Belonging is the new KPI and office farms can help

Workplace belonging is a measure of company health nowadays and it’s linked to higher performance, lower turnover and fewer sick days. Shared, hands-on experiences, like harvesting food together, are one of the simplest ways to build it.

In the past, HR teams have tracked things like engagement scores, staff retention and absenteeism. These are useful numbers, but they don’t measure the connection people have to the workplace and colleagues. Belonging has become an important metric, and the reason for this can be seen in research from BetterUp. The report links a strong sense of workplace belonging to a 56% increase in job performance, a 50% reduction in turnover risk and a 75% decrease in sick days. This would imply that community at work is having a big impact.

And the flip side is just as telling – loneliness is now a real driver of resignations. Blink's research on frontline engagement found that roughly 4 in 10 employees have considered leaving, or actually left, a job because of workplace loneliness. Meanwhile, 83% of employees say they want their workplace to provide a genuine sense of community, and more than a third would trade higher pay for stronger workplace friendships.

So belonging has become a metric that is important to employers, but it’s something that can be difficult to build.

What does and doesn’t work to make people feel valued?

Most belonging initiatives fall into formats like values workshops and wellbeing surveys. They're well-intentioned, but they're also passive. Employees sit, listen and fill in a form, but none of it asks people todo something together, shoulder to shoulder, away from a screen.

Achievers Workforce Institute research highlights that people need to feel welcomed, known, included, supported and connected. Rather than being told they're valued, it’s better if they’re shown it through shared experience.

A Square Mile Farms installation is a shared project that helps people to feel a sense of belonging. Harvests give people a reason to gather, bringing teams together for a shared experience that has nothing to do with work. Colleagues from different departments share tips and recipes no matter where they are in the organisation’s hierarchy. And the events programme run by Square Mile Farms, which includes workshops, gardening clubs and cooking demonstrations adds another opportunity to bring the office community together.

These low-stakes touchpoints are the kind of "known and connected" moments the research says are so important.

Do all employees react to belonging initiatives in the same way?

Belonging isn't a one-size-fits-all fix, and different generations and personality types respond to it differently, which is why low-pressure activities tend to outperform things that feel compulsory or manufactured.

Younger employees don't always respond to belonging efforts the way older generations do, for example. HR Katha's analysis of belonging metrics notes that Gen Z tends to prioritise autonomy, flexibility and fair compensation over deep emotional attachment to an employer, and can be sceptical of anything that feels like manufactured culture. A values workshop or a forced "culture day" can feel performative to them.

More introverted employees, or those who prefer to keep work and personal life separate, can also feel put on the spot by initiatives that demand visible enthusiasm or personal disclosure, like icebreakers or forced socialising.

This is where an office farm has an advantage, as it doesn’t involve being asked to share how they’re feeling or sign up to a set of values. People can engage as much or as little as they like by pausing at the farm on the way past, joining a harvest session, or simply enjoying the produce. It's a low-key way to encourage belonging in employees of all ages and personality types.

How can an office farm support belonging?

The best thing about a living, growing workplace farm is that it gives people a physical, visible reason to interact, contribute and take pride in something shared.

Every fortnight, one of our urban farmers harvests the crops and hands them to employees in a bag – fresh basil, salad leaves, herbs, whatever's ready that week. People gather round, ask what's in season, swap ideas for what to cook with it that evening. It's a shared moment that people look forward to, but doesn’t feel forced.

Between harvests, the farm is a biophilic gathering point in the middle of the working day. It’s somewhere green and living where people might naturally drift towards during a call, on a break, or just to get away from a screen for five minutes. 

It’s also a visible, daily reminder of a company's commitment to sustainability, which clients and new starters might notice. For employees, that can be a source of quiet pride in their company’s values and something that reflects their own values, too.

Interested in bringing a working farm into your workplace?

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