Plants in the office boost productivity

'Green' offices with plants make staff happier and more productive than 'lean' designs stripped of greenery, new research has found.
In the first field study of its kind, researchers found enriching a 'lean' office with plants could increase productivity by 15 per cent.
The team examined the impact of 'lean' and 'green' offices on staff's perceptions of air quality, concentration, and workplace satisfaction, and monitored productivity levels over subsequent months in two large commercial offices in the UK and The Netherlands.
"Our research suggests that investing in landscaping the office with plants will pay off through an increase in office workers' quality of life and productivity," lead researcher Marlon Nieuwenhuis, from Cardiff University's School of Psychology, said.

"Although previous laboratory research pointed in this direction, our research is, to our knowledge, the first to examine this in real offices, showing benefits over the long term. It directly challenges the widely accepted business philosophy that a lean office with clean desks is more productive," said Nieuwenhuis.
The research showed plants in the office significantly increased workplace satisfaction, self-reported levels of concentration, and perceived air quality.

Analyses into the reasons why plants are beneficial suggests that a green office increases employees' work engagement by making them more physically, cognitively, and emotionally involved in their work.
"Psychologically manipulating real workplaces and real jobs adds new depth to our understanding of what is right and what is wrong with existing workspace design and management. We are now developing a template for a genuinely smart office," said co-author Dr Craig Knight, from the University of Exeter.

"The 'lean' philosophy has been influential across a wide range of organisational domains. Our research questions this widespread conviction that less is more. Sometimes less is just less," Professor Alex Haslam, from The University of Queensland's School of Psychology, who also co-authored the study added.
"Simply enriching a previously Spartan space with plants served to increase productivity by 15 per cent - a figure that aligns closely with findings in previously conducted laboratory studies," Nieuwenhuis said.