Gamifying Gardening for Employees to Create An Office Friendly Atmosphere

Tree pruning is an art, best handled by professionals only. According to some, a small mistake could kill the tree. In pruning, the professional tries to determine where the sunlight falls at what time and accordingly prunes the branches. In this way, the person tries to ensure even distribution of the sun.

When the time comes for trimming, there are only a few dead branches on the tree, and they are chopped off quickly. The owner gives the worker an approving look. The same exercise is repeated on all the trees. By the end, there is a neat stash of branches on the floor.



An office full of environmentalists

To find a reliable arborist is not easy, and keeping them away from office politics and other games can be pretty uphill. Luckily, this arborist was looking for a stable career when she met the boss, and they took an instant liking to each other.

Ours was the only office on the fifth floor with several balconies, each with its share of trees and greenery. We had responded to an ad for tree pruning services in Toronto and asked for their brochure. Three weeks later, the boss was explaining to them which manure to use. After this office filled up with employees and meeting cabins, the owner of the business shifted to an expensive office elsewhere. Here he had a vertical garden on a glass wall with some exotic specimens of plants.

Like the older branch, this branch had trees indoors too. To check on our existing vendors rates, we again responded to an ad for tree pruning companies in Toronto. Somehow the meeting didn’t go as planned, and we realized the older vendor was overcharging us. The boss informed us to stop any kind of gardening services for both the offices.

Later that same day, we shared an idea of ours with the owner, which was to let the staff look after the plants in the offices. We can gamify the entire thing and select a winner every quarter. After a little thought, he agreed and asked us to make a presentation.

Gamifying gardening for Weekends

The office staff was distributed into five teams. Each had their share of trees and plants inside our offices. They were assigned a budget and could purchase anything for the upkeep of the trees and plants. The idea was a big success, and every quarter, we pick a winning team with the healthiest trees and greenest plants.

Rarely does anyone prune or trim the trees during office hours, but they make a special effort on weekends to ensure the trees have enough of everything, and the plants are not being over-watered.

This is going to be the first winter for these trees and plants in Toronto, and it will be interesting to see how the teams cope with the pressure of keeping their plants alive and well with the snow outside.

Location: Toronto, ON, Canada

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