. Long may the good habits continue.
For a colleague
Happy work anniversary. The spreadsheet nobody else understands is safe with you.
Another year working alongside you, and the tea round is still fair.
Cheers to a year of you catching the things the rest of us miss.
Your anniversary snuck up on me again. Good to have you next to me on this.
A year further in, and you're still the one who reads the small print.
Happy anniversary. Glad it's you two desks over and not someone else.
From a manager
Thanks for another year of making the team's work better than it would be without you.
A year in and you've made the on-call rota something people actually trust.
Glad to have you on the team another year running. It shows in the work.
Your anniversary today. The standup is calmer because you're in it.
Another year with you on the team, and the handover notes finally make sense.
Happy anniversary. You've made this year easier for everyone around you.
For your boss
Happy anniversary. Thanks for backing calls that weren't obvious at the time.
Another year under your management, and the team still knows where it stands.
Grateful for another year of you taking the awkward conversations off our plates.
A year on, and you still remember what everyone's actually working on.
Cheers to a year of clear steers when the plan changed twice in a week.
Funny
Happy anniversary. Impressive that your inbox still hasn't won.
Another year of surviving Monday standups. Take a bow.
A whole year of pretending the printer isn't personally against you.
Cheers to a year of finding the one meeting that could have been an email.
Happy anniversary to the person who still hasn't found the good mugs hidden.
Another year down, and you still haven't been caught reheating fish in the microwave.
By the year
One year and ten years are different messages.
1 year
One year in, and you already know where all the good biscuits are kept.
Your first year done. You picked up more than most manage in two.
A year since you started, and the desk plant is somehow still alive.
First year down. You asked the questions everyone else was too polite to ask.
Happy first anniversary. A year ago you didn't know the coffee machine's quirks either.
2 years
Two years in, and you've stopped needing directions to the fire exit.
Your second year done, and the project you inherited is unrecognisable, in a good way.
Two years on, and you're still the fastest reply in any thread.
5 years
Five years here now. That's a lot of retros and you've sat through every one.
Half a decade in, and you still read the whole document before the meeting.
It's five years on, and you're the one people check with before it goes out.
Your fifth year done. Not many stick around long enough to know why the old system broke.
Onboarding guides still don't cover half of what you've picked up in five years.
10 years
Ten years here. You've outlasted three office moves and two logo changes.
A decade in, and you still remember the system before it had a proper name.
Ten years on, and you're the one who knows why that one setting can't be touched.
A decade with the company, and the induction deck still uses your old photo.
You've trained more people over ten years than anyone's kept count of.
15 years
Fifteen years in, and you've seen the org chart redrawn more times than anyone can count.
Fifteen years on, and you're still the person new starters get pointed to first.
Longer than most of the tools you started with, and that's fifteen years for you.
20 years
Twenty years in. You've seen this place change shape more than once.
Twenty years on, and you still know where the old files are kept.
Two decades here now, and the handover notes still have your name on the good ones.
Still the one people ask when nobody else knows, twenty years on.
25 years
Twenty five years in. That's most of the building's history with your name in it.
Twenty five years on, and you've trained half the people who now run the place.
A quarter century here, and you still catch things the rest of us walk past.
One card from everybody, on the day.
Work anniversaries repeat each year, so you set this up once.
- 01
Add the date.
Type the start date, or connect BambooHR and the dates arrive on their own.
- 02
Choose who to ask.
Their team, or anyone. Each person gets a link by email or in Slack.
- 03
Everyone writes their own words.
In a browser, with no account. The card is sent on the anniversary.
What makes a work anniversary message good
Most cards say congratulations and nothing else. The ones people keep say something only a colleague would know.
- Name the year. It shows you counted.
- Name one thing they did, however small.
- Say what it changed for you or the team.
- Stop. Two sentences are enough.
If you manage the person, write it yourself. A message from a manager that reads like a template is worse than none.
Questions
What do you write for a work anniversary?
Name the year, say one thing the person did that you noticed, and thank them. Two sentences. "Five years of asking the question nobody else would. Thank you for every one."
How do you wish someone a happy work anniversary professionally?
Keep it specific and short. Mention the milestone and one contribution, and leave out jokes about age or how long it has been.
What is a good message for a 1 year work anniversary?
Say what changed since they joined. "One year in and the handover notes are already better than the ones you were given."
Should a manager send a work anniversary message?
Yes, and in their own words. People remember whether their manager noticed the day.
How do we remember every work anniversary?
Add start dates once, or connect BambooHR. tbf work starts a card before each anniversary, asks the team, and sends it on the day.
Is a group card better than one message?
For a milestone, yes. Ten short messages from ten colleagues say more than one long one from the company.