5 Ways Office Plants Can Boost Your Productivity

Karen Kimonye|Jun 8, 2020

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Can office plants boost your productivity? Not only do they add an attractive and aesthetically pleasing element to your office, but they can actually have tremendous health benefits as well! We’ve gathered some interesting research to show you why plants can make a positive impact in your office.

1. Office plants can improve your health and reduce sick days

Office plants can have an immediate effect on your well-being by reducing your sick days. Plants naturally filter toxins from the room, and they freshen the air. Does your office have poor ventilation? Then you’re likely to develop the ‘sick building syndrome’ characterized by the following symptoms: Headaches, difficulty in concentration, nausea, and even flu-like symptoms.

While plants alone can’t fix all the symptoms associated with this office phenomenon, they can improve your life a bit.

Sprucing your office with air purifiers plants, such as Peace Lilies, Spider Plants, and Devil’s Ivy can help you breathe easier and they can also boost your concentration.

2. Office plants can boost creativity and performance

Experiencing a creative block isn’t a joke. Are you running out of fresh ideas, or have you been stuck on the same task for quite some time now? Incorporating plants in your office can offer inspiration. By choosing plants with bright colors and vibrant smells, you can make sure your leafy friends positively affect your creativity.

Studies show that stimulating our senses can boost our creativity and taking time to smell flowers can pull you out of your slump. You can brighten your office with some Hens and Chicks, Cypress Vine, or Chamaedorea Elegans because these plants smell good and they’re eye-catching.

Research by the University of Exeter also shows that workers’ productivity improves by 15% if you fill ‘lean’ work environments with indoor plants. And according to Dr. Chris Knight, a researcher adding just one plant per square meter improves memory retention, and it helps workers score higher on basic tests.

What matters is that you can see the plant from your desk. Because if you’re working in a workspace where there’s something that can get you engaged, you’ll be happier and your performance will improve.

3. Office plants help to reduce stress

According to a study by the new University of Technology Sydney, adding plants to a workspace can reduce stress levels among workers drastically. The results included a 58% fall in reported depression or dejection; a 37% decline in tension and anxiety; a 38% decline in fatigue; and a 44% fall in anger and hostility.

The study concluded that one plant per workspace can improve the employee’s spirits significantly, and ultimately promote wellbeing and productivity.

The color green has a relaxing and calming effect—so decorating your office with this color can potentially have a similar impact to adding plants in the workspace. Because color green can have a calming effect, adding plants, such as the Desert Gem, Blue Barrel Cactus, or Pincushion Cactus in your office can positively impact your productivity.

4. Office plants absorb background noises

Having plants in the office can help absorb some office chatter, especially if your workspace has hard surfaces, including exposed concrete walls or floors.

A report by the London South Bank University found that positioning larger plant containers in multiple locations at the corners and edges of a room has a positive impact. And taller plants, such as ‘Anita’ Dragon Tree, Weeping Fig, and Snake Plant, are the most resilient indoor plants you can find.

5. Office plants can help to replenish our attention capacity

Plants have intriguing stimuli that significantly grabs our attention in a bottom-up manner. Thus, adding a leafy buddy in your office can help replenish your attention capacity and focus.

Sometimes, something as simple as viewing a picture of a plant can make a tremendous difference; imagine what having a couple of plants on your office desk might achieve?

So Which Plants Thrive Best in an Office Environment?

Plants not only add a decorative touch to an office, but they can also improve employee satisfaction and boost productivity by up to 15%.

However, the lack of natural light and variable temperatures can make an office a tough environment for most plants to survive.

To choose the perfect plants for your office, you must first assess how much light the space gets. By using a compass on your smartphone, you can determine if the windows are west facing, which means there’ll be plenty of sunlight getting in. Or if you should look for varieties that thrive well in the shade.

Next, decide what you want the plants to add to the workspace. Aesthetically plants play three major roles. They can fill a workspace, they can follow a space, or they can frame a space. Knowing the role, you want the plants to play in your office can help you determine the size, shape, and density of foliage ideal for your office.

After greening up your office, don’t forget to water and feed your leafy friends as needed. Neglecting your plants will make them die because they’re living organisms. You can enjoy some natural beauty because many plants are resilient, and they require minimal care.

Final thoughts

Clearly, it’s important to add plants in the workspace because they can help you reduce work space stress, boost productivity, improve creativity and they can even improve your overall health. But you need not go all out right away, start by picking a few plants that are easy to care for and go from there. Start building your office plant collection and discover the many ways plants can make your workday better. And don’t hesitate to explore other plants that correspond to the particular indoor space you work in.

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