Companies are adding beehives, vegetable gardens, and birdwatching areas to workspaces to draw employees back to the office
If you can’t bring your work outdoors, bring some of the outdoors to your work — at least, that’s what some companies are doing in an attempt to bring employees back to the office.
Employers are sprucing up their workplaces with a bit of nature in order to appeal to workers who, having spent the last year stuck at home, are eager to savor the beauty of the natural world again, the New York Times reports. Building owners are doing the same to lure back tenants.
One way that both employers and landlords are doing this is by adding beehives to their offices, according to the Times.
Asset management company Nuveen put two beehives on a terrace and hired a beekeeper to help employees learn about bees and gather honey to bring home with them, the Times reports.
The urban beekeeping company Alvéole, which installed the hives for Nuveen, told the Times its revenue has skyrocketed 666% since the pandemic began. Goldman Sachs has also enlisted Alvéole to bring hives to more than 30 of its properties across the US by the end of the year.
Besides bees, employers and real estate companies are also tacking on amenities like treehouse-inspired lounges, rooftop vegetable gardens, and even birdwatching areas to the office.
At LendingTree’s headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, workers will find a lounge on each floor contained in an overarching trellis and lined with planters, the Times reports. During a renovation of the Victor Building in Washington, D.C., Brookfield Properties added rooftop vegetable gardens that are at occupants’ disposal. At Jay Paul Company’s Springdale Green office complex in Austin, Texas, there will be 36,000 square feet of terraces, as well as hammocks and a bird blind where tenants can watch birds, according to the Times.
The new adaptations come as many offices, malls, and hotels are still pushing for a full recovery ever since occupancy rates tanked earlier in the pandemic.
Americans’ pent-up desire to bring more nature into their lives has also affected the residential real estate market. In a recent survey, nearly half of US adults said living somewhere with easy access to outdoor activities like hiking and camping is “very” or “extremely” important to them.
Offices Are Gaining Beehives and Gardens to Lure Staff Back: Report (businessinsider.com)
