Can I only send cards on milestone years, like 5 and 10?

Not with a rule condition — the trigger fires on every anniversary. Two practical options: keep a separate list containing only the people hitting a milestone this year and point a rule at that, or run the rule for everyone and accept that every year is worth marking.

What if someone's start date changes?

Update the contact. The rule reads the current value on every run, so the next anniversary uses the corrected date.

Can the card go to their home address?

It goes wherever the contact's address says. For remote teams a home address is usually what you want; for an office it is often better to address the office and let it be opened in front of people.

How do I send automated work anniversary cards?

No code needed

Import a start date for each employee, then create an automation with the Work anniversary trigger. It fires on the month and day of the start date every year, and the {{years}} merge field counts the years for you, so the card can say 5 years today.

This follows the same shape as automated birthday cards; only the trigger and one merge field differ. If you have not read that guide, read it first — everything about lead times, caps and duplicate protection applies here identically.

Import the start dates
Contacts → Import contacts, then map the column to Work anniversary. Headers called work anniversary, start date, hire date, anniversary, join date, employment date and date hired are recognised automatically.
The value must be a full date. 2021-06-01 and 06/01/2021 both work.
You’ll know it worked when Open one contact and check the work anniversary shows the full date, not just a month and day.
Create the rule
Automations → New automation, and choose Work anniversary as the trigger. Point it at your staff list.
Use the years field in the message
{{years}} is available on this trigger only, and it is the difference between the anniversary year and the year in the start date. Someone who joined in 2021 gets 5 in 2026.
A work anniversary message
```
{{years}} years today, {{first_name}}.

Thank you for all of it. The place would not be the
same without you, and we mean that.

{{sender_name}}
```
Set the lead time and the cap
Set Days ahead to 10–14 for the same reason as birthdays: five days is not enough time to make and deliver a card.
Cap the rule at roughly your headcount plus 20%.
Run it once by hand, then switch it on
Run now shows exactly who it would write to and who it would skip. Read the skips before you trust it.
You’ll know it worked when The run log shows the right people with the right occurrence dates, and the year counts look correct.

#Common questions

Can I only send cards on milestone years, like 5 and 10?: Not with a rule condition — the trigger fires on every anniversary. Two practical options: keep a separate list containing only the people hitting a milestone this year and point a rule at that, or run the rule for everyone and accept that every year is worth marking.
What if someone's start date changes?: Update the contact. The rule reads the current value on every run, so the next anniversary uses the corrected date.
Can the card go to their home address?: It goes wherever the contact's address says. For remote teams a home address is usually what you want; for an office it is often better to address the office and let it be opened in front of people.

Last checked against the product on 2026-08-05. Something wrong or missing? Tell us.

How do I send automated work anniversary cards?

Import the start dates

Create the rule

Use the years field in the message

Set the lead time and the cap

Run it once by hand, then switch it on

#Common questions