Employee wellness has been a big agenda for many businesses during, and post Covid and now more than ever, businesses are looking at different ways to encourage employees to physically come back to the office with more interesting perks and benefits.
Many employees speak of how wonderful it was to be able to pop out to the garden, do odd jobs and saw more of their children whilst working from home, this created a new way of working for many people so how can we add these components to the workplace back at the office? There is no denying that working face to face is better for collaboration and connection within a team. One way that we have helped businesses create this type of wellness space within their business is the concept of the ‘The Work Herb Garden’.
Having a private garden, that includes partially own grown edibles is an appealing one, for many reasons. Firstly, as a caterer, using fresh ingredients is always a bonus when preparing great food. Secondly, having a garden means some own grown edibles are used and chefs can work with the seasonality of produce and can plan the menu around what is currently growing. Another bonus is also reduced packaging and carbon footprint and one can say good bye to the challenges of supply chain interruptions for good, let’s hope!
Supposing you have an outdoor wellness space at work? Where you could sit out and have a cup of tea and cake, with the smell of the herbs and flowers growing in the background?
This space can provide a boost for mental wellness and maybe you have employees who enjoy gardening? There are lots of initiatives and paid time often offered for charity days, how about if you create a way to grow produce to support charities? Depending on the space and size of the outdoor space, many have their own hives for bees and produce their own honey, that could be another way to do corporate gifting too? Think about your own branded produce, produced by members of your team? The ideas and perks are endless. A garden expert would be involved and team can have allocated time slots to enjoy and be part of the project.
There need not be a big outlay or space itself for an outside wellness space, balconies also make great herb growing spaces especially for urban areas. Or you may have an unused roof terrace, why not make the most of that space and grow some plants of herbs and flowers for the bees?
To sum up, below is a list of perks and benefits of having an herb garden for your outdoor workspace:
Ø External green space for overall employee wellness
Ø Growing herbs can benefit employees as teas, in foods, calming spaces to boost productivity
Ø Being an herb garden on site means there’s less packaging involved & food miles for onsite catering
Ø From an ESG perspective, growing plants can boost air quality and reduce carbon emissions
Ø Growing plants inevitably helps bees and the decline of the bee population
Ø Many herbs have therapeutic qualities and calming affects.
Ø Team members can participate in gardening upkeep as a place to unwind
Ø A garden plan of seasonal grown goods could be organised for better food provenance.
Surely something to think about, if you are looking at new ways to do wellness with your workplace catering offering, drop us a line - we look forward to hearing from you.