Emily Mellwood
Welcome to August, HR heroes!
I hope everybody is ready for this final stretch of summer before the kids start heading back to school and the weather begins to drop temperatures. I, for one, am looking forward to sweater weather, my favorite time of the year, but I admit that I am in no hurry to lose the sunshine hours.
As August kicks off this week, be sure to get your employee experience plans settled and communicated to your people so that nobody misses out on something exciting.
For those of you with the next four weeks locked and loaded, let’s take a look at what September has on offer.
Love your environment
Like August, September has an array of ecosystem-forward observances and celebrations to highlight with your people. For National Wilderness Month, set up a step challenge and promote local nature trails in your area to encourage people to get outside, active and socializing! Offer prizes at the end for greatest distance traveled or most steps taken, plus a bonus award for most locations visited or best photo taken!
Observe International Coastal Cleanup Day if your organization is near a body of water, or World Cleanup Day on 9/19 if it’s anywhere else, by organizing employee groups to spend designated time slots participating in volunteer work to improve your local environment.
Additional highlights in this category:
4th – National Wildlife Day
19th – Responsible Dog Ownership Day
22nd – World Car Free Day
26th – National Public Lands Day
27th – World Rivers Day
28th – National Good Neighbor Day
Professional spotlight
September offers us shortlist of folks to celebrate – from the people who walk our dogs when we’re away to the people who delight in creating magic with food and beyond. This month, celebrate the following roles:
4th – National Newspaper Carrier Day
6th – National Dog Walker Appreciation Day
13th – National Programmers Day
14th - 18th – Chef Appreciation Week
27th – World SEO Day
For society’s benefit
Hunger Action Month
According to the USDA, food insecurity affects about 47.9 million people and 13.7% of households in the U.S. Hunger Action Month is an annual call for communities to come together to provide critical support to vulnerable populations. Contribute to the drive by supporting National Food Bank Day (9/4) with a donation or a volunteer team and find out where else your organization could help make a difference. For International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction (9/29), support a local food recovery program.
More human interests
Additionally in September, we celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday of the month – the 7th, this year – and National Voter Registration Day (9/22) later in the month.
Drive your culture of appreciation with a recognition push around National Day of Encouragement (9/12) and offer a special set of eCards designed for employees to build each other up this month. From the playful jokes to the earnest moments, encouragement is a driving force of empathy and connection.
Other observances to highlight this month include:
8th - International Literacy Day
12th - Rosh Hashanah
15th - Greenpeace Day
15th - National Online Learning Day
9/15th - 10/15th – National Hispanic Heritage Month
18th - National POW/MIA Recognition Day
25th - Native American Day
28th - International Day for Universal Access to Information
Health & wellbeing
Clinical Nurse Specialists Week (1st - 7th)
A CNS is an advanced practice nurse who focuses on direct patient care, team leadership and nursing practice improvements. Whether through a spotlight in your recognition platform, peer shoutouts or a simple note of thanks, this observance is a meaningful opportunity to celebrate the everyday impact of these essential professionals.
Take care
These personal wellness dates are coming up in September, optimal times to remind your people about the resources you offer to support their wellbeing.
1st – World PCOS Day | Recently renamed PMOS – Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome – this condition causes hormonal imbalances and metabolic changes and affects 10-15% of women worldwide.
8th – World Physical Therapy Day
11th – Stand Up to Cancer Day
17th – World Patient Safety Day
21st – World Alzheimers Day
26th – National Family Health and Fitness Day
30th – National Women’s Health & Fitness Day
This month's snack table
Like every month, you’ve got a buffet of nibbles or sips to choose from to host a connection moment with your people. You have two pizza-related holidays this month – National Cheese Pizza Day on the 5th and National Pepperoni Pizza Day on the 20th – which means there’s never been a better occasion for a pizza party. And, with National Ice Cream Cone Day on the 22nd and National Coffee Day on the 29th, you’ve got a whole menu!
Additional options that are simple to observe and inexpensive to celebrate:
2nd - World Coconut Day
16th - National Guacamole Day
18th - National Cheeseburger Day
26th - National Pancake Day
The “just because” brigade
Below is your regular array of hobby- and special interest–themed celebrations that could help you build and reinforce community among your employee populations. These moments can be as simple as a conversation in your organization's chat app that can ebb and flow in the background of the day, a playful theme for timely communications or influence an internal event.
3rd – World Skyscraper Day
3rd – U.S. Bowling League Day
6th – National Read a Book Day
7th – Buy a Book Day | To follow up the one you read yesterday, of course.
7th – National Cinema Day
9th – National Teddy Bear Day
12th – International Crochet Day
12th – National Video Games Day
19th – Astronomy Day
19th – National Dance Day
19th – National Wife Day | Whether you are one or have one: You’re welcome.
24th – Punctuation Day
30th – International Day of Podcasts
Learn more about how Reward Gateway | Edenred can help you engage your employees with our Employee Experience Platform and make your corner of the world a better place to work.
