Corporate Backed Employee Gardens Are the New Thing
A few years ago it was thought that walking on hot coals would build team spirit. Then, after people got their feet soles burnt, there was a tendency towards more playful activities: ping-pong and soccer, billiards, corporate tournaments of any kind. But the good intentions of companies to organize activities with recreational purposes mostly ended up in embarrassment for employers and employees alike.
Today the new fashion seems to be organic corporate vegetable gardens to be tended by employees. A trend that could potentially transmit positive values such as the rediscovery of the seasonality of nature, and the patience and responsibility needed to take care of nature.
But like with any corporate initiative of this type it is essential to ask what the purpose is? Is it to motivate employees? Is it create a collaborative environment? Is it a work-life balance system? Is it a way to root the company in the local landscape?
The bucolic ideal of the vegetable garden and fruit orchard planted and watered by colleagues sowing and weeding side by side may immediately clash with a corporate culture that pretends immediate results, and implies careers based on individualism and relations based on a transactional approach.
Finding the space to grow plants is the easy part, but that corporate space needs to be configured in tune with the broader organizational culture and management practices that affect people in their daily working lives. If creating a corporate garden and growing veggies is easy, it is much more difficult to think and practice a company culture based on responsible leadership, which cares for the growth and development of employees, and the creation of long-term welfare for all stakeholders involved, with aim of fostering talent and reap its benefits when the right moment comes.
A corporate garden can provide people with portions of fruits and vegetables, but it certainly cannot solve problems of motivation, create collaboration and improve climate inside the company. It would be an illusion to believe otherwise. And the illusory fruits of unrealistic enthusiasm could soon turn sour for all parties concerned.
To conclude, a final consideration: are we really sure that activities that once belonged to the private sphere should become part of our corporate lives?