Adding a few plants to your workplace could have all kinds of benefits. Below are just a few advantages to adding plants to your workplace.
Improve indoor air quality
Plants can act as natural air purifiers, filtering out various toxins in the air while producing fresh oxygen. As a result, they can make a great addition to a stuffy office, helping to combat ‘sick building syndrome’ (this is when toxins are allowed to build up in an unventilated building, leading to people getting sick). You’ll likely find that the air feels cleaner after adding a few plants and you could even see a reduction in employee sick days. Add a few plants to your workplace interior and see what effect it has.
Make good impressions on visitors
Plants are also a great way of showing visitors that your workplace is a calm and cheerful place. For centuries, plants have been used as a form of decoration in buildings because of the colour and energy they provide (they’re a way of literally bringing life to a room). By adding some plants in a reception lobby, you could help to make it a more calming space for clients or job applicants who may be waiting there. It could also be worth adding some greenery around your premises – landscape design features such as lawns and flower beds can make a building more welcoming in many cases. Just remember that dead or overgrown plants will not create a good first impression, so make sure that you can look after any plants that you add.
Boost productivity and creativity
Studies have shown that adding plants to a workplace can help to boost productivity. This is due to their ability to oxygenate the air, providing the brain with a fresh source of oxygen for better concentration. It is also believed that some plants may help to boost creativity. The bright colours and fragrant smells provided by plants help to stimulate our senses making us more prone to ideas (work environments with little sensory stimulation are more likely to stifle creativity).
Reduce workplace stress
Stress is not healthy in any work environment as it often leads people to be more hostile to each other and more reckless with duties. There are many ways to reduce stress in a workplace. One option to consider is to add plants. Because of their association with nature, plants tend to be very calming. Studies have found that adding plants to a workplace can reduce anxiety by 37% and cases of depression by as much as 58%.
Reduce noise levels
Large plants can help to provide a buffer against sound. Adding trees around the exterior of an office could help to reduce the noise of traffic (as well as possibly providing some privacy and shade to windows). Adding plants inside your office could meanwhile help to prevent sounds travelling around your office. This is definitely something worth considering if you work in an office that can sometimes get distractingly loud.
