Employee newsletter ideas for May
Ah, May, the weather is warmer, people are heading outside to enjoy the sunshine and outdoor activities, and a sense of freshness is in the air. It’s the perfect time to revitalize your employee newsletter and energize your employees! We’ve compiled a list of holidays, observances, and other engaging ideas to refresh your employee newsletter this month.
Jump to:
Holidays & Observances | Mental Health Awareness Month
Email Template | Memorial Day | Employee Health & Fitness Month
May 2024 holidays and observances
One of the most popular forms of content in employee emails is celebrating the month’s holidays and/or honoring specific observances. We’ve done all the research for you and whittled down the list of daily, weekly, and monthly holidays and observances to find the ones that are either 1.) relevant for work or 2.) just light-hearted, silly, engaging ways to spruce up your newsletter. Take a scroll!
Bonus: Download this internal comms content calendar to help you organize your content and messaging so you can communicate with your employees and drive engagement.
Note: Some of these days hold special cultural and/or religious significance or are observances of sensitive topics, so if you choose to refer to them in your employee newsletters, remember to be thoughtful, intentional, and considerate. Holidays + observances are listed in alphabetical order.
Daily holidays and observances in May
May 1: Global Love Day, Law Day, Lei Day, Loyalty Day, School Principals Day
May 2: World Password Day, World Tuna Day
May 3: National Paranormal Day, National Space Day, World Press Freedom Day
May 4: Join Hands Day, Kentucky Derby, Star Wars Day
May 5: African World Heritage Day, Cinco de Mayo, International Day of the Midwife, May Day, World Laughter Day, World Portuguese Language Day, Yom Hashoah
May 6: National Nurses Day, National Tourist Appreciation Day
May 7: National Foster Care Day, Teacher’s Day
May 8: International Thalassaemia Day, National Have a Coke Day, National Receptionists Day, National Student Nurse Day, National Third Shift Workers Day, Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for those who Lost their Lives during WWII, World Red Cross Day
May 10: Military Spouse Appreciation Day, National Clean Your Room Day, National Golf Day, National Provider Appreciation Day, World Lupus Day
May 11: World Fair Trade Day, World Migratory Bird Day
May 12: International Nurses Day, Mother’s Day
May 13: National Apple Pie Day, World Cocktail Day (Host a team happy hour 🍸)
May 14: National Gardening Day
May 15: International Day of Families, Peace Officers Memorial Day
May 16: International Day of Light
May 17: Bike-to-Work Day, Endangered Species Day, International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, Malcolm X Day, National Pizza Party Day (I mean…do you need a better reason to have an office pizza party? 🍕), World Baking Day, World Hypertension Day
May 18: International Museum Day, National Learn to Swim Day, World Whiskey Day
May 20: International Human Resources Day, National Rescue Dog Day (Organize a team donation drive for a local animal shelter. Have employees donate items such as toys, treats, food, or leashes), Victoria Day (Canada), World Bee Day
May 21: International Tea Day, National Memo Day, National Talk Like Yoda Day (Talk Like Yoda Day, It Is), National Waitstaff Day, World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
May 22: Harvey Milk Day, International Day for Biological Diversity, World Goth Day
May 23: Vesak, World Turtle Day
May 24: National Brother’s Day, National Scavenger Hunt Day (Plan an office scavenger hunt!), World Schizophrenia Day
May 25: National Missing Children’s Day, National Wine Day, Red Nose Day (annual fundraising campaign to end the cycle of child poverty and ensure a healthy future for all children)
May 26: National Paper Airplane Day (Host a paper airplane flying contest 📄✈️)
May 27: Memorial Day, National Sunscreen Day
May 28: National Hamburger Day, World Blood Cancer Day
May 29: International Day of UN Peacekeepers, Learn About Composting Day
May 30: National Creativity Day, World Multiple Sclerosis Day
May 31: National Smile Day, World No Tobacco Day
Weekly holidays and observances in May
Be Kind to Animals Week (May 5-11)
National EMS Week (May 19-25)
National Nurses Week (May 6-12)
National Pet Week (May 5-11)
National Safe Sun Week (May 20-26)
National Wildflower Week (May 7-13)
National Women’s Health Week (May 12-18)
Teacher Appreciation Week (May 6-10)
Monthly holidays and observances in May
ALS Awareness Month
Asthma Awareness Month
Better Hearing and Speech Month
Better Sleep Month
Clean Air Month
Employee Health & Fitness Month
Foster Care Month
Global Youth Traffic Safety Month
Haitian Heritage Month
High Blood Pressure Education Month
International Internal Audit Awareness Month
Internet and Ecommerce Services Month
Jewish-American Heritage Month
Latino Books Month
Lupus Awareness Month
Leaders of Tomorrow Month
Mental Health Awareness Month
National Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
National Bike Month
National Inventors Month
National Lyme Disease Awareness Month
Nation Meditation Month
National Military Appreciation Month
National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month
National Pet Month
National Stroke Awareness Month
National Wildfire Awareness Month
Older Americans Month
Personal History Awareness Month
Here are a few additional ideas to add to your May newsletters:
Mental Health Awareness Month newsletter ideas
May is Mental Health Awareness Month: a month dedicated to highlighting and reducing the stigma around mental health conditions. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, consider sending out a dedicated employee newsletter with resources and initiatives designed to help your team prioritize their mental health and wellbeing.
Here are a few ideas for activities and initiatives to try with your team (and create newsletter content at the same time):
- Encourage walking meetings: Challenge employees to turn one meeting a week this month into a walking meeting! Inspire your team to call in from their phone and get out for a stroll instead of dialing in from a desk or taking the meeting in an empty conference room.
- Dedicate a mindfulness area in the office: Whether it’s a sectioned-off area of the office or a dedicated room, this area should exist to provide employees with a space where they can go to catch their breath when things get frantic.
- Host a mental health awareness workshop: Services like Mental Health America offer confidential consulting and customized mental health training for teams on topics related to mental health and the workplace.
- Create more happy Mondays: Consider offering a remote work day, or amp up the office environment by providing a healthy breakfast or small team activity on Monday mornings.
- Have a massage day: Delight your team by offering complimentary 15-minute chair massages from licensed massage therapists. Various massage service companies offer corporate and event chair massages.
- Offer a wellness program: A wellness program can be designed in a variety of different ways. For example, you could offer discounted or no-cost options for gym memberships, nutrition coaching, stress management classes, and health screenings. You could also include a wellness calendar in your employee email with upcoming community wellness events.
Mental Health Awareness Month email template
Do you have programming and initiatives planned this year to educate and highlight the importance of Mental Health Awareness Month? Consider sending out a dedicated email to help inform employees of all the great things you have planned. You can use this template as inspiration or use it directly in Workshop!
Preview full template here.
Memorial Day newsletter ideas
Memorial Day is on Monday, May 27, and is a federal holiday to honor those who died while serving in the U.S. military. There are a variety of different ways you can observe and honor Memorial Day at work.
- Set up a donation drive for a veterans’ organization: Consider organizing a donation drive to support veterans. Research charities that work to address veterans’ issues in your area and find one that your team would like to help.
- Volunteer locally to help veterans: There are a variety of different ways your team can get involved and volunteer locally to help veterans. Whether it’s through the Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals or running errands for veterans in your community, there’s a need you can help fulfill. DAV (Disabled American Veterans) is an excellent resource for volunteer opportunities.
- Take part in the National Moment of Remembrance: Hold a moment of silence at 3 PM local time to remember and honor those who have died in service.
- Donate flowers for soldiers’ graves: The Memorial Day Flowers Foundation recruits volunteers to hand out flowers for placement at veteran gravesites across the country. Your team can sponsor one, five, or ten bouquets.
- Thank a veteran: Pass around branded cards to employees and encourage them to write a thank you card or letter to veterans. A Million Thanks is an organization that collects and distributes millions of letters of thanks and sends them directly to active, reserve, and veteran military.
Employee Health & Fitness Month newsletter ideas
May is Global Employee Health & Fitness Month, the international observance of health and fitness in the workplace! There are a variety of different initiatives your workplace can take in May (and beyond!) to promote the health and wellness of your employees. A few ideas include:
- Health and wellness seminars: The Global Employee Health & Fitness Month organization offers interactive seminars on various wellness topics.
- Share the tips: Create a Slack channel or create a bulletin board in the breakroom for your team to share their favorite healthy living tips, recipes, or exercises.
- Practice gratitude: Hand out a pad of sticky notes to each employee and encourage them to share 3-5 compliments to various team members. You can create a dedicated space to display the sticky notes or have employees drop them off on their team members’ desks.
- Get physical: Partner with local gyms and exercise facilities to offer discounted rates for your employees. Additionally, you could provide a monthly stipend to help pay for exercise classes or gym memberships.
- Organize an office 5k walk or run: You can either run in honor of Global Employee Health and Fitness Month or run for charity by having an entry fee and sending all proceeds to a local charity your company supports.
- Hand out the swag: Provide employees with a branded water bottle or yoga mat to use when exercising.
- Encourage employees to quit smoking: Offer programs or initiatives to help employees quit smoking.
- Provide free on-site flu shots: Companies like Concentra currently offers onsite vaccination events for customer locations with 50+ employees.
Next steps:
Download our Internal Comms Editorial Calendar: This sample internal comms editorial calendar will help you organize your content and messaging so you can communicate with your employees and drive engagement. It’s simple, streamlined, and totally customizable for your company’s needs.
