It seems like kindergarten — honey tastings and name-your-queen contests. Would you respond to an office that tried to manage your mood like this? I would be coaxed into an office space that was beautifully designed overall, as a matter of architecture, but vegetable gardens and beehives seem like a distraction catering to other people.
August 25, 2021
"Office workers who were sent home during pandemic lockdowns often sought refuge in nature, tending to houseplants, setting up bird feeders..."
"... and sitting outdoors with their laptops. Now, as companies try to coax skittish employees back to the office and building owners compete for tenants when vacancy rates are soaring, many have hit on the idea of making the office world feel more like the natural world. The effort seeks to give office workers access to fresh air, sunlight and plants, in tune with the concept of biophilia, which says humans have an innate connection with nature. Designs that include nature are shown to promote health and wellness.
Some of the more unusual nature-themed offering include 'treehouse' lounges and vegetable plots that let desk workers dig in the dirt. Beekeeping programs — complete with honey tastings and name-your-queen contests — are, ahem, all the buzz. One upcoming project in Texas will include a bird blind, allowing workers to peek out at other winged creatures."
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I find it distracting when I try to work outside. I daydream more and get up to take a closer look at things in my garden.
'It seems like kindergarten...'
You've obviously never worked in a Silicon Valley tech environment : )
I would be suspicious of how long they expected me to be at the office. If I'm supposed to put in a full day of work, plus all these unrelated activities, how late am I supposed to stay? I think I would prefer to skip the bees and go home.
How about just paying the workers the money the corporation spends on these worthless amenities?
Decades ago, when telecommuting was becoming a thing, the company I worked for - which provided telephone and internet service - dipped its toes in the water. After a couple of bad quarters, the area VP put a stop to it, and his admonition has been seared into my brain:
”I suspect there has been entirely too much teletanning and telefishing going on.”
Before retirement, I finished my career working principally from home. But I would go into my office to work occasionally and it was always uplifting to see familiar faces and socialize.
Judging from the pictures, most of the "nature-centered amenities" are as natural as Little Island on the Hudson. I sorta doubt that person just happened to wear bib overalls on the day the photographer was there.
A quick search for "urban beekeeping" reveals very mixed opinions. I can imagine that an artificial rise in bee population will create pressures for resources needed by other species.
"If you are or were an office worker, would you be lured into the office building by beehives, vegetable gardens, and bird blinds?"
For several years, I had an office on the top floor of the US Bancorp Tower on the Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis (Minnesota, not Kansas). Peregrine falcons nested above my office, so while they were raising their young, they'd swoop in with food directly above my head. Once, I saw a bald eagle rise high in the sky where it would release its prey and then with breathtaking speed race straight down and catch it again. It did this over and over so many times that I finally went over to my collogue next-door and said, "Hey Mike! Look out the window! You gotta see this!" And the huge flocks of migrating geese against the sunsets...
I am now retired, but would go back to work in that office packing lard for minimum wage.
I love the idea of fake plants at my desk.
No bees. That is just a really bad idea. It is such a bad idea I don't know where to start.
But my employer will first need to stop with the face diaper theater. A chain link fence over my face would have as much of an effect as those stupid cloth masks on a virus.
It is so infuriatingly stupid. Anyone who believes a cloth mask will keep viruses out needs to be sent back to school and have crayons thrown at them.
No interest in bees, vegetable gardens, or birdwatching, but I do like gardens and I do like a bit of artfully maintained wilderness. Something like the Dumbarton Oaks Park, for example, which is right in the middle of DC (well, Georgetown) but landscaped such that just a 5 minute walk from the Safeway, you can feel enveloped by greenery. As I've grown older, I appreciate that 森林浴 ("forest bathing") more and more.
I certainly would not eat anything from the vegetable garden. There's no telling what GardenTech3000 Corp. (a subsidiary of Disney) sprays willy-nilly to optimize the visual appeal of the plants.
Work outside in Wisconsin in December January and March. Ain't nature grand whilst ya all are freezing your asses off.
Gardens would be preferable to allowing people to bring their dogs to work.
When I ran the special collections department (no, not overdue fines, those were handled by my associate, Guido) I had to break the hearts of some would-be office gardeners.
I didn't allow food in or near work areas either.
OTOH, our big west-facing top floor reading room provided great views of sunset, and Venus, and the huge oaks outside housed abundant rodent life for the hawks and kites that soar and circle over the campus.
'I would be suspicious of how long they expected me to be at the office.'
It's part of the plan. Some of the well-funded start-ups and most of the tech giants offer every amenity on the planet; dry cleaning, pets at work, all meals, coffee bars, daycare, volleyball, video games, etc.
If you offer engineer #14 everything he needs (yes, it's usually a he), he'll stay all day and night pounding out code.
It's a feature, not a bug.
Most employers have figured out by now he can do the work from home and be productive and those that can't. As soon as the leases expire there will be a lot of downscaling of office space. What will be coming is salary reductions for people who work from home and don't live in expensive city centers. Lower employee cost and lower rental costs will be hard for employers to give up. In return employees don't have long commutes and can live in more decent yet cheaper neighborhoods.
I’m interested to see what happens to all this BS in the next downturn. Not 2008-like, maybe more like 2000. My bet is it will be swept away very quickly.
Your polls always offer too many rational options. Real polls never do that. How can any rational person choose between option 3 and option 4?
For most of my career, I had a gorgeous view out the window, overlooking a valley/floodplain (so, no development). In current times, it might be enough to bring me back.
Except that here in Washington state, King Inslee has decreed that even if vaccinated, everyone must wear a mask in the office. Even if you are fortunate enough to have an office with a door that can be closed.
My son's employer recently brought employees back into the office part time - no masks required if fully vaccinated. Son spends 1/2 his work time on zoom meetings with clients - zoom meetings with a mask are not ideal, obviously. He told his employer to forget a return to the office. And since he broke all sales records this year (working from home!!), I imagine they will let him do it.
No bees. That is just a really bad idea. It is such a bad idea I don't know where to start.
Let me know when they allow murder-hornet-keeping. I could have fun with that! (As the keeper, I'd bee* the only one with protective clothing)
*See what I did there?
A severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) to bee stings is potentially life-threatening and requires emergency treatment. A small percentage of people who are stung by a bee or other insect quickly develop anaphylaxis.
Employers would not be able to get enough insurance to offset the lawsuit losses that would follow a single death from anaphylaxis incurred "in office," so I simply do not believe the story as written (I suspect a dreamer).
There was no "maybe" in the poll.
It's an OK idea for some companies to try, especially if the boss likes it. How popular with the workers will depend on how easy it is for them to access and enjoy it. Likely very much with smokers allowed to smoke "outside", in nature.
Why not add some rain covering so it's all weather?
Why not make the rain covering solar panels? (More parking lots should have solar panel covered areas - saw one in Italy.)
I was going to complain that there was no choice in the poll for those of us who don't care, and don't care enough to check a box.
But I was wrong.
Wet bars. More specifically, wine bars.
Dudes can do the Madmen whiskey stash.
It ain't about birds...
Look at the refrigerator, microwave, and coffee pot in your office. Think about living tings being given that level of care.
Lots of cynicism here, my goodness. What's wrong with finding ways to encourage 15 min of fresh air, especially if employers have alreadyy figured it into the cost of a workday (or included it as part of federal employment law)? In my experience, 15 minutes of outdoor time can be restorative. Not saying it has to be beekeeping (I'm out on that) or gardening (100% in), but isn't the point to encourage employees to take a few minutes to change perspective? Heck, we already have health insurance companies encouraging all sorts of lunch walking groups, mindfulness activities, etc. to decrease premiums (and of course we can argue about who reaps those benefits depending upon the employer, but still.....). Maybe a little $$ into a rooftop garden goes a long way to employee retention, which is critical right now.
I want to go to work, do my job, leave, and use my remaining hours every day to live my life.
If I was encumbered by gardening chores at my office, maintaining the ficus and trimming the lugustrum, I'd expect to be paid for those added duties.
Did anyone say these activities were mandatory?
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