On 2 June we visited Flora Food’s offices in Katowice, where together with 19 employees of the company we built as many as 10 insect houses. This time we weren’t the ones travelling to a green space to meet volunteers – the workshop took place right inside our partner’s office, so the whole team could step away from their daily tasks without even leaving their own workplace.
Why insects need houses
An insect house looks, from the outside, like a small wooden box filled with pine cones, straw, pieces of reed or hollow plant stems, but its function is far more serious than decorative. These structures give shelter to wild pollinators – solitary bees, mason bees, ladybirds and many other beneficial insects – for whom it is increasingly hard to find a natural place to live in urban and industrial spaces. Paved squares, tidy car parks and neatly mown lawns may look pleasant, but they leave insects with almost no chance of finding a hiding place where they could survive winter or lay their eggs.
Pollinating insects are responsible for pollinating a significant share of the world’s crop and wild plants, yet their populations in many regions keep shrinking, mainly due to habitat loss, the fragmentation of green areas and the use of pesticides in agriculture and gardening. Without proper shelter, many species of wild bees and other beneficial insects simply have nowhere to survive the colder months. Even a small house, hung in a single garden, can genuinely increase the chance that more pollinators will settle there, which translates directly into the health of the surrounding plants, vegetable patches and orchards.
It’s worth remembering that an insect house doesn’t only support bees. Ladybirds and lacewings are just as happy to move in, and both are natural predators of aphids and other plant pests, meaning a garden with such a structure needs fewer chemical treatments. That’s exactly why insect houses have long featured in nature-friendly gardening recommendations – they combine the function of shelter, breeding ground and natural pest control in one small object.
A workshop in the office, not on a production floor
Instead of a classic training room or a green-space clean-up, the workshop took place in Flora Food’s office space in Katowice, which was in itself a rather unusual experience for participants. Instead of laptops and documents, the tables were covered with wooden boards, hammers, screwdrivers and natural filling materials. We started with a short introduction explaining what an insect house actually is, which species might move in, and why it’s worth having one in your own garden, before participants moved on to assembling their own.
Each of the 19 participants had the chance to take an active part in the build, and some tasks – such as screwing the structures together or arranging the natural fillings – were carried out in pairs. This gave the workshop not only an educational character but also a team-building one, as Flora Food employees spent time together on a task completely different from their everyday work. In total, the workshop produced 10 finished insect houses, and working on a real, tangible object that went straight into its maker’s hands once finished made the whole process far more engaging than a standard training session or presentation.
Participants, questions and a great atmosphere
The event ran very smoothly, and the atmosphere stayed friendly and full of energy throughout the workshop. Participants were focused and highly engaged in building their houses, while also being open and communicative – asking which insects might move into the finished structure, where in the garden it should be hung, how high above the ground, which direction the entrance hole should face, and how to look after the house over the following seasons so it keeps serving insects for years.
There was also a clear sense of joy in the fact that the result of a few hours of shared work wouldn’t stay in the office but would go straight home. Flora Food employees were thrilled with the chance to build their own houses and were looking forward to taking them to their private gardens. It was precisely this moment – the shift from a company task to something personal that would stay with each participant long after the workshop ended – that sparked the most smiles and conversations around the work tables.
The results: 10 houses, 19 gardens, one shared goal
Insect house building workshops show how well employee volunteering can combine with a concrete, hands-on action for the environment. Instead of a classic lecture or an online course about ecology, the Flora Food team spent their time building something that genuinely supports local nature – with their own hands, in the very office where they work every day.
The greatest value of this action is that its impact isn’t concentrated in a single place. Because every participant took their house home, one day of shared work in Katowice will translate into 10 new shelter points for insects, spread across private gardens throughout the region rather than gathered in a single location. That means the benefit of the workshop will be felt not just locally, but in many different places at once – wherever the participants themselves live.
What’s next – houses for hedgehogs
The company was so pleased with how the workshop went that it immediately expressed interest in organising another edition – this time dedicated to building hedgehog houses. This is an important step, because hedgehogs, much like wild pollinators, are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with urban and suburban environments year after year. Fenced properties, heavy road traffic and a shrinking number of wild, untidy corners in gardens make it harder and harder for these animals to find a safe place to survive the winter and raise their young. A hedgehog house, just like an insect house, is a simple but concrete way to change that – and we’re glad the Flora Food team wants to continue this partnership.
It’s also a good sign for the broader idea of combining hands-on workshops with employee volunteering. More and more companies are looking for ways to engage their teams that don’t end with a one-off talk, but leave something lasting behind – quite literally, since an insect house or a hedgehog house can go on serving nature for many seasons to come. For Flora Food, it’s also a natural extension of themes close to the food industry, where the health of pollinators and local nature has a direct bearing on the quality and availability of plant-based ingredients.
Looking after the house all year round
Hanging the house is only the first step, so the workshop also included practical tips for the months ahead. The house is best placed somewhere sheltered from strong wind and rain, facing south or south-east, so that the morning sun warms the interior and encourages insects to become active. It should be hung at a height somewhere between waist and eye level, well away from areas treated with chemical plant protection products.
It also helps to leave a slightly wilder patch of garden nearby – a clump of herbs, an unmown strip of lawn or a small pile of dry branches – since that’s where insects most often look for food and extra shelter. Checking the filling from time to time, without disturbing the structure during the breeding season, allows the house to keep serving its purpose for years, giving its residents the peace they need to complete their life cycle.
Thank you
We would like to thank the employees of Flora Food in Katowice for their engagement, openness and the great energy that stayed with us throughout the whole day of the workshop. It’s thanks to initiatives like this that 10 new insect houses will soon find their way into private gardens, giving shelter to future generations of pollinators. We can’t wait for the next joint action – this time with houses for hedgehogs.
