Your January holiday calendar for HR: Workplace events & celebrations to plan

As we close out 2025 and say goodbye to all its ups and downs, we can take the opportunity to reflect on our employee experience programming, what worked and what didn’t, and what we want to try in the new year. And January, with its themes of renewal, resolutions and growth, is the perfect opportunity to lay a strong foundation for a good year.

Below, you’ll find a collection of the themes, events and holidays observed and celebrated throughout the month of January along with some creative, thoughtful ideas for how to use them in your employee experience planning.

Professional focus

National Mentoring Month

This is a great followup to National Learning & Development Month (November) and National Career Development Month (December) and an opportunity to set up a new cross-discipline mentorship program opportunity for employees to cross-train and familiarize themselves with different functions or departments of the business.

Emphasize any training or learning opportunities in your learning management system that employees can consume on their own, as well as any budget or funding for external opportunities that would benefit their job performance.

Social responsibility and activism opportunities

No matter where your organization is located in the world, members of its community have extra support needs that it can contribute to in a meaningful way, strengthening both employee sentiment and broader organizational reputation. And, to that end, you can find appropriate events to guide your efforts every month.

In January, your organization can observe:

• World Braille Day on Jan 4 – celebrating the writing and reading system developed by Louis Braille in 1824, a revolutionary development that has benefited blind folks around the world for two centuries.
• National Human Trafficking Awareness Day on Jan 11 – raising awareness for a key social issue of our time
• International Thank You Day on Jan 11 – a delightful opportunity to extend a word of gratitude to all of our staff, especially for their efforts and successes during the holiday season.
• World Religion Day on Jan 18 – celebrating the breadth of diversity of human belief systems
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Jan 19 – celebrating an important figure in American civil rights history
• Celebration of Life Day on Jan 22 – recognizing the joy and wonder that children bring to our lives
• National Compliment Day on Jan 24 – an opportunity to make someone’s day

National Blood Donor Month

Blood donation is one of those activities that many folks mean to do, but simple inconveniences get in the way. Help your people make a positive difference in the world by hosting blood drives in your offices, warehouses or stores and allow people to sign up for time slots to make the process efficient and minimize productivity loss from queuing.

Create a special eCard to send out to any employee who makes an appointment in the drive to celebrate their donation.

A little silliness is good for the soul

No month would be complete without at least one lighthearted “holiday” to celebrate the little things in life. While often irrelevant to the scheme of business operations, these holidays function as employee community building and morale boosting opportunities. Not only can they act as the foundation of an in-person event, they can also shape the theming or aesthetic of company comms throughout the month, and act as easy material for keeping your recognition program fresh and active (just like every other category listed above).

For example:

• National Hobby Month – start a conversation among your teams by prompting people to share any of their New Year‘s resolutions, pressure-free. This allows your people to inspire and encourage each other and even find common interests they may not have previously known.
• National Science Fiction Day on Jan 2 – celebrate your favorite speculative fiction creators with your staff today; prompt your people to share their favorite books, shows, movies or other media properties and let the enthusiasm flow!
• National Trivia Day on Jan 4 – host a virtual trivia hour on pop culture, industry-specific topics or even organization-specific topics; if you have it at the end of the workday, you can make it “Bring Your Own Beverage” and make it more casual.
• National Bobblehead Day on Jan 7 – this can be more expensive to celebrate than other holidays if you choose to make everyone a bobblehead, but it can be a fun way to reward your people for an exceptional sales year, for example, or even to use as a reward for a wellbeing challenge or even award nominations.
• Houseplant Appreciation Day on Jan 10 – for those green thumbs among us, houseplants are treasured members of the family. Sponsor a plant-based volunteer activity for employees to sign up for, spruce up your comms with some floral decor, or even send (willing) folks home with a beginner-friendly (and environmentally appropriate!) plant.
• National Rubber Ducky Day on Jan 13 – Perhaps you hide rubber duckies around the office; perhaps you host a rubber ducky–themed scavenger hunt; perhaps you even give all your people themed rubber duckies!
• National Dress Up Your Pet Day on Jan 14 – encourage employees to put their pets in costumes and share photos! You could even have a photo contest – don’t forget to award the winner(s) a prize!
• Squirrel Appreciation Day on Jan 21 – I can acknowledge that squirrels can be little menaces in some contexts, but they are pretty cute, and a lot of people find great enjoyment in their presence. Include a couple squirrel fun facts in one of your employee comms or donate a small sum to a local wildlife rescue organization.
• National Puzzle Day on Jan 29 – Drop a puzzle in your break room or employee kitchen for employees to drop in and place a piece or two at a time throughout the day.

Food-based opportunities

A lot of organizations are looking for opportunities to draw their workforce back into physical office spaces, and one effective strategy is to feed them. Every month has a variety of fun, unofficial food-based holidays that celebrate all of our beloved treats and staples, and these are perfect opportunities to engage with your employees, lift spirits and facilitate those collaborative conversations managers feel nostalgic about.

And while some of these holidays are markedly easier to observe than others, highlighting even one of these types of events in a month can do wonders to boost morale and, as a direct result, productivity. Especially if your organization sees a busy period around the holidays, this type of event can also be restorative for employees because they are receiving a form of care.

Bonus tip: Use these gatherings as opportunities to highlight recognition moments – especially any that include a tangible reward – across your workforce. Combining recognition celebrations with your engagement activities reinforces the sense of community and shared loyalty.

In January, you’ll find such tasty celebrations (and more!) as:

National Soup Month

Cater a soup- and stew-focused lunch buffet. There are countless varieties of soups and stews throughout every culture in the world, and the internet’s reach has increasingly broadened the fusion of cuisines, flavors and styles. If your organization has a big culture of home cooking, you could invite folks to bring in their favorite recipes to share!

Have a big company meeting this month? Consider using the concept of soup as a metaphorical framework for your agenda.

Is your organization making a CSR commitment in 2026? Contribute to that mission by hosting a volunteer event at a local soup kitchen or even sponsoring some number of meals to make a tangible difference in your community.

Create a punny soup-themed appreciation eCard for employees to send to each other this month.

Other dates in this fun category:

Bring in theme-appropriate snacks – you could even support local small businesses with each one!

• National Cream Puff Day – Jan 2
• National Spaghetti Day – Jan 4
• National Marzipan Day – Jan 12
• National Bagel Day – Jan 15
• National Popcorn Day – Jan 19
• National Chocolate Cake Day – Jan 27
• National Croissant Day – Jan 30

Reach out to learn more about how Reward Gateway | Edenred can help you boost your employee experience and make your corner of the world a better place to work.