A great way to bolster productivity and add some cheer to your office is by including some leafy friends around your workplace. Just like office snacks, office plants are a cost-effective way to brighten up your team’s workday and even improve productivity. Even the slightest change in the working patterns can make a positive difference when you are working.
How do office plants increase happiness and productivity?
Office greenery and workplace happiness and productivity go together because of our appreciation for nature, the power of attention stimuli, and according to one thought leader the “friendships” we form with living things.
Walls draped in greenery, succulents on window sills, potted plants on desks. But the benefits of office greenery are multifold. Office plants help increase productivity and replenish focus. People spend longer in spaces with biophilic designs, and workplace happiness improves when natural elements are introduced.
Why a personal office plant ?
1. They help to reduce stress
A study found significant reductions in stress among workers when plants were introduced to their workspace. Results included a 37% fall in reported tension and anxiety; a 58% drop in depression or dejection; a 44% decrease in anger and hostility; and a 38% reduction in fatigue.
2. They help to increase productivity
Employees productivity jumps 15% when previously ‘lean’ work environments are filled with just a handful of houseplants, according to 2014 research by the University of Exeter. Adding just one plant per square metre improved memory retention and helped employees score higher on other basic tests, said researcher Dr Chris Knight.
3. They help to reduce sickness and absence rate
The 2015 Human Spaces report, which studied 7,600 office workers in 16 countries, found that nearly two-thirds (58%) of workers have no live plants in their workspaces. Those whose environments incorporated natural elements reported a 15% higher well being score and a 6% higher productivity score than employees whose offices didn’t include such elements.
4. They make workspaces more attractive to job applicants
Commenting on the 2015 Human Spaces report when it was released, organisational psychology professor Sir Cary Cooper said: “The benefit of design inspired by nature, known as biophilic design, is accumulating evidence at a rapid pace. Looking at a snapshot of global working environments, up to one in five people have no natural elements within their workspace, and alarmingly nearly 50% of workers have no natural light. Yet a third of us say that workplace design would affect our decision to join a company. There’s a big disparity here and one that hints at workplace design only recently rising to prominence as a crucial factor.”
5. They clean air
In the 1980s, scientists at NASA discovered that plants were adept at removing chemicals such as benzene, trichloroethylene, and formaldehyde from the air, making it cleaner for humans to breathe.
More recent research led by Dr Fraser Torpy has found that indoor plants can help reduce carbon dioxide levels by about 10% in air-conditioned offices, and by about 25% in buildings without air conditioning.
6. They help to reduce noise levels
By absorbing sounds (rather than insulating against noise pollution), plants help to reduce the distracting effects of background office chatter. Positioning large plant pots, in multiple locations in the edges and corners of a room has the great positive benefit, according to a 1995 paper by researchers at London South Bank University.
7. They can boost creativity
The 2015 Human Spaces report also found that employees whose offices included natural elements scored 15% higher for creativity than those whose offices didn’t include such elements. Attention restoration theory suggests that looking at nature – and even just images of nature – can shift the brain into a different processing mode, making employees feel more relaxed and better able to concentrate.
Conclusion
Which plant matches your vibe? Get one of these, or can opt for a combo pack of your favourite plants for a healthy home-office. With green plants, you can make your office more welcoming. Alternatively, you can also buy these plants for corporate gifting to boost your employee productivity in the best suitable greener and eco-friendly way. Contact us here for any assistance.
Grab your plant now!