The benefit of plants for your office
Plants could help to reduce stress in the workplace
A study conducted in 2010 showed that introducing plants into workplaces significantly reduced stress levels among employees. This led to a 37% decline in reported tension and anxiety, a 58% drop in depression or dejectedness, a 44% decrease in anger and hostility, and a 38% reduction in fatigue. Green is said to be a relaxing and calm colour. Decorating your office with green may help you feel more relaxed and calm. You might want to consider using green as your main colour scheme.
Plants could also make your workplace more attractive to candidates for new positions. Many of us believe that workplace design is essential when looking for a new job and we feel more drawn toward those offices that have plants around rather than those without. Those new candidates may also come with fresh creativity when plants are around. The Human Spaces report found that those offices with plants and natural elements had a 15% increase in their creativity than those that didn’t include plants in their surroundings.
Are your team productive enough? Plants could help
Employees’ productivity increases 15% when plants are added to their workspace. A study shows that adding just one plant per square meter improves memory retention and helps employees perform better on other basic tests. Of course, another great way you can boost your organisation’s productivity is by investing in human resources software – which will help staff, management, and HR users alike manage data more efficiently and effectively.
Another reason your staff may be feeling less productive could be because of sickness and retention rates in your workplace. Although this evidence is much harder to come by, some people believe that having plants in the office could help with feelings of sickness, leading to less sick leave! Plants absorb gases that humans don’t need, and they produce oxygen. When they grow indoors, they also take up some of the pollutants that people create – but they don’t eliminate them entirely.
Plants help to clean the air and reduce noisy office spaces
It’s no secret that we need oxygen to live, and plants create that oxygen. So it makes sense to have plants in your workplace that increase the oxygen and remove the gases from the air that we don’t need. Why not place a plant on your staff’s 2nd hand office furniture desk to help the air around them? A recent study conducted by a university in Sydney has shown that workplace plants could help to reduce carbon dioxide levels by up to 25% in buildings without air conditioning.
We all know that offices can be a noisy place at times. While this can be reduced, for example, by checking out companies such as Recycled Business Furniture to find screens and other barriers, distractions often come through regardless. Staff catching up about their weekends, multiple phone calls being made and not mention the constant background noise of the printer and computers. Plants help absorb sounds in the air, making them perfect for noisy areas. Place your larger plants in pots around the room and see how they could benefit your office space! There are so many reasons you should adopt plants into your workspace – more than just the few we have given above. Get yourself to your nearest garden centre and start filling your workplace with beautiful plants to help your team.