After viewing the interiors of many internet companies and seeing how many of them have plants in their work places, I decided to do a little research on what effect plants in a work place have on staff and the surroundings.
After reading around a little and visiting a number of sites, I have found 6 common effects that plants in an office have:
- Increased tenant attraction and retention
- Increased productivity
- Decrease in workplace stress
- Decrease in absenteeism (frequent or habitual absence from work)
- Improved morale
- Improved indoor air quality
I’m not sure about you, but those seem like 6 very important factors. It’s easy to see why each of those factors makes sense, but have you ever really thought about something as simple as this? I doubt it, I know I haven’t. It’s hard to think deeper than just the attraction factor.
Now we know what effects plants have, but what plants are ideal for indoors? I have collected a couple photographs to give you a visual recognition as well as the names of the plants in the pictures.
The names of the plants are: Aboricola, Dracaena Marginata Exotica, Scandans, Single Stem Yucca respectively.
Health Problems – The consequences for the “inhabitants†of any office are dry membranes in the mouth and nose, irritated eyes, headaches and skin complaints. These are things which are not only disastrous for a sense of “comfortâ€, but also pose a direct threat to health.
Even in offices with climate control systems which are perfectly installed and expertly managed, more than 25% of the people are dissatisfied with the climate-and that really is a very high percentage.
Symptom reductions due to addition of plants in the work place:
- Dry throat -31%
- Coughing -38%
- Fatigue -32%
- Headache -45%
Information supplied by GBW De Bleek 13 – Postbus 500 3440 AM Woerden Holland
Yukka for shiz. We have a few of them, and a little atrium thing. The only plant i can keep alive at home are cacti though, i have a rad mescal one that i got on long street, and it doesn’t matter if i forget to water it!
Yucca hey, I will head to the nursery and price them as my desk could certainly do with some life. I want to complement it with a fish tank, but the tank can happen beginning of 2008 rather.
Talking about cacti, I have a pot with about 9 different types, which I started when I was about 5yrs old, it’s moved houses a number of times and they still grow like mad! I never remember to water them, so we are the same in that regard!
Another thing, which I really do want to give a go, is bonsai’s, but I really don’t have the time to do all the research at the moment.
Whoops, yucca. I don’t think they’re that much hey, go to Stodels, their prices are pretty good i think. Well, at least when i went a while back with my mom they were anyway! (she is hardcore with garden stuff, she’s in the Fushia Society, lol)
Bonsai’s are cool, not all of them are a shlep i don’t think. You should ask one of those nursery people if you go in to get some yuccas (phew, got it right this time)
Fushia Society, way cool ;) I will be heading down there on Saturday morning to take a peak. I’m not too worried about the price considering those facts in the article!
I will enquire about the bonsai’s too. I wrote an article about Bonsai’s a while back, the link at the end of this comment. Yucca, I spelt it Yucaa the first time in my article *oops*
http://imod.co.za/2007/11/07/bonsai-trees-are-so-beautiful/
Quality article dude! Your blog is full of inspiring reading and commentaries. In my opinion plants do make all the difference. I once read something else, which is sort of related I guess, about how important factors like the colour of the walls and even scents in the work place are. Can’t really remember what it said (memory like a goldfish me), but I just did a Google search and this came up in the results http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/frontpage/HA010429371033.aspx
I do recall noting that the scent of orange blossom was released into the air-conditioning systems of some factories in China with the result being a dramatic increase in concentration and productivity.
Definitely Alex, I’d imagine wall colours and furniture play a huge role in quality of work, concentration and motivation. The same goes for scents – working in a place, which smells fresh is bound to be more productive than one which isn’t!
Thanks for the big up mate!