在辦公室種植花園(組圖)

Spring may not yet be here, but it's not too early to start thinking about how to plant the seeds of a happy working atmosphere. Adharanand Finn recommends getting your hands dirty.
雖然春天還沒有來到，但要開始考慮如何播下使人愉快的工作氛圍的種子已有些晚了。阿德哈瑞納德·芬恩建議趕快動手吧。

Sue Beesley spent 25 years working in the IT industry before leaving to become a gardener. "I spent all my time craving some green space, something green to look at," she says. These days she designs gardens for offices, to provide spaces where workers can relax during their lunch-breaks. "It's a real sensory lift, a pick-me-up, having a garden to wander out into on a sunny day," she says.
在成爲一名園丁前蘇·比斯莉已在IT業工作了25年。“我所有的時間都在渴望一些綠色空間，某些看起來綠色的東西，”她說。這些日子來她爲辦公室設計花園，爲那些在午休時間能夠放鬆自己的員工提供綠色空間。“能夠在陽光明媚的日子中徜徉其間，這是一次真正的感官享受，猶如喝讓人提神的酒，”她說。

Gardens don't fit easily into the world of work. Amid all the strip lighting, computers and concrete you can be lucky to find much more than a few shrubs planted between car parking spaces. Trying to convince a hardnosed, time-is-money employer of the value of a garden may be as pointless as preaching the value of vegetarianism to a lion. But for the enlightened few, the benefits are bountiful.
花園並不能很容易進入到職場中。在所有的條形照明燈、電腦和混凝土中間，能夠發現停車場之間的一些灌木就已是非常幸運的了。努力讓一位一意孤行認爲金錢至上的老闆相信花園的價值或許與向一頭獅子鼓吹素食的價值一樣毫無意義。但對於少數開明的老闆來說，則收益頗多。

At the design company Wolff Olins, in the concrete jungle of London's Kings Cross, workers often arrive at the office early, particularly in the summer, to work on the sizeable vegetable garden on the roof. Wolff Olins's building manager, Stuart Robertson, says the garden makes being at work more enjoyable. "Rather than just going from a house to an office, it gives you some interaction with nature during your day," he says.
位於倫敦英王十字街的高樓大廈中的沃爾夫奧林斯設計公司的職員經常早早來到辦公室，尤其是在夏天，到樓頂上的大花園中幹些活。沃爾夫奧林斯公司的建設經理斯圖亞特·羅伯遜說花園使得上班變得更加愉快。“不再是從家中到辦公室，它可以使你在工作之餘同大自然親密接觸，”他說。

The garden is maintained on a day-to-day basis by a staff club, but everyone in the company is encouraged to join in when they can. As well as providing employees with an opportunity to get their hands dirty, get outside and mix with colleagues from other departments, the garden also provides plenty of fresh, organic produce for the staff restaurant. From a PR point of view, the garden is a visible symbol of the company's commitment to both environmental issues and employee welfare.
這個花園的日常清潔工作通常由職員俱樂部來做，但公司鼓勵每位員工在他們方便的時候加入其中。除了能夠爲僱員提供一個讓他們動手、走到戶外和與來自不同部門的同事相互交流的機會外，這個花園還可以爲職工餐廳提供大量的新鮮有機蔬菜。從公共關係的角度來看，花園成爲該公司致力於環境問題和職員福利的一個顯著象徵。

For The Office Group in London, which rents out office space, having a garden has brought financial rewards. "The roof garden definitely helps us rent the offices out," says Charlie Green, co-owner of the company. "People love it. They have meetings up there, it has Wi-Fi, they can help themselves to freshly grown vegetables. It's one of the first things we show prospective tenants." The company's garden is maintained by a charity called Global Generation, which involves young people in environmental projects in the community.
對於在倫敦出租辦公室外部空間的辦公室集團公司來說，擁有一個花園已經帶來了財政效益。“樓頂花園顯然可以幫助我們把辦公室租賃出去，”公司老闆查理·格林說。“人們喜歡它。他們可以在那裏進行集會，花園中配備有無線局域網，他們可以隨便吃剛收穫的新鮮蔬菜。這是我們要向潛在租客推介的首要好處之一。”公司的花園由一個名爲世代全球的慈善機構負責管理，這是一個吸引年輕人蔘加社區環境工程建設的機構。

Of course, not every firm will be able to rustle up a gardening club or find a local charity willing to take on the demands of looking after a full-scale vegetable patch, or have a sizeable roof terrace to hand. But even a small courtyard with some plants and benches can create a place for staff to escape and breathe in fresh air – as long as it isn't colonised by the smokers.
當然，並不是每個公司都能夠建成一個花園俱樂部，或發現一個願意滿足照看花園全部菜地需求的當地慈善團體，或擁有一個相當大的樓頂露臺。但即使一個擁有一些植物或長椅的小院落也可以爲員工創造一個休閒和呼吸新鮮空氣的場所——只要這個地方不被吸菸者所佔據。

"Being outdoors is good for your soul," says Beesley, a former BBC Gardener of the Year. "You feel better and are more productive. It puts you in a better frame of mind and you work better."So if you do have some outside space that is not being used, or you can convince your bosses of the benefits of turning a few car parking spaces into a garden, how do you start?

“呆在戶外對你的精神有好處，”比斯莉說說。“你感到更舒服，也更具生產力。它使你心境更爽，工作效率更高。”因此如果你確實有某個還沒有被利用的外部空間的話，或你可以讓你的老闆相信將一些停車空間變爲一個花園的話，爲什麼不開始呢？

Designing a garden is not as straightforward as it seems, and it might be worth enlisting expert help. "It needs to work ergonomically," Beesley says. "Just like the inside of the office." Beesley's "Lunch hour garden" in the RHS Tatton Flower Show last year, for example, had two separate parts; a social area with benches, and a solitary area where people could enjoy a moment of quiet or make a phone call.
設計一個花園並不像它看起來那樣簡單，或許還要徵求專家的幫助呢。“它需要工作環境改造學方面的知識，”比斯莉說。“就像是辦公室的內部環境一樣。”比斯莉在去年英國皇家園藝學會舉辦的特頓花展上展出的“午間花園”分爲兩個獨立部分；一個配備長椅的社交區域，一個人們可以盡情享受到寧靜或打電話的單獨空間。

To help "raise the spirits", Beesley advises using scented shrubs such as lavender or rosemary, and lots of colours. "But remember, you will probably have people wearing suits and smart shoes using it, so you'll need paved areas and seating that dries easily."
爲了能夠“提高情緒”，比斯莉建議種植能夠散發出香氣和各種顏色的灌木，如熏衣草或迷迭香。“但切記，當你使用它的時候，或許你可以讓人們穿上工作服和運動鞋，因此你將需要容易變乾的經過鋪砌的區域和坐椅。

If you can't find anywhere obvious to put a garden, look harder.
如果你實在無法找到一個種植花園的地方，就努力去尋找吧。