Offices tend to be a little drab, not offering anything colourful or fun to look at throughout the day. In fact, there are far too many offices and other such workspaces that don’t incorporate any amount of natural interaction for workers.

The following article details the benefits of bringing the outdoors into your office space. This isn’t to say that you should have animals, but definitely a few plants or flowers mixed with natural light is ideal.

Plants Clean; Purify the Air

There is no doubt that plants can remove environmental debris from the workplace. Actually, plants need the carbon dioxide humans breathe out and people require the oxygen plants emit. It’s a happy cycle of give-and-take via the process of photosynthesis.

Green growing things not only reduce the presence of chemicals like carbon dioxide but also trichloroethylene, benzene and formaldehyde. Many workspaces have these lingering in the air, which contributes to poor employee performance.

Boost the Wellbeing of Your Employees

Plants bring joy to everyone in sundry and this can be a huge boost to the wellbeing of your employees. These include stress reduction, efficiency increase, low absentee rates and creativity promotion due to the abundance of clean oxygen. Plants are famous for being great stress reducers with the added bonus of the calming green colour. Actually, the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia found in 2010 that workers experienced a significant lowering of negativity. This same study noted:

· 58% dejection or depression drop

· 44% mitigation of hostility and anger

· 38% reduction in fatigue and sleepiness

· 37% drop in anxiety, stress and tension

Better Productivity; Efficiency

Also, having a plant or two in the office translates to increased efficiency, productivity and a willingness to work. Since plants can remove stressful factors, it promotes and inspires memory retention. The University of Exeter did some research on this fact as recently as 2014.

Because of the plants’ awesome ability to clean the air, this translates to lowered absences and sickness due to environmental stuffiness. In fact, a 2015 study looked at some 7,600 office workers in 16 countries. Those without live plants have 15% less employee wellbeing than those that do have at least one plant in the office.

What supports this is a study done by the Agricultural University of Norway in the 1990s. They found that introducing plants has a direct correlation in decreasing poor health symptoms by as much as 25% with things like concentration difficulty, fatigue, general colds/flu, dry skin and delicate organ irritation (eyes, nose, throat and etc).

Attract New Employees, Clients; Customers

Plants are always a beautiful addition to any office. It creates an inviting and domesticated atmosphere that puts people immediately at ease. This is beneficial when attracting new employees as well as more clients and customers. When you create a natural environment that includes plants and sunlight, it’s amazing what it can do to the human psyche.

Assist in Noise Reduction

Another great thing about having plants in your office is its ability to reduce chatter noise throughout the workspace. They absorb all kinds of noise, from radios to co-workers talking on the phone. This is especially true with larger plants such as palm trees or mature succulents.

Choosing; Caring for Plants at the Office

To implement a more natural atmosphere in the office, it’s essential to consider the types of plants to have. In order to determine this, you have to evaluate how much natural light is available along with your ability to care for the plant(s).

For instance, when you have a window that provides full sun but indirect light and you don’t want to spend a lot of time fussing over the plant, a succulent like aloe or eschevaria will do. They don’t need a lot of water and prefer a dry environment with lots of light.

If the idea of maintaining plants within your workplace seems too difficult, consider renting office plants, which service regularly for you by the rental company. You can contact your local nursery to see if they offer plant rentals or you can do an online search for “plant rental near me.”