Improve mental health: don't eat at your desk
This is one of GIY's top five tips for improving workplaces on National Wellbeing Day 2018, which is on Friday week, 13 April.
GIY founder Michael Kelly also says some of the best places to work in Ireland are using workplace vegetable gardens to create a productive and happy work environment. "GIY@Work companies carry out an al-desko growing programme, install their very own GIY garden or get connected and volunteer at a local community food-growing project," he says.
The GIY tips are:
Eat Healthy and Eat Together
Studies are suggesting that employees who don’t talk about topics other than work and eat at their desks may have poorer mental health than those who do. Supporting healthy eating is fantastic, but encouraging employees to take their lunch breaks and eat together is even better.
Get More plants
Research shows that certain plants act as air purifiers and also release oxygen into the atmosphere. This significantly improves indoor air quality and employee cognition. Good plants for indoors spaces include kale, mint, coriander, jade, bamboo and snake plants.
Let’s Go Outside
Like plants, humans need regular exposure to UV light to encourage production of Vitamin D and elevate levels of serotonin in the body. This makes us feel happier and more content. Allowing for a few minutes of outside time during the day can dramatically increase employee wellbeing, particularly if there’s some nature involved (trees, plants, grass).
Grow Food
Growing food is a mindful, hopeful, purposeful activity that reconnects you with food and health and can even be done your desk (we call it al-desko growing). Some of our partner companies have put in veg gardens where employees can do some food growing on their breaks – getting your hands in the soil is known to boost serotonin levels and gives employees access to delicious, seasonal, organic food.
Encourage volunteering
One guaranteed way to increase productivity in your office is to create a sense of purpose and belonging. Encouraging employees to contribute to something meaningful in the community, like a community garden, through paid staff leave, in or outside of normal working hours, is a fantastic way to develop organisational pride and improve employee morale.
And a bonus one …. Eat with the Seasons
Yes, a free fruit bowl is a great way to encourage healthier snacking in the workplace. It is also a healthy way to get through the morning and afternoon tea time sugar lows. But research also shows that seasonal food is food at its most nutritious and delicious. So, think about what’s in the fruit bowl and whether it is in season.
