If you’re a workplace that would like to add value to your organisation, we are pleased to be able to offer a garden package that will provide your staff with an alternative to sports and social clubs.
Workplace community gardens come in all shapes and sizes and are social levelers. They attract a diverse range of people who like to meet, learn, share and grow food and flowers.
If space is an issue, we’ll do our best to connect you to a local community garden or can help you find a location to build one.
Dee Sewell is experienced in giving workplace talks and demonstrations. Clients include the Environmental Protection Agency and The Irish Stock Exchange as well as food festivals and gardening groups such Savour Kilkenny, Carlow Food Festival and Flower and Garden Clubs.
Benefits of Workplace Gardens
They offer companies the opportunity to carry out their corporate social responsibility in a way that will benefit staff and the local community. It’s been shown that the benefits of a good CSR package will¹:
- Make it easier to recruit employees due to the company’s good reputation.
- Reduce recruitment and advertising costs and disruption. Employees are more likely to stay with a company for longer if it has a good corporate responsibility package.
- Help to motivate staff.
- Generate positive press coverage as well as encourage a good relationship with local community and agencies.
Benefits For Employers:
- A report written by Ulrika A Stigsdotter shows that a Workplace Community Garden may help to reduce stress and therefore lower absenteeism. Workplace stress can account for 40% of all absenteeism² .
- Growing food in Community Gardens gives people a sense of well-being and feeling good. A study by The University of Bristol in the UK shows that soil boosts serotonin levels ³ – one of our happy hormones. Research also indicated that bacteria in soil may help to trigger immune cells that can help to lift depression. Happy staff are productive staff.
- Growing food in a workplace community garden is an excellent way of counterbalancing the indoor, sedentary lifestyles that are prevalent in an increasingly technology driven modern world.
Benefits For Employees:
- Spending time outside in Corporate Community Gardens offer staff the opportunity to absorb sunshine and fresh air, increasing their vitamin D levels which are essential for strong bone growth and good health.
- Growing food in workplace gardens slows people down for a short while and offers them the opportunity to connect with nature in their increasingly busy lifestyles.
- Growing food changes the way people eat. It encourages them to eat more vegetables and seek healthier food choices, ultimately leading to better weight management. They also learn about green awareness in the form of composting and waste, recycling and water conservation, all skills that will benefit the environment.
If you’d like to find out more about the Greenside Up Workplace Community Garden package contact Dee Sewell now.
We’d love to hear from you if you’re serious about improving your workplace.
Sources:
¹ http://www.businesslink.gov.uk
2 http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/stress/index.htm
3 http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jul/raw-data-is-dirt-the-new-prozac#.UzBsQvl_uSp