Study: Employees are Happier in Offices with Plants

Having plants in the workplace could help to improve the mood of employees, according to a study by a set of researchers in the UK.

Researchers found that live foliage in the workplace helped to increase employee productivity by 15%, compared to an office without any live plants.

One of the researchers, Craig Knight from the University of Exeter, explained that bringing in live plants is an easy and effective way to enrich a workplace. He also said that the practice of keeping offices bare of everything except work essentials isn’t the best move.

Having a “lean” work space isn’t the ideal environment for productivity, according to Knight.

The study examined 34 employees working in a lean office without plants and 33 employees working within the view of at least two live plants. The offices were on the same floor of the same London building.

The employees worked in these setting for three weeks, then they answered a series of questions to measure their output and satisfaction

Concentration, productivity and morale were all improved in the green office. Workplace satisfaction was improved in both workplaces.

The study’s authors then did a longer variation of the experiment, this time lasting three and a half months. The second variation used a larger sample of people as well.

For this version of the experiment, the employees filled out a questionnaire two weeks into working in their respective spaces, and again at the end of the three and a half months.

In this version of the study, the workers in the green office reported an improved sense of workplace satisfaction. The workers in the lean office did not.

Finally, the researchers did a third version of the study, this time focusing specifically on productivity.

In the last version, the 16 participants in the green workplace and the 17 in the lean workplace were given timed tasks to complete.

The employees in the offices with plants were 15% more productive without adding any additional errors.

Knight said that plants can improve the air quality in an office while also providing a psychological improvement.

Please Leave A Comment

comments

Related posts:

Thanks to Technology, More Employees Working Outside of the Workplace Most American Employees Are Still Not Engaged at Work Speak Up to Get Your Supervisor to Notice You, Study Says Study: Three-Quarters of Young Employees Want Loan Reimbursement Study: Corporate Wellness Plans Exist, but Some Employees Don’t Realize It