Why Plants at Workplace Carry Potential Health Benefits

(People stay close to nature when plants are placed within cubicles.)

In case if you have a full-time job, there is an oddity that you’ll spend several hours there than you do at your home. In spite of the apparently ceaseless pursuit for the best work-life balance, people are seriously getting overburdened in almost every sector. And, that’s where the importance of a healthy workplace comes in. One of the easiest way to achieve it – add plants at the workplace.

As per a CBRE research done on the wellness of human resources, about 79 percent of respondents said adjusting private and professional duties was a reason for the extensive pressure. And, about 80 percent of representatives said a healthier workplace would be crucial to drawing in and keeping people in their roles for long years to come.

With employee wellbeing being an intriguing issue, there is still much work to be done. In 2013, several studies were conducted all over the world to understand the situation of employee health. It was found that most nations had least guidelines for better worker wellbeing, and only a few are centred on improving the emotional well being of their employees. There are also workplaces which have completely overlooked the health-risk perspectives. The outcome derived was that offices around the globe are not creating themselves as rewarding places for people who want to enhance their expertise.

Office health and hygiene plays a major role in improving workplace productivity, and over-burdened workforce – a widespread transgression that is very common to see probably across every office or commercial area, across every other city in India – is one of the major problem areas that are a blockade to progress. Office administrations have tried a lot of ways and out of which adding plants at the workplace has shown remarkable results. Adding plants to environments, for example, has been shown to improve headaches, depression, concentration, self-discipline and physiological stress. So, on this World No-Tobacco Day, it’s time to make your office a whole lot healthier, cleaner, and productive place.

Let’s take a look at what other benefits plants at workplaces bring to us:

(Activities like watering the plants is mood uplifting for employees.)

People did so much better in healthy situations than in their typical situations. For reasons unknown many have seen that a healthier employee is a more joyful and more productive member of a team. That may appear blindly evident; however, when you introduce greenery at the workplace the results of the changes could be very striking.

While office gardens might perhaps appear as an added office, the potential benefits are fairly enough. From enjoying fresh air, mood enhancement, team building and as an activity area. For office admins, the introduction of plants and gardens in their furnished offices is one of the best things to happen in their corporate wellness programs. Plants have their ability to keep the workers engaged whilst showing effects on their physical, mental and community levels.

As per the Human Spaces report of 2015, which was a study done on more than seven thousand office goers, in 16 countries, found that about 2/3 of them have no live plants in their workspaces. Those whose offices included live plants reported a 15% increase in their wellbeing and a 6% higher productivity rate as compared to the employees whose offices didn’t include such elements.

As companies continually seek new ways to improve employee well-being and build positive interactions with the communities around them, more and more are turning to office gardens, establishing spaces where employees can unwind, and even get their hands dirty. Few coworking spaces in Gurgaon, Mumbai, and Bangalore have already adopted this concept of a playing garden area where they can take care of the office plants just like they take care of their work.

It may sound simple but adding plants to the office floor boosts engagement by 76%; catapulting the happiness index by 78%. The overall feeling of healthiness improves in these scenarios by 65%. Read more about this here.

So, in short, you can see that the introduction of flora at workplace boosted the overall productivity level of employees by 10%; which is huge for the human resource departments who invest a huge portion of their budget on organizing office trips, seminar, parties, and more, for uplifting the mood of their workers.

The presence of plants at office spaces can also result in a positive change in the psychological and social outlook of the employees too. Seeing the health of the plant affects the health-conscious minds. Also, when people start looking after the plants, watering them whenever they have some time; it instils a care-giving attitude inside them. Some also say that plants, when incorporated in a workplace design, affect their decision to join a company. However, people can have their own thoughts on this.

It is also seen that indoor plants can assist help to reduce carbon dioxide levels by about 10% in air-conditioned offices, and by about 25% in buildings without air conditioning. Not all plants will love to live in your workplace – you need to consider restrictions such as

(Plants could also be used as a design prop in office.)

the availability of daylight, and how often they can and will be watered. Those that will thrive in workplaces include succulents (which include aloe and cacti), rubber plants and peace lilies. Start adding plants in your workspace and see a major transformation in your health.  It is also discovered that indoor plants can help diminish carbon dioxide levels by around 10% in cooled workplaces, and by around 25% in structures without air-conditioning. This means, that even if you don’t need air-conditioning, plants will be a big breather for you.

You have to select the plants that will go with the working environment of your organization. You have to consider the limitations, for example, the accessibility of sunshine, and how regularly they can and will be watered. Those that will flourish in working environments include vascular plants (which incorporate aloe and cactuses). Begin including plants in your workspace and see real change in your team’s wellbeing.