Joy's organic garden
I decided recently to make a big change in our office café at PostcardMania. Personally, I place a huge amount of emphasis on eating right and frankly not poisoning myself with chemical laden foods and drinks. I also believe in only consuming organic products. I hold all these beliefs myself, yet I went along day by day allowing our café to serve food items that I myself wouldn’t touch, because I feel they are dangerous to a person’s health. Well, I was losing sleep over this.
So, I chose to transform our café by building an organic garden at my house to supply our new nutritious menu with plenty of organic produce. But health isn’t the only benefit this transformation will get me.
There are 3 reasons improving office nutrition improves your company culture and productivity. Let’s take a look at them…
1.) More Energy and More Concentration
When someone eats a diet lacking in all the essential vitamins and nutrients, they operate as if running on 70% power. The same goes for hydration as well. Many people have replaced the water our bodies crave with sugary sodas and energy drinks. Operating in even a mild state dehydration leaves you feeling “foggy”, and makes it difficult to concentrate. When you focus on emphasizing a diet of balanced nutrition and plenty of water, your staff will be more energized and more focused on their tasks. This pays off big in productivity.
2.) Less Sick Days
Sickness preys on those with weakened immune systems. A staff that eats right and maintains a healthy balanced diet is less likely to suffer from common or chronic sickness, and will prevent more serious diseases, like diabetes. If your staff is missing less work due to sickness, not to mention their improved performance while they are there, your production will improve drastically.
3.) Improved Motivation and Morale
Poor nutrition leads to lethargy, fatigue, and chronic illness. However, when you are eating right, you feel healthy and strong. You have more energy, and feel more focused. You feel like the 100% version of yourself, and this makes a world of difference mentally and emotionally as well. Your mood becomes consistently improved. Have you ever heard the old tactic to take when you need a favor? “Ask when their in a good mood.” This is because when you feel good, pitching in doesn’t feel like a burden or inconvenience. Having a high-spirited staff also leads to more cohesive cooperation, and this combination of boosted motivation and cooperation will yield big results for your business.
Now every company isn’t going to plant their own organic garden. However, making an effort to emphasize good nutrition with your staff, and doing what you can to make sure the food items and drinks in your office are healthy ones, will yield a more productive staff. That will yield monetary benefits as well as the intangible ones, such as a more pleasant and high-spirited work environment. So replace the morning doughnuts and muffins with some yogurt and granola, and start reaching your full potential of productivity. We are doing it, and love the results!
Have you tried this personally or in your office? What results have you seen?
Best,
Joy
Cool and Healthy workplace
Organic Office? Sounds good 
Love the organic gardening and healthier business style, very inspiring!
Interesting!
I was just delivering a Time Management workshop to 144 executives in Ukraine recently. Told them the best way to get more time for yourself is to increase the QUALITY of energy (input) you get in order to obtain a better return (output) – a higher productivity.
What you eat dramatically impacts your productivity, your morale… and your wallet.
You are once again setting the trend and the standards! I keep bragging about how your company is a model of modern management!!!
Best, Patrick
Totally true and wonderful that it is being put in place!
Dear Ms. Joy Gendusa:
I read with interest your post on “Eating Healthy in the Workplace”. I believe in this wholeheartedly! I am an Independent Distributor with The Shaklee Corporation. I have been an I.D. with Shaklee for 19 years. I have found them to be a VERY excellent health oriented company, and they do the best research on their products that I have found. Plus, I find that I save a lot of money on going to the doctor or the hospital, and I have found that prevention and using the Shaklee natural products is much better than any medical diagnosis or medical treatment. I believe wholeheartedly in the Shaklee company.
Have you helped other Shaklee Independent Distributors? I have never gotten a good answer to that question when I have talked with your staff. I have not gone through any program with your company because I have never received the answers to the questions that I have asked that I have been looking for. Do you know about the Shaklee corporation? What do you know about the Shaklee corporation? This is a challenge to you. It would be nice to hear a personal reply to this email. You are very good at sending daily general marketing follow-ups to me.
For myself, I work at my work life being my “Opus Dei” – I work at serving my God the best way I know how. It is my way of serving God. I am work being a in home caregiver to my mother in law. My father in law had his Ph.d in Chemistry and was a Vice-President in Food Container Research. He did his research, and wanted me to be involved with companies that did their research. He was happy that I was involved with the Shaklee company, and had me read his chemistry textbooks that had nutrition sections. I am sitting writing this to you in a cardigan sweater and a tie, just like the Rev. Fred Rogers/Mister Rogers. I follow his words “The greatest gift you can give is the gift of your honest self”. Giving the sincere honest gift of self was also the message of Pope John Paul II. I follow them both. Dr. Forrest Shaklee had the same philosophy, and I can recommend reading him highly. What you you wrote about in “Eating Healthy in the Workplace” is really a part of the Shaklee culture. Treating your body like a temple, and your office like a sanctuary, and have deep respect for Nature, is part of my daily thinking.
I look forward to a personal reply. Thank you for taking the time to read this, if it has reached you.
God bless, bye for now.
Mr. Jim Kramer
Dear Mr. Kramer,
Thank you so much for your response to my newsletter!! I’m glad that you share my goal of living healthy and get others to live healthy too!
No, I don’t think I’ve heard of Shaklee before… I’ll Google it in a sec
We have helped over 50,000 customers so I’m not sure if we helped other Shaklee Independent Distributors before… I just checked our database and I don’t think we did. If you need any assistance with your marketing you can contact your marketing consultant, Carly Switzer. She’ll be more than happy to help. I cc’ed her your comment so you can just get in touch with her to get started.
Have a wonderful weekend!
As someone who also believes in eating organic and taking personal responsiblity for my health, I give you KUDOS in the lengths to which you have gone to improve the quality of your company cafe food. Truly admirable!!!
Thank you so much – I really appreciate your acknowledgement!