绿色的办公环境能提高工作效率

夜神◕_̯͡◕

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。

　　虽然春天还没有来到，但要开始考虑如何播下使人愉快的工作氛围的种子已有些晚了。阿德哈瑞纳德·芬恩建议赶快动手吧。

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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。

　　在成为一名园丁前苏·比斯莉已在IT业工作了25年。“我所有的时间都在渴望一些绿色空间，某些看起来绿色的东西，”她说。这些日子来她为办公室设计花园，为那些在午休时间能够放松自己的员工提供绿色空间。“能够在阳光明媚的日子中徜徉其间，这是一次真正的感官享受，犹如喝让人提神的酒，”她说。

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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。

　　花园并不能很容易进入到职场中。在所有的条形照明灯、电脑和混凝土中间，能够发现停车场之间的一些灌木就已是非常幸运的了。努力让一位一意孤行认为金钱至上的老板相信花园的价值或许与向一头狮子鼓吹素食的价值一样毫无意义。但对于少数开明的老板来说，则收益颇多。

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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。

　　位于伦敦英王十字街的高楼大厦中的沃尔夫奥林斯设计公司的职员经常早早来到办公室，尤其是在夏天，到楼顶上的大花园中干些活。沃尔夫奥林斯公司的建设经理斯图亚特·罗伯逊说花园使得上班变得更加愉快。“不再是从家中到办公室，它可以使你在工作之余同大自然亲密接触，”他说。

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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。

　　这个花园的日常清洁工作通常由职员俱乐部来做，但公司鼓励每位员工在他们方便的时候加入其中。除了能够为雇员提供一个让他们动手、走到户外和与来自不同部门的同事相互交流的机会外，这个花园还可以为职工餐厅提供大量的新鲜有机蔬菜。从公共关系的角度来看，花园成为该公司致力于环境问题和职员福利的一个显著象征。

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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。

　　对于在伦敦出租办公室外部空间的办公室集团公司来说，拥有一个花园已经带来了财政效益。“楼顶花园显然可以帮助我们把办公室租赁出去，”公司老板查理·格林说。“人们喜欢它。他们可以在那里进行集会，花园中配备有无线局域网，他们可以随便吃刚收获的新鲜蔬菜。这是我们要向潜在租客推介的首要好处之一。”公司的花园由一个名为世代全球的慈善机构负责管理，这是一个吸引年轻人参加社区环境工程建设的机构。

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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。

　　当然，并不是每个公司都能够建成一个花园俱乐部，或发现一个愿意满足照看花园全部菜地需求的当地慈善团体，或拥有一个相当大的楼顶露台。但即使一个拥有一些植物或长椅的小院落也可以为员工创造一个休闲和呼吸新鲜空气的场所——只要这个地方不被吸烟者所占据。

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"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?

　　“呆在户外对你的精神有好处，”比斯莉说说。“你感到更舒服，也更具生产力。它使你心境更爽，工作效率更高。”因此如果你确实有某个还没有被利用的外部空间的话，或你可以让你的老板相信将一些停车空间变为一个花园的话，为什么不开始呢？

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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。

　　设计一个花园并不像它看起来那样简单，或许还要征求专家的帮助呢。“它需要工作环境改造学方面的知识，”比斯莉说。“就像是办公室的内部环境一样。”比斯莉在去年英国皇家园艺学会举办的特顿花展上展出的“午间花园”分为两个独立部分；一个配备长椅的社交区域，一个人们可以尽情享受到宁静或打电话的单独空间。

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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."

　　为了能够“提高情绪”，比斯莉建议种植能够散发出香气和各种颜色的灌木，如熏衣草或迷迭香。“但切记，当你使用它的时候，或许你可以让人们穿上工作服和运动鞋，因此你将需要容易变干的经过铺砌的区域和坐椅。

　　If you can't find anywhere obvious to put a garden, look harder。

　　如果你实在无法找到一个种植花园的地方，就努力去寻找吧。