Emily Mellwood
Welcome to May – Mental Health Awareness Month, National Nurse’s Week and home to many more celebrations and observances to celebrate with your people!
Not quite done getting your May plans together? Check out our May events blog for last-minute openings you can squeeze into your schedule. Now, let’s look ahead at June!
Social stuff
June is recognized in the U.S. as LGBTQIA+ Pride Month, and year after year, it continues to be critically important to promote equity and equality among your people. Bearing the themes of resilience, visibility and radical joy, it’s a powerful opportunity to celebrate diverse identities, spark meaningful conversations and reinforce a culture where everyone feels valued and empowered to bring their whole selves to work.
Celebrate Pride month in your organization this year with sponsored learning sessions, internal culture group activities or make a donation to a local LGBT+ support fund making a difference in your community.
Also in June, we celebrate Caribbean American Heritage Month (since 2006!) to acknowledge and appreciate the influence of Caribbean culture on the U.S. – culinarily, artistically, scientifically and socially.
1st - International Children‘s Day
1st - 6th - National Commuter Challenge Week
8th - National Best Friends Day
12th - National Loving Day | To commemorate Loving v. Virginia, which legalized interracial marriage in 1967.
16th - Islamic New Year
19th - Juneteenth | Also called Emancipation Day, Juneteenth celebrates the historical date of freedom for enslaved people in Galveston Bay, Texas – two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, gaining it the additional moniker of “America‘s second independence day.”
20th - World Refugee Day
21st - Father’s Day
Spend summer outside
June is one of the hardest months to work inside – especially if you have windows showcasing how beautiful it is out there. And this month is packed full of reasons to get out there, too – not only is it Great Outdoors Month, it’s also National Oceans Month – plus World Reef Day on the 1st! – anyone near a coast suddenly has a lot more reason to take that PTO.
We also have World Bicycle Day on the 3rd and National Trails Day on the 7th, two additional opportunities to encourage your people to get outside and active. Similarly, the 9th is Ride to Work Day, which highlights light vehicles like scooters and motorcycles for cleaner commuting.
National Pollinator Week | 22nd - 28th
It’s not just the cute, friendly bees, but all of our pollinators that serve critical functions in our ecosystems worldwide that need protection and advocacy this week. Insect populations all over the world are in massive, rapid decline, which could have devastating effects on our ecologies left unchecked.
Bonus: 24th - National Upcycling Day
Special interests
If there’s anything I’ve learned in six months of these calendars, it’s that humans just love an excuse to celebrate – and any excuse will do! So without any further ado (too much?), allow me to present this month’s collection of highlight moments that offer you a variety of ways to connect with your employees, reduce stress and inject a few extra smiles into the month.
Black Music Appreciation Month
4th - International Corgi Day
4th - National Hug Your Cat Day
10th - National Ballpoint Pen Day | Extend a gesture of gratitude to your employees with branded pens (but get the good ones).
12th - National Movie Night
20th - World Juggling Day
25th - National Handshake Day
27th - National Sunglasses Day
27th - National Bingo Day
29th - National Camera Day
Professional acknowledgements
June is host to another handful of professional recognition holidays, calling our attention to a new group of professionals and types of work that may be completely outside our daily spheres.
6th - National Higher Education Day
9th - International Archives Day
26th - National Beautician’s Day
29th - World Industrial Design Day
And alongside those, we also have a couple days dedicated to work generally, such as:
19th - National Take Back the Lunch Break Day
20th - World Productivity Day
26th - National Take Your Dog to Work Day
28th - National Insurance Awareness Day
Health & wellbeing
This month, we are celebrating CNAs with National Career Nurse Assistants Day (11th) – a late addition to last month’s collection of healthcare professional acknowledgements, but no less worth recognition. Throughout the rest of the month, we recognize National Heimlich Maneuver Day (1st) and World Blood Donor Day (14th) for the lifesaving power of individual action.
Additional wellbeing-focused observances throughout June offer highlights for mental and physical health:
3rd - Global Running Day
7th - National Cancer Survivor’s Day
13th - Global Wellness Day
14th - International Bath Day
15th - National Smile Power Day
19th - World Sickle Cell Awareness Day
21st - International Day of Yoga
Checking the menu
It turns out that June is a big food month! It sustains us, it amuses us, it comforts us – food is at the heart of culture and community, and a fun opportunity to connect. Focusing on different categories of treats month to month ensures that programming can balance allergen exposures or dietary restrictions. If you’re not sure what types of treats your people will respond to, don’t be afraid of posting quick, fun pulse surveys or opinion polls in your company chat applications. These types of inquiries offer employees brief moments to decompress between tasks to connect with their peers.
3rd - National Egg Day
4th - National Cheese Day
5th - National Doughnut Day
5th - National Gingerbread Day
5th - National Ketchup Day
7th - World Food Safety Day | For food service organizations or businesses with functional kitchens on-site, today is a great day for a refresher training on food safety as well as a public callout for the members of your teams that uphold the highest standards.
10th - National Herbs & Spices Day
10th - National Iced Tea Day
10th - National Egg Roll Day
11th - National Corn on the Cob Day
16th - National Fudge Day
17th - National Eat Your Vegetables Day
22nd - National Chocolate Eclair Day
22nd - National Onion Rings Day
26th - National Food Truck Day | Hire a food truck for the day and offer your team an exciting lunch opportunity today!
27th - International Pineapple Day
Learn more about how Reward Gateway | Edenred can support your employee engagement and experience planning all year long with our Employee Experience Platform and suite of interconnected solutions that connect and support your people, wherever they are.
